Red Mosquito

The only thing I don't like about this song is how the dueling guitar parts from 1:13-1:33 are cut short so that BoB can get in on the keys and add his mandatory cheese. Let the band fucking play.

Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?

You are the first

ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?

As in pretty bloody awful?

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.

He moves on to sounding like Roger Daltry, then finally Paul McCartney in the outtro.

harmless wrote:

I'm not kidding either.

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?

As in pretty bloody awful?

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.

It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.

All 3 are singers that I love at their best.

Mike wrote:

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?

As in pretty bloody awful?

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.

It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.

I also hate "...like ouah... burning meteor" and "uh-looking for a place to land..."

harmless wrote:

Mike wrote:

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:Has anybody mentioned how much Eddie sounds like Cat Stevens in the first bit?

As in pretty bloody awful?

I wish he'd done another take on that first bit. Luckily it's just endearingly bad rather than unlistenable.

It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't for the "butchudunknow". Well, he still would sound like a creep hiding in a bush.

I also hate "...like ouah... burning meteor" and "uh-looking for a place to land..."

I've always found the ouah's and butchoo's the kind of thing that endears me to Ed's vocal work. Obviously there's a point it can go too far, but he's always had some silly pronunciation.

Caveat: This is only my second listen through.

ABNorman wrote:All 3 are singers that I love at their best.

Well, there's like 3 different songs in here, so yep. But, I do like this tune. There's an energy to it.

it is a pretty ambitious song in a stealthy way. It keeps attempting to crest higher and higher without really coming back down after each one--so the build gets higher and more intense with less and less runup to it. And it happens very quickly

stip wrote:it is a pretty ambitious song in a stealthy way. It keeps attempting to crest higher and higher without really coming back down after each one--so the build gets higher and more intense with less and less runup to it. And it happens very quickly

You're very right.

that's what UK wanted to do I think, but that song, which started well, couldn't pull it off. It just ended up treading water despite wanting to desperately to swim

EJ wrote:

ABNorman wrote:All 3 are singers that I love at their best.

Well, there's like 3 different songs in here, so yep. But, I do like this tune. There's an energy to it.

I think that's what keeps me going back to it; there's that Frankensong aspect to it, same as some of my favourite songs on Binaural (for example). The chances are that this would be a duller song if it kept to any one of its single ideas, but because it moves from one to the other, it's interesting.

stip wrote:that's what UK wanted to do I think, but that song, which started well, couldn't pull it off. It just ended up treading water despite wanting to desperately to swim

When I LAL'ed Backspacer earlier today, that one really suffered, probably more than any other. It was never a top drawer song for me, just a nice one that didn't get all the way to where it wanted to go. But now it just really feels like a sad LB demo.

my favorite backspacer songs are GSMF, Fixer, and Force of Nature. How did they do?

stip wrote:my favorite backspacer songs are GSMF, Fixer, and Force of Nature. How did they do?

I like Fixer and FON reasonably well. GSMF has never been a favorite, but it does OK. It doesn't compare to Getaway for me, but it seems to have more personality than a lot of what follows. FoN is what it is--I still like it, anyone who didn't before isn't more likely to now--but I don't see a very obvious comparison for it on LB, and so it doesn't particularly suffer.

Fixer does suffer, I think. It and Got Some are two songs I liked pretty well that I heard this morning with the context of "what Pearl Jam sounds like on Lightning Bolt" and, while the songs don't suddenly seem especially lacking in the way UK did, both just feel kind of pale. I think The Fixer on LB would be a much more interesting and full-sounding track.

Put another way. Backspacer has always sounded glossy. Now it's even more so.