Red Mosquito

TTLW was always a favorite. I think the weak spot now is Alright for me.

Buby wrote:

Bammer wrote:My kids are requesting “Eddie song” fairly often in the car. Proud papa.

Which one is the "Eddie song"?

Any PJ song ... they recognize his voice.

FlatSideofaDog wrote:

LikeLukin wrote:I've come around big time on Never Destination as well, love it. Only weak spot on the album for me now is TTLW. I don't hate it or anything but I often go straight to side C once Never Destination is over.

Agreed. I know a lot of people like Matt Cameron's songs, from what I've read this is because they are perceived as more technically sophisticated, but I can't think of any that really deserve to be on an album.

Just stop. We like his songs because they sound good to our ears.

Take the Long Way is great. It's a Judas Priest-esque pop metal song with a hooky chorus and wonderful bridge.

It's bottom tier of the album for me. Really missing a good bass line, or any bass for that matter.

Monkey_Driven wrote:Take the Long Way is great. It's a Judas Priest-esque pop metal song with a hooky chorus and wonderful bridge.

And serious Mike shred! Though I agree bass would be nice.

TTLW is fucking great. Loved it immediately and it still sounds awesome now.

After a few months with this, tracks 1-4 and 6-7 are the ones that will stay with me. Nothing against the others, but that's the half I just like a lot better. The last two songs still have potential to grow on me a bit more.

tragabigzanda wrote:Still too many words on what is otherwise a terrific effort

Agreed. This is why Seven O'Clock is still near the bottom of the pile for me. The music is quite nice but it sounds like Ed's trying to squeeze the words in. I'm sure he could've taken another pass at this and finished with something better.

Otherwise, I'm still digging this record in a major way. Seven O'Clock and Retrograde remain the weakest songs for me but the rest are fantastic. I love the contagious energy of Never Destination. It really grabs hold and takes you for a fun ride.

Current rankings just for fun:

Who Ever Said
DOTC
Never Destination
Quick Escape
River Cross
Comes Then Goes
Take The Long Way
Alright
Superblood Wolfmoon
Buckle Up
Seven O'Clock
Retrograde

Monkey_Driven wrote:Take the Long Way is great. It's a Judas Priest-esque pop metal song with a hooky chorus and wonderful bridge.

That's probably why it is doing nothing for me.

VinylGuy wrote:TTLW was always a favorite. I think the weak spot now is Alright for me.

I can see Alright being the one people would rank lowest, but I still love it. Its placement on the record is perfect.

guitar_davey wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:TTLW was always a favorite. I think the weak spot now is Alright for me.

I can see Alright being the one people would rank lowest, but I still love it. Its placement on the record is perfect.

yeah, the placement is great. I really like the song but it has lost its power between other ones that grew a lot, like Retrograde or Never Destination.

I still don’t find a single weak track on this thing. I don’t hear the wordiness problems some describe. I think in many of the places where Ed is especially chatty, it’s to the strength of that moment. It’s an effective way for him to contribute to the energy and be tapped into the urgency of the music, now that screaming and howling all the time isn’t an option. And it really does feed the album’s sense of being filled to burst with ideas.

It helps that the lyrics are particularly good. I think the only song where the lyrics just consistently don’t move me is Quick Escape, and that’s fine because that’s not really its ambition.

VinylGuy wrote:

guitar_davey wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:TTLW was always a favorite. I think the weak spot now is Alright for me.

I can see Alright being the one people would rank lowest, but I still love it. Its placement on the record is perfect.

yeah, the placement is great. I really like the song but it has lost its power between other ones that grew a lot, like Retrograde or Never Destination.

I sort of agree with this. Still like the song a lot but i listened today for the first time in a while. Retrograde was way better than I remembered. All of the songs keep growing though.

Retrograde changed a lot yeah. Im not sure why but the video helped. And it went from ¨mm sounds like something of LB¨ to ¨hey it sounds like REM, and kinda like Zep, and yeah ed is great, and fuck that ending!!¨

This one really is a banger right? Thought I might have it drift from memory much like LB did and with no desire to revisit. But nope.

And it sounds Fucking huge. Fantastic production.


With McP. So glad we don’t have Ed shrieking and screaming on this. He’s found the sweet spot between doing that and his middle range, where his voice is used to best effect.

Loving it.

And Seven o clock is PJ by numbers and a bunch of things they’ve done before but it succeeds. Previous attempts at recapturing former glories wander into embarrassment such as amongst the waves and severed hand. They fail.

7 gets there and nails it purposefully and gracefully and effortlessly.

dimejinky99 wrote:This one really is a banger right? Thought I might have it drift from memory much like LB did and with no desire to revisit. But nope.

And it sounds Fucking huge. Fantastic production.


With McP. So glad we don’t have Ed shrieking and screaming on this. He’s found the sweet spot between doing that and his middle range, where his voice is used to best effect.

Loving it.

Im not sure how much you were listening to it before, but its july and its on heavy rotation here. And the vinyl is awesome.

VinylGuy wrote:

dimejinky99 wrote:This one really is a banger right? Thought I might have it drift from memory much like LB did and with no desire to revisit. But nope.

And it sounds Fucking huge. Fantastic production.


With McP. So glad we don’t have Ed shrieking and screaming on this. He’s found the sweet spot between doing that and his middle range, where his voice is used to best effect.

Loving it.

Im not sure how much you were listening to it before, but its july and its on heavy rotation here. And the vinyl is awesome.

Wasn’t listening much. Wasn’t listening at all tbh. Lot going on and a bit distracted. It’s a huge lovely treat to rediscover though.