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by mattinbeloit » Tue May 26, 2009 12:33 am
In terms of grading after listening to it a few times:
Grux- 10, it sets the atmosphere for the album as more of an homage as opposed to memorial
Shake Me- 8, It's a cheesy and cliche song but I love it, I rock out to it. A great way to kick off the album as there really isn't any other song on there with this type of energy.
Funny- 7, Although I've skipped it most of the time just because I've listened to it so many times...
LITHOG- 8, I recognise it's a good song but it still needs to grow on me more.
Why I Am- 9, this is strait up classic DMB IMO. It gives off a grey street/ kit kat vibe. I'm a little disappointed with the mix after hearing it live, one of my favorite bits was Timmy's electric kicking in on the first "why I am"'s.
Dive In- 7, kind of like LITHOG I think it needs to grow on me. Reminds me of Space Between for some reason.
Spaceman- 7, I don't know why this is getting so many bad raps, it's a decent song.
Squirm- 10, tied with Time Bomb as my favorite. I go nuts for anything with strings too and it's builds.
Alligator Pie- 9, I like the blue grass vibe Dave is getting in. It's a cool song conceptually although a bit sporadic lyrically at times. I love Dave barking back at the dog at times, as an engineer I always encourage artists to leave stuff like that in, very rarely do they agree unfortunately. Going back to Squirm, I enjoyed the street vendor on the moped at the end too.
Seven- 7, I knew it was going to be better in the studio and it was. Kind of like halloween in ways, as a DMB fan I can enjoy it but I don't play it for my friends...
Time Bomb- 10, I love it when Dave talks about searching for God, I love the chorus and the energy at the end. It's not perfect the way he sings it but you can't deny the passion is in there. Love the Veillette in there also!
My Baby Blue- 9, the ONLY reason I don't give this a 10 is because I as a musician am always an advocate of building stuff, and I think they could of really kicked in full band at the end (Don't kill me for making a Stand Up reference, but think about "Steady as We Go" and how it dies down at the end and the drums and everything kick in. They don't go balls out for long at the end but it's enough. I'm always waiting for them to do that every time I listen). Still, there is something to be said for simplicity, and no doubt this is beautiful. Personally I would of done it differently. Kudos for featuring the Veillette.
You and Me- 9 Today was the first time I listened to the finished version of this. When I listened to the April sessions it killed me because I thought it could be so much more. I was thinking it was about a 7.5 or maybe 8 until I heard the finished version, all it needed was a little drums and spice here and there. Thank you for doing that, the song really needed it. The only thing still bothering me about it is the fake strings towards the end, if you are going to pay the Philadelphia philharmonic (I think that's who did the strings?) to play on your record, don't put them in there and then hook up your yamaha motif and expect the two to play well together. My guess is that was bad planning and they did not have time to get that part recorded or just thought they could get away with doing that. But it's just one little spot, I'll let it slide I guess. But what a great way to end the album, the hidden track at the end is cute also.
Overall, that's like an 84%. It's not their best work but it's a little above being right in the middle, I have to say I would rather listen to this then Everyday any day of the week. I'm also optimistic that things will be uphill for the band in the future, there's a lot of great songs out there that they have done that have not been put on albums and I'm hoping they will utilize them. I can think of 13 recent song that could be put on a record that would run circles around this album, they still have it in them!
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jellyfish wrote:Mattinbeloit, you are not relevant.
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