MASS ROMANTIC

all right more hot takes: the first four new pornos records are basically all as good as each other, but electric version > mass romantic

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, November 23, 2020

I agree w this take and love that it includes Challengers

― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, November 23, 2020

+1 on both takes and on the inclusion of Challengers. even spicier take: Challengers is their strongest LP front-to-back.

idk if we're really even doing artist polls any more but NPs both deserves one and poses a toughie. like NPs+Newman solo kinda makes sense but throwing in Neko and Destroyer would be a mess

I'm finding this very difficult because this album feels - and I don't think this is a problem, just a quality - sort of undifferentiated to me, like all the songs are good in the same way and for the same reasons. Trying to pick one track out from the group is like staring at a picture that has a ton of color but all the color is at the same level of saturation. At a certain point, your eyes just can't focus anymore.

I found myself going through the songs minute by minute, trying to decide which cool bit was cooler than every other cool bit (like, do I want to vote for "To Wild Homes" because of the cool Fleetwood Mac-y Toooo-oooooo wiii-iiillld homes at the end, or do I prefer the chorus of "Letter from an Occupant?") Then I tried stepping back, letting my eyes go out of focus, and seeing what stood out from the background, and ended up with "The Fake Headlines."

But I still might vote for "Mass Romantic" because that feels somehow like voting for the album as a whole. Idk.

i jammed out to 'slow descent' earlier today because that song always sounded to me like a very fast descent into alcoholism, hence the joke and pleasure of the song, and i always related to it. that finishes my report on the new pornographers.

+1 on both takes and on the inclusion of Challengers. even spicier take: Challengers is their strongest LP front-to-back.

I would also say none of their albums are (quite) front-to-back killers.

None of their albums is perfect, but most of them are really, really good, is that what your after? Because that’s what I’ve come to think.

I'd say Electric Version, Twin Cinema and Newman's The Slow Wonder have no weak songs.

mass romantic is something like 10 killer songs in a row until it slows down at the end

Re: challengers, “my rights vs yours” is like the ur-new pornos song

I love both Electric Version and Twin Cinema but, as pointed out earlier, couldn't name every song on them so wouldn't be able to tell you if there was a weak one or not.

vc otm about "My Right Vs. Yours."

Electric Version has more songs that stand out in my mind. I really like "The Laws Have Changed."

That’s a good one. I was pretty into Whiteout Conditions when it came out. Seem to remember liking something on Brill Bruisers, couldn’t tell you anything specific, don’t think I even remember ever listening to Together, tried a few tracks on In the Morse Code of Brake Lights the other night but nothing stuck yet.

"War on the East Coast" is the last New Pornos song that struck me as essential

“you’ll need a new backseat driver” was an awesome neko-led song on their album from last year.

fits halfway between “my rights” and “bleeding heart show” (not as strong as either, but in a similar zip code)

Slow Wonder is a goddamn masterpiece and it doesn’t get nearly enough respect.

Listening now

I feel confident in saying that "The Laws have Changed" is the "Letter from an Occupant" of Electric Version.

i def. remember getting more attached to ev than mr.

just to throw another opinion on the fire, i'll take get guilty over the slow wonder in the newman solo record derby

Get Guilty is a solid album, more in the New Pornographers vein than Slow Wonder, but it has fewer great songs. Shut Down the Streets is his most pastoral record, and also fine.

Does anyone know where I might find a video of the NP's performing "Fake Headlines" live? I have some theories about a few things that happen in the song that I need to x-ref with some live footage.

somewhere in another NPs thread on ILM, i lamented / wondered about the dearth of footage of the band playing live in its early days.

i believe someone suggested that might be because of Neko's longtime "no cameras" rule at shows ... which seemed like as good a guess as any.

Also, many people I know who saw them in the early days said they were awful live? (Don't jump on me, these were all friends who were equally obsessed as I was at the time)

I had this experience as well

I remember being upset about missing their first show in Philly after Electric Version came out, and all my friends who went were like 'you didn't miss much.'

It's a minority position, but I know I'm not the only one who doesn't much care for Dan Bejar ("Jackie Dressed in Cobras" and "War on the East Coast" excepted).

Minority position but have heard this before, not going to quibble.

They were fine when I saw them 2 years ago (got the set list!) but never seen them in the early days.

No doubt over the decades they have improved.

hideous, I'm also not a fan of bejar's compositions (or his voice)

I remember being upset about missing their first show in Philly after Electric Version came out, and all my friends who went were like 'you didn't miss much.'

― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Tuesday, November 24, 2020 7:22 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i saw them in cambridge in this exact timeframe, they were great.

Interesting. Maybe just a bad show.

completely forgot until just now that i saw them play in prospect park with stars opening (maybe 2005-6?). the only thing i remember about it is that neko wasn’t there. and that stars were kind of boring.

As noted upthread, I saw Superconductor in 93 or 94? And they were awesome!

I saw Zumpano shortly after and I absolutely hated them haha.

My local record store (Aquarius) hyped The New Pornographers up from the very beginning (one of the employees was an ex-Vancouverite and former bandmate of Neko's + friend of Carl & Dan's) so their first show here (2002?) was a Big Deal and they were very good.

Then again at an Amoeba instore circa Twin Cinema and they were okay, tho in-stores are probably not the best gauge of a band's live presence tbqh.

Then finally at Battery Park in NYC (with Dr. Morbius) around the time of Challengers and they were very good.

Donna, are you sure it wasn't Battery Park?

albert, it was def prospect - just found the village voice review of the show, it was june 2005: https://www.villagevoice.com/2005/06/27/new-pornographers-stars-625-prospect-park-summer-stage/

DB wasn't there either, i guess, and the woman who sang neko's parts was carl's niece

Dang, they played a lot of NYC parks in that time period, here's the show we went to (avec Neko sans Dan) in 2007:

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/new-pornographe-9/

Trying to remember where I saw them, Maxwell’s?

xxp

I think I saw them around the same timeframe, sans Neko and Bejar. I really only remember Kurt Dahle channeling Keith Moon.

i don't recall much about that electric version tour show except for carl playing the intro riff to "barracuda" for some reason and that they did like 3 encores, to the point where carl had to tell us that they were pretty much out of songs.

dahle had really perfected his keith moon impression by the time they were touring for twin cinema. no problems with the new guy but dahle was awesome.

it's not even a fair comparison. dahle is a monster. the new guy is fine

not really "early" but I saw them in 2007 right after challengers came out and they were great, it's one of my favorite shows I've seen. the whole gang was there but bejar kind of wandered on and off stage a bit

this was I think the first band that I got into thanks to napster as I'd read about mass romantic on some year end lists and wanted to check them out.

i listened to this for the first time in a while newman's 'tooooooooo wiiiillllllld homes' part at the end of that song is probably my favorite bit

I saw them in DC on the Electric Version tour and they sucked. But Bejar and Neko weren't there.

As to AC Newman solo give me "The Town Halo" but you can discard the rest.

Trying to remember where I saw them, Maxwell’s?

i lied upthread, the best newman song is "star bodies"

I'm taking another stab at the two recent albums - besides the lack of Bejar, I mainly just don't like the arrangements or mixing. crowded and fussy.

catching up:

I saw them in '03 and they were excellent.

Count me among those not that into Bejar. He has some good ones - even great ones - on these albums but he is the third best songwriter in this band. (Not saying he's not good. He is! But Newman and Neko are top-shelf.)

Rather than get better over the years, as someone suggested, my last two NPs shows were carried by the catalog, sadly, as I think the band has sort of settled into a fairly unexciting live act. Neko's always fun and Calder is magnetic for some reason, but everyone else looks like they're going through the motions. Fortunately, the songs are so good it doesn't matter much.

"Carried by the Catalog" sounds like a New Pornographers song title.

Lol y'all knocking Bejar's songwriting are out of your minds.