Howlin' Rain C/D

Pretty much sucks. Wrote about it here:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/04/catching-up-wit.html

oh you people with your IMPOSSIBLY high standards. sheesh. it's a fun record. it's not terrible like most things are terrible. um, not that i didn't trade my copy into the record store, like, two weeks after i started that thread, but still...

it was the first major label rock record i could get behind since...i can't remember.

I really liked the first album a lot, but didn't enjoy Magnificent Friend at all. I'm willing to give it another shot, as I only listened to it once or twice at the time, but I remember it sounding very lifeless to me.

another listen or two might be worth it. xhuxk, i could swear there are hooks

not that i didn't trade my copy into the record store, like, two weeks after i started that

Surprisingly, I still have mine. Mostly, because it's not worth anything. Used CD prices crashed this summer when everyone started bringing in their trash in hopes of getting a little scatch to help pay for gas.

Finally heard the new one. What. The. Fuck. This thing is so crazy. Its like probably one of the best approximations of a bloated 70s blooze-rock record I've heard. I mean, yeah you've got your long guitar jams, but you also get all the negative connotations of such a thing - slick vocals, the three-part female backing vocal harmonies, codas that double the song's length, a steady stream of blues tropes. Often times this sounds like a supergroup that Clapton would have been a part of in his prime, and I pretty much mean that in both the positive and negative ways you wanna take it. At its best, it gets a good groove going and you can hear the Comets On Fire influence, at its worst, like on "Can't Satisfy Me", it sounds EXACTLY like the kind of song that one Stevie Ray and Jonny Lang loving motherfucker would pump. Its just, I don't know. My initial reactionw as revulsion, but they just absolutely nail the bloated blues-schlock thing so well that its an always fascinating listen. Its oddly compelling.

Really, really curious to hear what skot and xhukx think about this thing.

bloated 70s blooze-rock

phrases like that keep me from listening

Yeah, I mean, thats what this sounds like though! Theres always been that element, but they just sort of decided to go for broke with it.

"bloated 70s blooze-rock" is being used here in a realheadsknowthedeal.gif way I think

not listened to this enough to ascertain whether they take it to a properly good place but I think the IDEA with this band is that they dig the gold out of the mud, sorta thing

Interviewed Ethan Miller the other week -- pretty engaging guy and he definitely has a strong sense of both what he can do as well as his bandmates. I'd say you always want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Oh I don't doubt the talent involved here and I definitely think everything on here is intentional, its just a question of how far they went in service of this sound.

I still kinda actually dig this. SPIN gave it a "Worst New Music" tag.

Haha I still haven't come around on The Russian Wilds as much as others and I wasn't a huge fan of Mansion Songs either. That said, I really, really dug 2018's The Alligator Bride and I still like the first two records.

Reason for the bump is a spin of the new rarities comp (Lost at Sea) they released digitally on July 3rd. Leftovers from most of their records and an abandoned Ethan Miller solo record, plus some live stuff. It's really great, their take on "Here Comes Sunshine" is among the better Dead covers I've heard lately.

Alligator Bride was my favourite album of 2018

Love Alligator Bride but the Live album is still my favourite of theirs. Lost At Sea is not on spotify though :(

Hopefully it'll be back later this year. Lost at Sea isn't actually due out until December with a full roll-out (LP/CD/Digital) but they released it for pay what you want on bandcamp for just the first week of July as a "full album preview". It's great. I need to track down more of their live stuff.

New album falls a little flat? It rushes by without much significance, hopefully it'll all come together with a few more listens

Still waiting for my copy to ship, holding off until I have a physical copy. Wonder whatever happened with the physical release of Lost at Sea, must have gotten pushed back to focus on the new album.

Every few years I think I’m gonna like this band and it always turns out that I don’t. The vocals are a big no for me.

Vinyl delayed by a week, I heard. I've been living with it for months and I really love it. I wrote this last week, didn't realise things got so heavy with Comets (or that they almost finished a fifth album).
https://thequietus.com/articles/30629-ethan-miller-comets-on-fire-howlin-rain