Built to Spill: 'Perfect' vs. 'Keep it Like a Secret'

I missed KILAS the first time so it was a real pleasure discovering it two summers ago.

yeah it's hard for me to even imagine someone knowing Built To Spill for years and THEN hearing stuff like "Center Of The Universe," "Carry The Zero," "Else" now - definitely their highest pop points. But, outside of some best-of playlist, Perfect is definitely my go-to album to throw on if I'm in the mood for them.

perfect and there's nothing wrong with love are the only ones i listen to these days.

For some reason, I can never keep these titles straight. I like "Keep it Like a Secret" a lot, but somehow can't penetrate "Perfect from Now On" except the first track.

Perfect is not only denser and proggier, but I think angrier and more dissatisfied, which makes for a weird combination. After I revived the Keep It Like a Secret poll last week, I listened to both of them (that's basically what I think about the Built to Spill discography, btw: both of them). I can never keep the titles straight on Perfect From Now On. Which is the one where he says "dry lines on me/dryology"? Which is the one that starts off with mellow sweet guitars for like two minutes that are interrupted by the huge distorted chunks and a huge scream on the wah? That one's the best, but I don't know which one it is.

Which is the one where he says "dry lines on me/dryology"?

"Made-Up Dreams"

Which is the one that starts off with mellow sweet guitars for like two minutes that are interrupted by the huge distorted chunks and a huge scream on the wah?

"Stop the Show"

So many great songs on this album (my favorite of theirs by far), but yeah, super dense and proggy, especially compared to the rest of their discography.

i love both albums, although i think i've had more frequent periods of obsession with Perfect. Velvet Waltz, in particular, can trigger a strange cathartic rush

"Velvet Waltz" is the best thing this band ever did, anger that's gone cosmic

yeah, velvet waltz has always been my fave, though hearing it now brings on feelings of lol teenage angst years. thinking about going to see them next month, it's been a while, maybe 6-7 years?

Which is the one where he says "dry lines on me/dryology"?

"Made-Up Dreams"

Which is the one that starts off with mellow sweet guitars for like two minutes that are interrupted by the huge distorted chunks and a huge scream on the wah?

"Stop the Show"

― cwkiii, Thursday, April 11, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well yes, but my point is that I'm not familiar with a lot of the songs front-to-back. It's more like I'll but it on as passive listening and then there are these intense moments that draw me in for a while.

one of the best things about keeping old records is bringing back feelings of lol teenage angst years! I guess because those were pretty good years & I like refeeling feelings

I've come to love KILAS more, and regard it as a perfect record, but it still surprises me that it came after Perfect From Now On, not before. PFNO is such an ambitious expansion of Built to Spill's sound that KILAS can't help but feel like a contraction

Well yes, but my point is that I'm not familiar with a lot of the songs front-to-back.

I pretty much realized this immediately after posting...sorry!

one of the best things about keeping old records is bringing back feelings of lol teenage angst years
haha yeah, i suppose...there are some pretty specific things about 1997 that perfect from now on conjures up.

yeah it's hard for me to even imagine someone knowing Built To Spill for years and THEN hearing stuff like "Center Of The Universe," "Carry The Zero," "Else" now - definitely their highest pop points. But, outside of some best-of playlist, Perfect is definitely my go-to album to throw on if I'm in the mood for them.

― da croupier, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 11:37 AM (five years ago)

this is exactly what happened to me. i got Perfect From Now On in 2005 when i was becoming obsessed with Modest Mouse. could never get past "Randy Described Eternity," great song, but the production was really flat and the songs were ponderous. 10 years later i was in Ohio at a friend of a friend's house and someone put on Keep It Like a Secret. the super concentrated pop songwriting & production & absurd abundance of hooks was apparent like 30 seconds into "The Plan," but "Center of the Universe" was the one that just absolutely floored me, I asked them to play it 3 or 4 times in a row after it was over. and in the last 2 and a half years I've grown to love Keep It Like a Secret so much, the description upthread of the record as "hooks repeated until they crush you like a bug" is so otm. no filler at all, every song has like 7 incredible hooks. i'm listening to There's Nothing Wrong with Love for the first time right now and it's really great, gotta revisit Perfect From Now On...

perfect is a little more spread out in hooks / a little bit more about investing each song with as much space and grandeur as possible but as much as keep it like a secret is my fav bts album there's nothing on it that quite achieves what, say, the first few seconds of "velvet waltz" do

i think the thing that made me a built to spill fan is the "out of site" riff

Both fantastic albums but PFNO edges KILAS by a nose. People don't talk about it a lot as a wild major-label debut but it really is? (It also surprises me every time I remember they're still on Warner.)

I went beyond my usual price comfort range to pick up a ticket for BTS+ Afghan Whigs, two longtime faves I've never seen live. I could see a BTS gig being great or very dull, tbh.

tbh bts/afghan whigs is my dream tour and i need to buy tickets when i finally get paid again

I hope they play for 2.5 hours each

i've only seen built to spill once but they were so badass and i've never seen a less than great whigs show

the (local, at least) opener is a weird but cool choice

https://open.spotify.com/album/219b8zjnAnvtK4jh5CAlKs?si=kcqFEO-NSA2bg905Y7J1wg

shit i gotta get my ticket for their show here. BTS is opening right? or is it a co-headlining situation

co-headlining situation! it's gonna fucking rule!

oh sick, ok im going

not familiar with afghan whigs what's a good record to start with

gentlemen or black love

Gentlemen.

That's a weird double bill.

Black Love imo

I've never been that impressed by BTS live, but Afghan Whigs, I have left more than one of their shows thinking it the best I have ever seen to the extent that if I never saw another show by anyone I would be satisfied.

afghan whigs are one of the only rock bands of their time to successfully ingest r&b into their songwriting, they're v special to me, hope you like them flappy

Afghan Whigs, I have left more than one of their shows thinking it the best I have ever seen to the extent that if I never saw another show by anyone I would be satisfied.

exactly. best show i've ever seen in my life is still the 2012 bowery ballroom reunion show

I also recommend In Spades which is much better than I ever expected from their "reunion"

saw the Afghan Whigs on the Black Love tour, was unbelievably great

also I think Black Love > Gentlemen

it's not really a weird bill at all! considering they probably have a ton of mutual fans imo

Built to Spill has always been great live but you have to like solos. I love guitar solos.

same

didn't know there was this much consensus on black love. it's my fav whigs record (and prob the best introduction to them, it took me a while to completely get into gentlemen)

the production and sequencing is just a little more satisfying to me, Gentlemen (and Congreagation) both excellent obv

black love and 1965 are my absolute favorites but there's not much distance in quality between any of them post-up in it

I hope someone makes that Black Love noir one day

I've never been able to get into 1965 for some reason

Probably seen BtS six or seven times, and I'd say they crushed it at about four of those, one of which was probably a top 10 concert of all time for me. Best part of the show is usually the closer ("Broken Chairs" or something fittingly epic) where they give themselves the freedom to jam without restraint, but there's always this sense they could turn any song into a Perfect From Now On-scale monster if they wanted to.

1965 is the sexiest album

ah that's prob why I don't like it

i'm personally glad i've never seen the whigs perform "omerta" live bc the sexual energy would be overpowering

I don't like Built to Spills jammy solos, I think they're vampy/noodly/predictable, but ymmv. I do like when BTS goes into cover song mode. Same with the Whigs, for that matter, but the former is usually more faithful and the latter brilliantly twists totally inspired picks into spooky/sexy/sleazy Whigs mode.

I used to be one of those fans who listened for the songs and tolerated the solos, but eventually the jams became a real attraction for me... a lot of them are pretty damn dramatic. Doug Martsch admitted to me a few years ago that the jams are more for them than the audience, a way to keep themselves interested, but you can kinda tell that's where his heart is at and where he puts in the most passion.

They're one of those bands fascinated by the unattainable ideal of perfection, and the idea that there really is a perfect way to play each of these songs and the drive to get as close to that ideal as they can. Pretty satisfying seeing a band that cares that much about their craft, even if the jams aren't your thing

Doug also rocks Lace Sensors in his Strat so he's automatically a better guitarist than most

i too love guitar solos

as much as keep it like a secret is my fav bts album there's nothing on it that quite achieves what, say, the first few seconds of "velvet waltz" do

i checked my old posts on this thread and got really self-conscious about my opinion not really changing much over so many years, but i still think ^^^^^

Doug Martsch admitted to me a few years ago that the jams are more for them than the audience, a way to keep themselves interested, but you can kinda tell that's where his heart is at and where he puts in the most passion.

yeah, i agree with this and on the days when PFNO really connects with me it's because it was the album where they best balanced the hooks with the jams.