that sweet spot being 1984, with him gazing into the peeling ceiling paint of a haunted school hall.
I wonder how many times he's listened to "I'm on Fire"...
― yesca, Saturday, 22 July 2017 02:09 (six years ago) link
I like the new songs but the overall hype is exaggerated. They are recycling ideas and it's becoming hard to distinguish between the songs themselves.
― nostormo, Friday, 4 August 2017 06:16 (six years ago) link
https://youtu.be/z_qaKlf2TzU
― nostormo, Friday, 4 August 2017 06:19 (six years ago) link
I love all of the releases from this album. I can see what some people are saying in that it all has a similar thing to it but I think that's precisely what the group should be delivering at this stage in their output. It's the perfect realization of their sound at this moment in time.
― yesca, Sunday, 6 August 2017 16:13 (six years ago) link
sounds like john mcentire produced this and recruited eric claridge to play bowie. awesome in other words
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 15:25 (six years ago) link
he sounds like John Mayer.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 15:31 (six years ago) link
really looking forward to this, all the new songs growing on me with every listen
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 15:37 (six years ago) link
http://www.thewarondrugs.net/firstlisten/
― just another (diamonddave85), Wednesday, 23 August 2017 19:36 (six years ago) link
If there has to be a comparison he sounds more like Bryan Adams
― warm winds and clear skies, Wednesday, 23 August 2017 20:45 (six years ago) link
i hear alasdair maclean with a dylan twang
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 24 August 2017 15:30 (six years ago) link
More of the same ... and that's OK.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 August 2017 01:53 (six years ago) link
well
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 August 2017 02:22 (six years ago) link
i love "strangest thing"
― k3vin k., Friday, 25 August 2017 02:28 (six years ago) link
that's good. So is the first track.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 August 2017 02:34 (six years ago) link
The first song is glorious
― monotony, Friday, 25 August 2017 05:08 (six years ago) link
I do like this, but don't quite understand the guy getting defined as some sort of perfectionist, a trait I keep seeing popping up in profiles. Really? Anxiety about releasing something, or saying it is done, does not make you a perfectionist.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 August 2017 12:15 (six years ago) link
he objectively does not sound like John Mayer
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 25 August 2017 13:01 (six years ago) link
what about subjectively
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 August 2017 13:03 (six years ago) link
He at best hypothetically sounds like John Mayer.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 August 2017 13:25 (six years ago) link
I stand by my Dylan joins 90s Pink Floyd
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 25 August 2017 15:30 (six years ago) link
90s floyd didn't groove like this unfortunately
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 25 August 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
The band chose an apt name: like most drugs, they're fine in moderation.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 August 2017 16:02 (six years ago) link
That's what Dylan brought to Pink Floyd.
In seriousness, the Pitchfork article on their roots in heartland synth is pretty otm.
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 25 August 2017 17:09 (six years ago) link
Reminds me of Street Fighting Years by Simple Minds.
― DJI, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:17 (six years ago) link
vocally, granduciel has always reminded me of Petty's vocal on The Waiting if he sang exactly like that on every song
― rock and roll tucci coo (voodoo chili), Friday, 25 August 2017 17:55 (six years ago) link
I was impressed by the NPR interview this morning, not the gist of it, per se, but WoD guy himself. I was expecting some mumbly indie dude but he seemed really upbeat and relaxed and happy to be there. Good for him, I say.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 25 August 2017 22:17 (six years ago) link
don't quite understand the guy getting defined as some sort of perfectionist
fwiw, acquaintance of mine who played on this album says Adam "slaved & bled over this album"
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Saturday, 26 August 2017 00:06 (six years ago) link
i mean that's the sort of thing you might hear about any album, but i believe him
around the time they released 'lost in the dream', granduciel said he wasn't even sure he had another album in him. so for an album that may not have even happened, this is really something else. the album is balanced much better LITD, whose back half i always found boring, despite liking all of the songs. i don't think it has a song as good as 'red eyes' but there are for sure a number of POX GOAT jams on it. 'nothing to find' might be the most war on drugs song ever, they even quote a guitar riff from the last album on it.
LITD took a few years to sink in for me but this one has me right out of the gate
― just another (diamonddave85), Saturday, 26 August 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link
also refreshing to have a critically acclaimed rock band in 2017 who appreciates the emotional power of a guitar solo
― just another (diamonddave85), Saturday, 26 August 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
It's all very Musician-magazine-tries-to-grapple-with-the-end-of-the-eighties-core. And some may like that.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 26 August 2017 17:16 (six years ago) link
It took an Argentine restaurant for me to accept Lost in a Dream.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 26 August 2017 18:48 (six years ago) link
i'm just glad someone who's meandered all the way into the androgyne world of indie has come out the other side with an (i think) more examined reflection on masculinity in 2017
― austinb, Saturday, 26 August 2017 21:07 (six years ago) link
i don't know if/don't think that adam granduciel is queer, but at the risk of overlaying identity signification this feels just queered enough to poke at what masculinity means without being overtly femme, which i kind of really appreciate
― austinb, Saturday, 26 August 2017 21:08 (six years ago) link
this album is so lush, I think it could probably make trees grow faster and flowers bloom.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Sunday, 27 August 2017 01:21 (six years ago) link
Dire straits was one of the biggest acts on Earth in 1985-1986, maybe the biggest —like huge in continental and Eastern Europe. Yet I do not know of one single noteworthy act that wanted to sound anything like 'em in three decades…until the WoD . It's like no one, not even any alt-country acts, wanted to sound like DS for so long that the one that finally did then became big. I know a lotta old guys (the Musician mag cohort indeed) and guys around my age who like respectable 80s AOR who do backflips for this band.
― veronica moser, Sunday, 27 August 2017 02:11 (six years ago) link
otm
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 August 2017 03:27 (six years ago) link
In Chains is so great!
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Sunday, 27 August 2017 05:26 (six years ago) link
Isn't the most obvious reference Springsteen? Everytime I hear one of his songs I start thinking I'd rather listen to Springsteen instead.
the album is great but he could edit half of the songs, most of the time they just go by without groove or doing anything interesting.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2017 08:42 (six years ago) link
saw them live where they channelled Bruce much more than on record
― niels, Sunday, 27 August 2017 09:15 (six years ago) link
So how can it be great?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 August 2017 11:17 (six years ago) link
Ok maybe great is too strong a word heh... I mean it's produced in a way that everything sounds "lush" and wjen the songd finally settle they are good but then they start meandering... I don't think he does anything special with his arrangements in the non-vocals bits and he doesn't seem how to end a song, he just starts piling up sounds until the song exhausts itself. The shortest song in here is 4mins long but most of them are well over the 6min mark and it becomes a bit of a chore. Take Dan Bejar/Destroyer as a counter-argument on how to do 6min+ songs right.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2017 12:53 (six years ago) link
When it's good it's good and when it's bad it isn't offensively bad it's just a bit boring but it's produced in a way that's easy to leave in the background without being annoying.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2017 13:07 (six years ago) link
this is how i felt about the back half of LITD and i think this impulse is reigned in and streamlined on the new one
because they're a jammy rock band where being concise is beside the point?
― just another (diamonddave85), Sunday, 27 August 2017 14:58 (six years ago) link
strawberry or guava?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 August 2017 15:04 (six years ago) link
I was talking to Moka, by the way, who listed several flaws that would detract from an album's greatness. If he thinks it's merely "good," that's fine.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 27 August 2017 15:05 (six years ago) link
i know, i was giving a possible explanation on how it could still be considered great given his critiques
― just another (diamonddave85), Sunday, 27 August 2017 15:13 (six years ago) link
alfred there are lots of unhappy campers in the comment section below your review :(
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 27 August 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
Well, again, it's not a bad album by design, imho. The good outweighs the bad, and the bad is not terrible...also it doesn't feel like the songs are needlessly long because the artist is presenting them as self-important ambitious epics (eg: Oasis), I imagine it's more like he just doesn't know when to stop... maybe a byproduct of his live performances?
The potential is there though, if he ever learns to trim down the fat or do something more iwith those instrumental passages.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2017 16:21 (six years ago) link
I cant tell by your review if you hated the album or not Alfred haha... it seems like we're on the same page.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2017 16:35 (six years ago) link
the art of pretend forgetfulness 2007, since i can't find the other thread
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 June 2019 11:04 (four years ago) link
according to this threat
good typo, ILX spirit.
― Ludo, Monday, 24 June 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
Thanks to this thread I do recall now that they released an 11-minute songs as their lead single. But I still don’t remember how it goes.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Monday, 24 June 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
no one does
― alpine static, Monday, 24 June 2019 17:43 (four years ago) link
Maybe it's still going.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 June 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
Thinking of a Place remains, to me, an awesome song.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 24 June 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
the new live album is really great
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 26 November 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
yup. had me at the track listing, for obvious reasons
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Thursday, 26 November 2020 20:15 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Lf31f7gRw
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Thursday, 26 November 2020 20:16 (three years ago) link
the best filmed version of An Ocean In Between The Waves is from Pukkelpop '18, some guy says in the comments here (I haven't seen all of them but I agree that this is possibly even better than on the live album) & starts at 8:25 here (first two songs are Nothing To Find (intro missing) and Pain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjY0-7ptghk
― StanM, Friday, 27 November 2020 17:06 (three years ago) link
Having acoustic guitar on the rocking/upbeat numbers live as above is really smart, adding that strumming texture to it as you would on record
― call mr zbow that's my name that name again is mr zbow (Craig D.), Friday, 27 November 2020 19:15 (three years ago) link
I was fully prepared to sneer at this because of some misplaced idea that it'd be overdubbed and polished so much as to basically be a studio album. Well, another bullshit opinion destroyed: Eyes to the Wind just completely took me out at the knees.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 28 November 2020 11:07 (three years ago) link
Even though it's mighty fine and impressive I still miss so many songs they could have selected for the live album. (Holding On, Nothing To Find, In Chains, Burning, etc etc) There's a couple of great sounding full shows out there that do contain them (Northside and Sziget for instance), I wonder if keeping this limited to 1 CD and his referring to Bruce's 1975-1985 is a subtle hint to bootleggers, to please release an alternate version?
― StanM, Saturday, 12 December 2020 14:50 (three years ago) link
Pppp
― DJI, Sunday, 13 December 2020 00:46 (three years ago) link
?
― StanM, Sunday, 13 December 2020 01:48 (three years ago) link
album is incredible
― J0rdan S., Sunday, 13 December 2020 08:34 (three years ago) link
also a deeper understanding is my fav of their albums, this thread is insane
― J0rdan S., Sunday, 13 December 2020 08:45 (three years ago) link
I think I butt dialed that last post from Zing, sorry.
― DJI, Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
that's exactly the post a butt would dial too
― imago, Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:47 (three years ago) link
Butt dialling, pianississimo.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 13 December 2020 16:50 (three years ago) link
J0rdan S otm
― brimstead, Sunday, 13 December 2020 17:52 (three years ago) link
thinking of a place is still the best song
― ciderpress, Sunday, 13 December 2020 21:11 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qKCDJAFkWo
― xzanfar, Monday, 14 December 2020 04:06 (three years ago) link
they might be a band which, jeez you'd maybe have to go back to the 70s? whose best album is a live albuma little premature to say that obv but I really really like the live album so far
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 14 December 2020 04:08 (three years ago) link
Oh I guess Phish maybe? you'd have to ask a fan, I don't know that much about them
the 4 part podcast about 2020 + the live album (4 x 25 minutes, approx) is pretty interesting & enjoyable: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-super-high-quality-podcast/id1538505374
― StanM, Sunday, 20 December 2020 14:09 (three years ago) link