The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

i swear i can't figure out if this band is kinda bland or incomparably brilliant, but i think it's one or the other, no in between

maybe that's the magic?

i have the same problem as you, alpine static. i think they have their moments of brilliance. the problem being they try to extend those moments to minutes and than it all becomes pretty dull.

saw them live a couple of weeks ago. The stuff off Lost in the Dream was fantastic, the rest... not so much.

I was staggered that they were playing two nights at the Apollo in Manchester. I've seen New Order play there!

I used to like them.but i hate the new album.

I don't really like the band name, but I liked the song "Strangest Thing"
I dig turtles, too.

What's inside a turtle?

understanding juice

I've also spent many years (intermittently, obv) trying to figure this band out -- even played a bunch of shows with him when he was nobody and he seemed like a cool guy but the sets didn't make an impression. It's like a band that started its career in its later-career burnout phase, or maybe more like post-burnout comeback phase where they start to sound pretty good again but a lot of the older musical idiosyncrasies are gone and there's less energy? Yet it's that concept carried so far that it almost becomes interesting again?

He relies a little too much on the same few vocal melody tricks/chord progression ideas. But there's something to be said for just developing a sound and really sticking to it I guess.

Every song sounds like the video should be aerial footage from a seaplane low over the ocean fading into a closeup on the singer's emotively singing face in black and white, just that image sequence repeatedly

A lot of people cite Dylan and Springsteen, but I'm reminded a lot of Bob Seeger doing "Against the Wind," even though it's a bit different both sonicly and in vocal style.

It's like a band that started its career in its later-career burnout phase

I like this band but this is the best and most accurate description of them I have ever heard

It's pretty much how I've described my feeling about Tame Impala as well. The classic rock giants entering their 80's phase.

found the exact visual I was picturing for the videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hr64MxYpgk

like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9LgHNf2Qy0

on paper this band sucks, but i love em unreservedly

they only know one song and i love that song. but i do not like to listen to it ten times in a row in one evening. in other words live they suck.

You mean that song that starts on the IV/ and then it goes to the I
That sounded pretty good man/let's do another one
But I bet you never expected the song to go.../to the V

Saw them last night at The Fox in Oakland. I'm a big fan, but the show was still pretty much a snoozer. They literally brought their entire studio with them. Adam Granduciel had like 50-ish guitar pedals, and there were three different keyboard areas! It all added up to a giant wall of beautiful sound, but there was zero excitement. They also had a beautiful light show, which made up for some of the overly-mellow vibe, but I was waiting all night for some powerful moment that never came.

sounds pretty much like what I imagined

This album is the opposite of a grower. I seem to like it less and less each time I put it on. Even the songs I initially thought were great are becoming merely good.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, September 22, 2017 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Apparently this album is the epitome of “opposite of a grower” because I was listening to Lost in the Dream earlier today and couldn’t believe WoD hadn’t released an album since 2014... only to find that they released this album in 2017. I have no memory of it - but according to this threat I listened to it, liked it at first and then grew to dislike it. And now I’ve successfully erased it from my mind.

the art of pretend forgetfulness 2007, since i can't find the other thread

according to this threat

good typo, ILX spirit.

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.

no one does

Maybe it's still going.

Thinking of a Place remains, to me, an awesome song.

the new live album is really great

yup. had me at the track listing, for obvious reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Lf31f7gRw

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

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

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.

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?

Pppp

?

album is incredible

also a deeper understanding is my fav of their albums, this thread is insane

I think I butt dialed that last post from Zing, sorry.

that's exactly the post a butt would dial too

Butt dialling, pianississimo.

J0rdan S otm

thinking of a place is still the best song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qKCDJAFkWo

they might be a band which, jeez you'd maybe have to go back to the 70s? whose best album is a live album

a little premature to say that obv but I really really like the live album so far

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

a longer podcast episode on the making of Lost In The Dream https://www.buzzsprout.com/1346161/14687088-lost-in-the-dream-10th-anniversary