Bright Flight might be my fave (coincidentally came out at the height of my Joos fandom), but after that the ones with SM are generally my go-tos.
― constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 18:39 (five years ago) link
Natural Bridge is my bummtertime favorite. That's Malkmus-less.
― circa1916, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
American Water by Silver Jews was first released two decades ago. Observing the time between then and now, the album has been half-speed mastered at Abbey Road to provide depth and nuance for all future vinyl listeners - and current ones! Additionally, a cassette version of this timeless album makes its debut, to provide an alternative aural timestamp for intrepid audio voyagers who weren't there the first time around. You can pre-order both versions NOW for the 9/28 release date. American Water - here's to the next 20 years!
(via Drag City)
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Saturday, 11 August 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
That "Blue Arrangements" garnered only ONE VOTE in this poll is a crime for the ages.
― Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:04 (five years ago) link
And this is emphatically my second or third favorite SJ record. (I wind up in arguments with folks about this now and again.)
― Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:07 (five years ago) link
haha, i'm not sure i've ever heard anyone ever emphatically claim something as their second or third favorite! but i kind of know what you mean. i will emphatically place it in my top 2!
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:17 (five years ago) link
This is the best SJ rekkid, and not just because SM is all over it
― calstars, Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:45 (five years ago) link
love this record but can't think of any reason why anyone would wanna shell out for an audiophile version of it
― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:48 (five years ago) link
Holdin up the trousers with extension cords
― calstars, Saturday, 11 August 2018 22:48 (five years ago) link
Paul — I have “Starlite Walker” on vinyl and the sound is crappy; so maybe the same was true for this album, and the remaster rectifies it(?) I have found Matador / Drag City vinyl from the ‘90s to be poorly mastered...
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Saturday, 11 August 2018 23:03 (five years ago) link
That makes sense. I just never thought of this as an album I needed to hear in pristine audiophile quality. My CD copy sounds fine! But tbf I've never heard it on vinyl, and 90s DC pressings were notoriously poor quality iirc
― Paul Ponzi, Sunday, 12 August 2018 00:09 (five years ago) link
Air crickets air crickets air crickets air crickets air
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Sunday, 12 August 2018 00:41 (five years ago) link
Like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip, uh huh huh
― calstars, Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:58 (five years ago) link
Why can’t monsters get along with other monsters?
― calstars, Sunday, 12 August 2018 02:11 (five years ago) link
Playin tambourine for minimum wage
― calstars, Sunday, 12 August 2018 02:20 (five years ago) link
People gonna come arrrooooooound
― Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 12 August 2018 13:22 (five years ago) link
the vinyl version I have of this record is perfectly fine
― Neil S, Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:26 (five years ago) link
how has this thread been around for eight years without one of the most unbelievable verses DB ever wrote in it
got 2 tickets for a midnight executionwe'll hitchhike our way from odessa to houston and when they turn on the chairsomething's added to the airforever
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:27 (five years ago) link
honestly, i thought we had a whole dedicated to that song! but i'm looking now, and don't see one.
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:39 (five years ago) link
a whole thread, i meant.
but yeah, those words will always give me goosebumps. s&j was my intro to silver jews
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:44 (five years ago) link
Huh — I always thought it was, “
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
...“We hitchhike away from a desolate Houston”
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Sunday, 12 August 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
FTR, I think my favorite song on the album is “Like Like The The The Death” — both musically and lyrically (notwithstanding the bum line, “Nobody cares about a dead hooker”)
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Sunday, 12 August 2018 16:05 (five years ago) link
― circa1916, Sunday, 12 August 2018 22:28 (five years ago) link
Here comes the coda
Not much water coming over the hillNot much, not much, not muchNot much water coming over the hillNot much, not much, not much
Is there a coda thread? I know Ned has talked eloquently and correctly about New Order's Regret, and that's the greatest thing. But SM's work here is immense. Love this album. Don't think I've seen this thread until today.
― kraudive, Sunday, 12 August 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
The bird of VirginiaAre flying within yaAnd like background singersThey all come in threesAnd like background singersThey all come in threes
― Heez, Friday, 24 April 2020 03:26 (four years ago) link
I would've been a "We Are Real" voter because it would fit better on his slightly better album Natural Bridge
― Heez, Friday, 24 April 2020 03:28 (four years ago) link
from the op:
During a brief pause in conversation, the delicate sound of ringing guitar from a song called "Self-Ignition" escaped through a studio door. Berman described the song as a future B-side, explaining that the band had run through the track too quickly for it to make the final cut for the album. "We've never sounded tight like this," Berman said. "There's hard-rocking songs where we've never had that level of intensity before. They're really charged songs."
did this ever become a song?
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Friday, 24 April 2020 04:33 (four years ago) link
Yeah:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W90V4D1P9VY
― I eat fast foods (morrisp), Friday, 24 April 2020 04:39 (four years ago) link
(It was indeed a B-side, to “Send In The Clouds”)
― I eat fast foods (morrisp), Friday, 24 April 2020 04:41 (four years ago) link
oh nice, thanks! i know absolutely zero silver jews b-sides
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Friday, 24 April 2020 04:43 (four years ago) link
22 years old today. What a beast of a record.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 00:11 (three years ago) link
I've got two tickets to a midnight executionWe'll hitchhike our way from Odessa to HoustonAnd when they turn on the chairSomething's added to the airWhen they turn on the chairSomething's added to the air forever
― treeship., Wednesday, 21 October 2020 00:32 (three years ago) link
So many strange and fantastic moments on this record. RIP.
My life at home everydayDrinking coke in a kitchen with a dog that doesn’t know it’s name
― Heez, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 01:16 (three years ago) link
One of my dumbest opinions is that i don’t really fully fuck with this album (despite the openers being 2 of my lifetime favs) bc there’s too much steve malkmis on it and when I put silver jews on its cus I’m in the mood to hear DB
― flopson, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 06:15 (three years ago) link
Here's something that's always mystified me: in Buckingham Rabbit, the last line of every stanza is repeated two times, except for "I can track a single bee to the hive." Why?
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 15:37 (three years ago) link
I want to make a cocktail called a shattered dog on the rocks
― Heez, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link
Haha same. For maximum authenticity you would need to blow your rent money on the whiskey you use to make the drink
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 17:37 (three years ago) link
― J. Sam, Tuesday, November 3, 2020 10:37 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
he's tracking a single bee, not two bees
― glengarry gary beers (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 3 November 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
xps I love the Malk presence on this record; to continue with the cocktail theme, he's like the soda to Berman's straight whiskey, adds lightness/sweetness/delicacy/bubbliness.
― american primitive stylophone (zchyrs), Tuesday, 3 November 2020 17:43 (three years ago) link
I had p much the exact experience as flopson with this record for a long time too, but ive come to appreciate the malkmus presence over the years
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 3 November 2020 17:53 (three years ago) link
I thought I was alone in not digging Malkmus much here! The high points *are* rather high but I nowadays get more excited about the prospect of listening to pretty much any other long-player as a whole album, with the exception of perhaps Tanglewood Numbers.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 22:43 (three years ago) link
I adore everything Berman did but American Water yeah
― kraudive, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 23:32 (three years ago) link
hey there riders on the storm HOLD THE WORLD TO ITS WORD
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 3 November 2020 23:42 (three years ago) link
― glengarry gary beers (voodoo chili), Tuesday, November 3, 2020 12:39 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
damn.
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 4 November 2020 14:01 (three years ago) link
the malkmus songs on american water are v good, but they wouldn’t be the best songs on any pavement album and they’re also like, kinda funky? in a way that i just don’t think jibes with dave’s songs
― flopson, Thursday, 5 November 2020 06:02 (three years ago) link
They are funky - and the gtr work at the end of “Blue Arrangements” is sort of the heart of the album for me. This should not be taken as a slight at Berman, but Malk’s presence is core to the SJs sound for me.
― Tim Simms (morrisp), Thursday, 5 November 2020 07:05 (three years ago) link
I like this one even more than the last two Pavement records--feel like the SJ's w/SM are just a "different" kind of band. I think there are less stinkers for sure on this one. Like on Tanglewood, everything on Side 2 but How Can I love you but you won't lie die down doesn't really work for me. Whereas Side 2 of American Water is all hits. Same with Lookout Mountain, there's def. a drop off on side two.
I dunno I think they brought out the best of each other when they worked together, and I love their harmonizing.
― a (waterface), Thursday, 5 November 2020 13:26 (three years ago) link
they hit fagen/becker peaks
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 5 November 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link