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

plus 'perfect' is phenomenal at the end

I must give major props to "Velvet Waltz" off of Perfect From Now On, still my favorite BTS song.

I still like Keep it Like a Secret just as much, with There's Nothing Wrong With Love. I want to like the live album, but it reminds me too much of the one time I saw BTS live, which was sort of like a sped up version of watching an old man lose the ability to grip his hammer, and then die.

"Both are great but Keep Like A Secret starts higher and peters out more near the end. Perfect is more consistent overall so I'll probably give it the nod" is very OTM

-- stevie, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:37 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Link

By OTM, do you mean "Opposite of The Money"? The last three songs on KILAS are impeccable.

keep it like a secret always feels perfect.

purrrrrrrfect.

the guitar bridge in the middle of Sidewalk is great

Else is painful to listen to

a frightening prelude to You Were Right.

whoas. Broken Chairs is a ridiculous closer. the vocals just hang in the air.

wtf ;D

Long time since I listened to Keep it Like a secret, not so long for Perfect from Now On. For me Perfect is Perfect because each song is like aa epic story without being prog- it is coherent and massive- works as a whole gigantic album. Keep it like a secret is more varied and feels far more inconsistent.I was extremely disappointed at the time. I guess I had Built to Spill pigeoned as a group who wrote monumental tracks which felt both pop-like and also quite symphonic. There is daylight between these two records for me and i am interested in why so many people seem to love "Keep it." there no right or wrong answer of course but this one just seems so obvious. have all you Keep it people listened well to perfect from now on
. Also all those people who love Keep It Like a secret- did you like this before you heard Perfect from Now on? For me it was the other way round and like a favourite pet maybe it is hard to give up your first love.

I heard Keep It Like A Secret long before Perfect From Now On and it's by far my favorite Built to Spill record. I have all the other ones but honestly listen to to this one 95% of the time and all the others 5%.

I really should listen to Perfect more.

Thats what I'm trying to say. My theory is that all the Fans of Keep it like a Secret were first to this record and second to Perfect from Now on. Maybe it depends on which one you listened to first.

well Keep It is the first and only that i've heard. i can't remember if i got Perfect or something else after, but it doesn't matter cuz this girl stole it.

what should i get now???

Perfect From Now On!

their best, "There's Nothing Wrong With Love"

I've always said There's Nothing Wrong with Love was my fave, but I'm starting to wonder if Secret aged better.

perfect perfect perfect perfect perfect. perfect.

voted "there's nothing wrong with love"

They played Perfect in its entirety last month here in Brussels, and right after "Untrustable" (I mean RIGHT after, they didn't even stop for the applause) they played "In Your Mind" from Ancient Melodies. I always thought it was the best song from that album, but it was a bit weird to hear it so closely connected to Perfect.

During the encore we got "Car", which was a nice treat as well :)

BTW, my vote goes to Perfect.

They played Perfect in its entirety last month here in Brussels

fuck fuck fuck this was in london two weeks ago. why don't i check live listings? fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

I actually don't think I've heard Perfect From Now On. I own Keep It Like A Secret but I never got into it. I like There's Nothing Wrong With Love and Ultimate Alternative Wavers a lot more.

Thanks for the post. I didn't realize Keep It was so highly regarded, the CD's been sitting around the back of my collection. Somehow I got it confused with Ancient Melodies which I found very disappointing.

No one likes "Broken Chairs"? This is one of my favorite songs on this album.

it's an OK song but it has one of the most torturously long fadeouts ever

Keep It is really the only Built To Spill i fuck with at all, I saw one of the shows where they did Perfect last year and just kept thinking about how much i'd like to hear the other album instead.

^

The song broken chairs is credited in the liner notes to "uhuru black". I'm pretty sure this is noy a black uhuru song though, right?

I just got into these guys, and I really like _KILAS_. With the exception of "Randy", _Perfect_ seems completely unremarkable to me.

there's nothing wrong w/ love is my favorite by a good amount, though i think "liar" is my favorite song by them

great song, no doubt

'The song broken chairs is credited in the liner notes to "uhuru black". I'm pretty sure this is noy a black uhuru song though, right?'

Uhuru Black was a Built To Spill roadie who died shortly before Keep It Like A Secret was recorded. He wrote the words, they turned it into a song as a tribute to him.

That's cool. Makes me like the song better. But it's still one of the rare BTS songs that goes on too long.

The only Built to Spill album I'm super-familiar with is Keep It Like a Secret, which I like quite a bit. I've heard a smattering of songs from other albums, but until recently I hadn't heard Perfect From Now On. It's ... fine, I guess? I mean, I get that Built to Spill is basically an indie-rock jam band and the sprawl is often what it's about, but I wish these songs also had the memorable hooks of Keep It Like a Secret, which strikes me as a far superior album for its balance. Amusing to me -- though maybe it shouldn't be -- that Ned rates this album so highly.

I think Perfect From Now On is their best record, but they seem to disagree. I think that tour a few years ago where they played it in its entirety was their way of retiring it. When I saw them in 2010 they only played one song from it, and when I saw them this year they didn't play anything from it. Closed this year's set with what felt like a 30 minute version of "Broken Chairs", though.

i think if you're familiar with the sprawl first, perfect is sort of hits-plus-filler in comparison

i mean secret is hits-plus-filler, sorry

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!