06-30-2009, 02:43 PM
day_for_night Wrote:read my review on pg 63. i make a point of not criticizing them for sounding like i 'expect' them to (i never expect them to sound like anything), but for sounding how they do on this album. as in i don't like what they've brought to the table with this effort. admittedly, there is alot of 'they don't sound like they used to' going on here, so one can be forgiven for assuming all critics of the album are thinking that way...
Yeah, fair enough. Interesting critique...I just disagree with most of it (which seems strage given that you and I appear to share a similar basic attitude toward elaborate production values, i.e., we dislike them). Unlike you, I find the sound on this one much *crisper* than on WC, on which I could barely make out distinct instruments. On this one, most elements on most songs seem to me nicely defined. The drums in particular seem excellent. 'Morning Moon,' for instance, sounds just about *perfect* to me, one of their best recorded moments. Yet you have precisely the opposite reaction. I suppose it proves Abe Lincoln's dictum.
And I really don't get the hate-on for 'Coffee Girl.' Great groove, catchy tune, pointed lyric, well sung...resistance to it just baffles me.
As I say, I find that, on this particular record - unlike WC, which he ruined - Rock really gets in the way on the songs that are intended to be Big Rockers. Furrows, Frozen, Love is a Curse - only the last survives (The Depressions Suite is just a badly-designed song, period, its failure is not Rock's fault...although I doubt he helped).