[spottrax]

Great Soul is an awesome song. Hope it gets some love in concert this summer!

[gsmacleod]

Really digging this song - very Alice in Chains vibe during the intro.

Shane

[paulster2626]

My favourite on the album.

[Killer Whale Tank]

The album's only complete 'skipper' for me (although I often skip Hot Mic as well; but the latter is merely an indifferent song, while GS just plain sucks to my ear). I have no use for it whatsoever.

[direwolf74]

I love this song. Such a beautifully emotional vocal performance from Gord D. And I really dig the guitars and the entire groove. Great tune.

[Killer Whale Tank]

Yeah, songs like this must derive from a musical tradition - presumably, prog rock? - with which I have less than zero affinity. There are certain Hip and Downie songs I just can't 'hear,' such as this one, or 'Moon Over Glenora,' 'Wild Mountain Honey,' etc., that seem to draw from this source, and invariably just strike me as pretentious irritants. It's not that I'm *indifferent* to these songs (as I am to 'Hot Mic', say), I actively loathe them. Someone above referenced Alice in Chains, and that could be it right there; I'm as likely to listen to that band as I am to Nickleback or Disco Tex and the Sexalettes, or, for that matter, a chainsaw on pig iron. Just can't relate to the tradition in question.

[direwolf74]

There are certain Hip and Downie songs I just can't 'hear,' such as this one, or 'Moon Over Glenora,' 'Wild Mountain Honey,' etc..

Finally something we agree on! :thumb: I strongly dislike both of those songs as well. Although I have to say, Johnny is a beast on Wild Mountain Honey. Very John Bonham-esque performance from him on that tune, and I love that he's cranked way up in the mix. But the song itself is definitely one of the weaker moments in their catalogue. I wouldn't call it pretentious. It's just a very below-average song by Hip standards.

As for Great Soul, I don't get the Alice in Chains comparison at all.

[gsmacleod]

As for Great Soul, I don't get the Alice in Chains comparison at all.

To me the first 8s make me think of an AiC's song intro. Can't even put my finger on which one but every time I hear it, that's what I think.

After that, not AiC's even a little bit.

Shane

[Killer Whale Tank]

direwolf74, we don't disagree on everything! :lol: - e.g., your post shifted my thinking on 'Sarnia' (especially once I made the connection between the lyrics and the pollution from Chemical Valley). But yeah, 'Wild Mountain Honey' just sucks rocks.

[direwolf74]

direwolf74, we don't disagree on everything! :lol: - e.g., your post shifted my thinking on 'Sarnia' (especially once I made the connection between the lyrics and the pollution from Chemical Valley). But yeah, 'Wild Mountain Honey' just sucks rocks.

Excellent observation! I never thought of the Chemical Valley/Sarnia connection. I think I like that song even more now.

[Killer Whale Tank]

I raised this in the 'In Sarnia' thread, and don't mean to hijack this one, but - yeah. 'Sarnia, it's in my pocket' - that'd be dirt, dust - 'in my eyes, oh in my blood;' 'in my heart,' 'it's making me old' (as he cycles through the toxic fumes)...Once you hear these lines in terms of the pollution and contamination for which Sarnia is infamous, it's really hard to believe that Gord did NOT have contamination in mind as part of the lyric. He is far too on-the-ball, and also far too environmentally aware, not to have thought it through.

Sarnia, aka Chemical Valley, has the worst air quality of any city in Canada along with the attendant lung cancers and birth defects, etc., that go with this: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_chemical_industry_in_Sarnia">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environme ... _in_Sarnia</a><!-- m --> And I guarantee you Gord knows this.

This thought definitely adds another level to the poignancy of the song.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming!

[emperor penguin]

Really digging this song - very Alice in Chains vibe during the intro.

Shane

I see what you're saying, there's a bit of a "No Excuses" feel to it.

[j-monster]

This may be way out of left field, but here goes...

Great Soul's structure sorta reminds me of The Apartment Song, in that the beginning is at one, more relaxed, plane. Then the middle section comes on... and it builds... and builds... and builds some more... until at the end it fades out again back to the beginning level. Only difference is, The Apartment Song just ends, while Great Soul repeats the beginning verse before ending.

Crazy thought? Yeah, probably... especially as I've listened to the album a few times tonight trying to get into it while knowing I have to be up just over 6 hours from now to get ready for work tomorrow! :lol:

Last thought for now... for me, Great Soul is in the early lead for my favourite track from this album. Gotta have more listenings though to see if it stays there.