I'll admit that this version of A Heavy Hearted Work Of Staggering Genius is pretty cool. Cool as more of a b-side king of thing, because it doesn't really work in the flow of the album to be this long, but as a standalone song it's cool to hear an extended cut. Obviously helps that it's purely instrumental
Oh god, just have to say that - on top of not being a fan of his voice - I was trying to figure out what exactly it was that was bothering me about the overall delivery and this is it exactly! I went back and listened to the chorus of this song again and it's this weird phonetical pronunciation that drives me nuts.
The longer term members of the band accepting pun intended Nevertake artistically just boggles my mind. Hopefully I've not supported the endeavour too much streaming it once on Spotify lol
Pretty sure I saw another Stephen post begging fans to check it out. A lot of us who streamed it once likely didn’t make any difference.
yeah, showing off pages from his songwriting journals for that album. it's a bit annoying to beg, but i did see the page where he listed potential album titles, and "How Soon Is Never?" is a pretty good album title. maybe not for this album, but just in general.
There was some discussion around Apple Music having the better NTFP mix as part of the Blueprints for City Friendships compilation. For anybody who doesn't use Apply Music, it's the same on Spotify – the mix is noticeably much louder, and overall punchier, for the songs included in the compilation.
Listening through the better NTFP mix, and it just makes me so sad seeing what this band has done/is doing to their legacy. Everything has already been said across the last 50+ pages, but man what a bummer when a band you grew up loving becomes a band you have no interest in engaging with anymore. Why not get literally any other vocalist that could do these songs justice? Somebody with a bit more range and nuance in their voice. Phil Sneed, or what's Maika Maile from There For Tomorrow up to now? He'd crush a lot of these songs.
I know Maika has a solo career because I remember seeing sponsored posts about it on instagram last year but I think he’s mainly chilling, being a dad and he must have a day job as well Good name drop though, There For Tomorrow should’ve been much bigger. Dude has pipes
Wow I forgot about There For Tomorrow. They had some jams, and yeah the dude could sing. Good callout.
What’re the odds that the band sees the outcries from fans and the public and reverses course? Is there anyway to make it work with Stephen? Tour on the odd years only? Do one 3-month tour every year? I don’t follow as closely as I once did, but they have to be aware how they’re alienating their fans to an extent, right?
No way. They've double downed on everything at this point, even scrubbing negative comments. This is the way it will be for these dudes. They want their paycheck, and I don't blame them, I just really hate the way they've gone about it.
Yeah, I'm sure there are other pockets of the internet where this is being discussed as bad, but unless they are seeking out bad reviews, they're probably not exactly discouraged when they're selling out/mostly packing out 1000+ cap venues on this tour (complete guess based on turnout in Nashville). I think whatever they do after this will be the real test, if they try to push new music and not just nostalgia.