Butch Walker – Butch Walker as... Glenn (August 26, 2022) Album • Page 2

This album seems to have a lot of callbacks to his 2nd solo release 'Letters', which still stands out as his best album (in my opinion, at least). I'd definitely recommend starting there.

He doesn't really make a misstep from there with "The Rise and Fall of... Butch Walker and The Let's-Go-Out-Tonites", "Sycamore Meadows" (an introspective album following the loss of his house and everything he owned in California Wildfires), "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" and "The Spade" under the Butch Walker and the Black Widows moniker.

 

I love to recommend The Spade as a first listen, it's so great. More of a rock record than some of the others, really an awesome listen.

 

Just seeing this now!

My favorite has always been Letters. That was my entry point with him and is an album that changed my life, genuinely. Still think it's got his sharpest melody writing, and I think it fits nicely into the mid-2000s AP.net "scene" even if it was a little bit left of the emo/pop-punk world.

If you want to get a sense of what to expect on this record, I'd pair that one with 2006's The Rise and Fall, which was the Letters follow-up and took his sound in lots of different directions. This new one is similarly eclectic and plays around with similar eras of influences to The Rise and Fall (though that one skews a little more glam and this one skews a little more '70s/'80s piano man, with some yacht rock thrown in).

The Spade and Stay Gold are top-tier straight ahead rock records that are just a ton of fun, and Sycamore Meadows might be his most accomplished record from a songwriting perspective. Afraid of Ghosts is great too, but that's a pretty heartbreaking, stark listen and is one I'd generally recommend as a "next step" for his discography.

Left of Self-Centered and I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart are typically tabbed as the less essential Butch stuff, but I love both of them for different reasons. Good records to check out as you delve a little deeper.

American Love Story is the only one I can't really personally recommend. It's a concept record/rock opera, and is a big swing that doesn't quite connect, IMO.

 

Thank you all for the great recommendations! I'll start with Letters later tonight :) can't wait to dive in!

 

Just finished Letters! It took a few songs to finally click but once I got to Joan it hit me— this guy can write a *song*. Past that point the album really hit its stride. The three song run from Uncomfortably Numb to Don't Move is really enjoyable and speaks to how he can pretty much nail any kind of record he wants. Beyond that, I was delighted to hear Mixtape, as I haven't heard it since I was watching One Tree Hill for the first time over a decade ago. I get it now. This guy is great. I don't listen to as much singer-songwriter as I should as I'm more of a Radiohead/Downtempo/Shoegaze adjacent listener but this was a great experience and I'm looking forward to diving deeper into his discography!


Side note: There are a lot of moments on here, vocally, that strongly remind me of Gerard Way. It's great!

*Edited to clean up some phrasing and word things a bit better

 

The fun thing is that most of his albums are quite different. So you may find others you like even more. I usually start people with Sycamore Meadows as I think it’s pretty representative of his career as a whole. Or The Spade which is just good fun

 

He's repressing The Spade on vinyl, for those who don't have it already: https://store.dangerbirdrecords.com...alker-and-the-black-widows-the-spade-white-lp

 

Thanks for the heads up, I need this!

 

Happy to help! I'm glad they're repressing it, even if it is one of the ones I already have (I bought a copy off @Thomas Nassiff probably eight years ago at this point).

 

Ughhhh I should not spend money.

 

Looks like I'm buying this again, aren't I

 

I thought about it!

 

Snagged 2 copies to add to my original pressing

 

I like his pre-release choices on this. Giving some good tastes of the record without spoiling the best tracks.

 

This one’s great. Really loving the vibe of this thing. Can’t wait to hear it all

 

Edit: Well I was trying to post a link to him playing Slow Leak on his Instagram. But I’m apparently too dumb to get the link work. But it’s there

 

Wait is this seriously already out Friday? Wow haha

 

Fuck yeah it is.

 

Wow that's so quick, amazing

 

He's doing a cool release party livestream on YouTube right now, if anyone wants to tune in!

 

Awwww, he didn’t answer mine. I asked if he’d consider putting out some live stuff from this tour since it’s limited in scope, and other real world concerns would be keeping a lot of folks from experiencing it. I even suggested just posted soundboards to his site Pearl Jam style

 

Wrote about the new album!

Butch Walker – As…Glenn

 

Stay Gold came out on August 26th, 2016.

Funny to hit that date twice in a career.