The Lost Shepherd. Hush was a really good B-side too. Yeah, it was him and Atticus Ross, which Ross was not the right choice either.
The early singles don't represent the album very well lol. I remember hearing Blood Red Summer and then hearing the title track when I got the disc. Same with The Suffering and then popping in the disco to hear Welcome Home.
ok, I'm listening to this now... not as good as their previous stuff (lacking huge hooks) but not bad either this thread resulted in me revisiting their first two records and I stand by my opinion - they had quite the original and exciting sound, but they decided to stop exploring the most interesting aspects of their music at some point after IKSOSE3
After Good Appolo Volume One in my opinion. I think the first three records were amazing. After that it's songs I listen to from each record.
yeah, Good Apolo had some good moments and overall I like it, but that's the beginning of the end for me after that one I just didn't care go to see them live for IKS and then for Good Apollo and they were p cool - I'm glad I saw them but I wouldn't go now
Glad I saw them back then too, before GuitarHero. My most recent Coheed experiences are frat boys yelling out for "Welcome Home" their whole set
To be fair, it is their best song. It only really works as an opener or closer though, so if they don't open with it people need to relax and wait til the end.
There is no fair when they're playing Second Stage Turbine in its entirety and people are yelling out for it.
NWFT has some good songs on it, the back end is kind of weird, but overall it's a fun album. YOTBR was a bad point, but I thought they really came back with Ascension/Descension. TCBTS is solid, but I expected more from them after the last two.
Yeah, if you saw GA:IV as the beginning of the great Coheed dropoff, I can see why "Domino" would be middling to you. It sounds nothing like the first two records, but it took me right back to the Willing Wells, which were probably the highlight from GA. I think your opinion of IKS being the last great LP is actually more logically consistent than mine. SSTB and IKS had such a unique sound, as you mentioned, but then they completely took a left turn with Good Apollo. It doesn't have a ton in common with those first two records; I almost see it more as a coincidence that I love GA, as it might as well have come from a different band altogether. Plus, the ultimate downfall of Coheed's greatness was Claudio's eagerness to emulate 80s butt rock and hair metal, and even that started to show up for the first time on GA. It really got unleashed on NWFT, which is where I hopped off the train, but even songs I love from GA like "Welcome Home" and "Ten Speed" have elements of it. It's just, the songwriting, layering, key changes, vocal melodies... all of it was so complex, fascinating and yet catchy that I could overlook any flaws. One thing we probably can agree on: The Afterman wasn't quite the rebound that it often gets credit for. I mean, sure; it was better than its two predecessors, and brought some life back to the band. But the "fun" 80s hair metal shit still runs rampant on plenty of those songs, lending absolutely no complexity or intrigue to them. Hell, I honestly think I enjoyed TCBTS more than either individual Afterman, but that's another discussion.
Lot of varying opinions here. I've always been drawn to Coheed's poppier stuff - Blood Red Summer was the first song I heard from them and still probably my favorite. It's a shame they couldn't nail the aesthetic they were going for on YOTBR. The cover art is so nice, the studio addition of Chris Pennie should've been so muscular, and yet it's such a muddy, obscure record that plays to almost none of their strengths. I'm not sure what's up with people jumping off the bandwagon at Good Apollo... if it weren't for IKS, that album would probably be the bullseye on the Coheed dartboard. Some of the shit they put together on The Willing Well tracks... wow. I don't even know how you go about writing that stuff. I maintain so much hatred for "The Running Free". From the instant Claudio's vocals arrive on "All non-believers stand aside in fear", it just sounds so off-key and misplaced. After the monster that was Good Apollo, I thought that was such a poor starting point for NWFT.
Lol just as I post that. I loved "From Fear..." from the instant I heard it. Such a Thin Lizzy thing going on that works better than it should. Agreed on Domino though. Not sure what possessed them to lead off with a vocal line of "blah blah blahhhh" over and over.