Wow. Holy sh-t. This is incredible. I can't believe we're getting all 10 Ruminations tracks re-worked plus 7 new songs. Originally, I didn't want to get my hopes up too too much that we'd even get full-band versions of the 10 album tracks - I can't lie though, hearing the newer version of Tachycardia really really did.
You can preorder through Amazon: Salutations (Vinyl) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUC2MIU/?tag=absolutepunk-20
Just like Stay Gold was exactly the kind of album I wanted from Butch Walker, these songs from Salutations are exactly the kind of music I wanted from Conor Oberst. I have a feeling this album is going to be great.
I remember giving Upside Down Mountain a listen when it first came out and thinking some of the songs were really good and some were pretty unimpressive, which for some artists would be pretty good but for Conor Oberst just seems really lackluster. I really think he's one of the greatest songwriters going right now. I know this is a total cliché to say, but I only recently discovered the b-sides to this album, and they are ----ing incredible and really put this album over the top for me. Standing On The Outside Looking In and Sugar Street are both incredible songs, and I honestly think Fast Friends is hands-down one of the greatest songs Conor Oberst has ever written. This is all I have been listening to lately.
Fast Friends is pretty cool, definitely would fit on the album (esp with First Aid Kit being on it), but I was never really into the other two
For as much as I liked Ruminations, I didn't go back to it a ton which surprises me a lot. Mainly because I think Conor is a super uneven songwriter and his albums are often full of stuff I think is incredible and stuff that by comparison is just good and Ruminations felt like one of his more consistent works. I'm excited to see how full band arrangements shift that assessment for me, if it does at all
Standing and Sugar were released together as a standalone single, Fast was a b-side to Hundred Ways single
I like this version a LOT. This was my favourite song on Ruminations but I like this one at least equally, maybe even more, compared to the original. Great song. Cool video too.