I love the production on this, but I'm kinda surprised they traded off lead vocals on so many songs for an album with only 10 tracks. The results for me on those songs are definitely mixed. I really don't like "Forgiving Ties" at all, and "Disgrace" is pretty rough too. I do like both "Running From Love" and "A Light Can Go Out In The Heart" a lot, but I think I like my Deer Tick best with John McCauley singing lead.
Seeing these guys tonight so I'm finally checking this out and it's great. They've also been covering The Replacements and Bruce on this tour so that rules.
Honestly, their editing for the tracklist for this album was absolutely baffling. “Sacrosanct”, “Die On A Hill”, “Wasting Time”, & “Big Black Hearse” all absolutely should have made the actual album. 100%. I also think “Goodbyes” should have as well, but I don't think the case is quite as strong for that one. You combine most of the album with these songs from this EP and you have one of the best albums they've ever put out, if not the best.
New album out today. I always enjoy their albums, but I find myself wishing for the days when the full album was all John McCauley’s songs. I appreciate that they share lead singing and songwriting duties, but John’s songs are always the standouts.
wow, I had absolutely no idea that this was coming out. I haven't heard this yet, but I agree with you about the McAuley songs for their albums so far.