In retrospect, We Do What We Want was a good record. It's funny how they emulated the breakdown infused metalcore sound beaten to death by a lot of bands at the time, yet executed it way better than them. I guess it would've had a better reception if it wasn't for the weird sequencing. Ending a dynamic album with two ballads just seems off.
once I've gone through an album enough and am past the initial play-on-repeat phase my plays are usually on shuffle in the car or background music during studying, in which case sequencing is an afterthought. i get that it can throw off those first listens, but in the end i judge an album largely by how many good songs are on it so sequencing is really low on my rubric.
This needs to be said. There’s some awesome moments on that record that are overlooked and I think a lot of it is because of how odd the album is sequenced. It has the heaviest Emery songs ever (“Thrash” aside) and then suddenly it ends with two fine (but nothing too special) ballads. I think if “Fix Me” was replaced by one more heavy song and “I Never Got to See the West Coast” ended the album reception would be totally different. I would even go out on a limb and say the run from tracks 1-6 is near-perfect, aside from maybe a couple odd productions choices. It’s a really top heavy album that just drops off a bit as it ends.
I really love 3 songs from that album but the rest is pretty forgettable to me. But over the years IOAM has gotten better imo so maybe WDWWW will improve with time as well
I think I appreciate IOAM less over the years. I just can't pinpoint what bugs me about this one. I don't think there's a bad song on it, and I individually like each of them, but as a whole it doesn't work for some reason.
I return to WDWWW more than every other release in their discography besides 'The Weak's End'. There are a few duds on that album but there's so much punchy Emery material on it that some of those songs are the first to come to mind when I think of the band in general.
Miss Behavin' is a perfect song, and the first song that comes to mind whenever I think of this band. It just encapsulates their sound so well.
This one and Listening To Freddy Mercury were the first to make me go "oh okay, this is something truly special" at the time. Their ability to write songs that sound like mashups of like a dozen ideas in a good way is remarkable.
I have never done this with a single album - fascinating! I have shuffled an artist’s entire catalogue but never shuffled one album. I remember this tour. I caught the Nottingham show. I believe this is the only time they’ve toured the UK, right?
Does anybody remember for We Do What We Want, they scattered downloadable 15-second snippets of "Scissors" over a dozen different music sites and let fans construct the song? That was such a good promo. I spent like 2 hours finding the clips and piecing them together on Protools, it was a fun time and allowed the fans to feel involved.
Did anyone in this thread miss this b-side when it was released? It flew under my radar for yeaaars and features some great synth with Devin/Josh trading vocals towards the back end
I don't mind WDWWW, but for some reason I really can't stand Anchors. Dang totally forgot about that b-side. Good stuff
Haha yea in retrospect I think it’s largely an effort to keep the album fresh and in rotation because once you know it well enough and are in a fun driving mood it feels like a bummer to hit the slow stretch or know a song you don’t like is coming or whatever. Makes me feel better about skipping. I used to shuffle catalogues a lot more, hardly ever do it now.