PERSONALLY OFFENDED. Haha naw I know it’d be really hard to lyrically relate it to the death of Dave’s Dad seeing as it was written before it happened, but the first time I heard it was the summer after the Manscout Jamboree tour that they dropped off of and I couldn’t help but associate that song with that scenario and it always made me feel majorly sympathetic toward his situation given the tone in the song seems to emulate a sense of hopelessness that I can only imagine he felt.
“my brain doesn’t feel the same as it did / four years ago, yeah it doesn’t exist / there’s just no method anymore / just madness and a meter / that’s keeping track as my time decreases” is extremely real to me
"Birthdays and New Years Have just turned into deadlines And the worst part is There's only a month between mine" Too real. Have a month between mine also. Well about 2 months.
Just listened to Gospel and OCL back-to-back thanks to all the discussion today. Love both a lot, I get more excited to hear Gospel bc of nostalgia but I think I came away thinking OCL is overall the better album due to its consistency. The highlights on Gospel will always be my absolute favorites though.
Anyone read the track by track on Oh, Common Life? Fireworks - ‘Oh, Common Life’ track by track and “Glowing Crosses” video premiere - Features - Alternative Press Always thought this bit about Bed Sores was really sad. Frames the line about "their husbands are dying inside" also "I was a classic early-to-mid-20s American male: still living at home and not sure what I was doing with my life. There were a lot of nights that summer that I'd come home late and see the neighbor still awake with the lights on by herself. Her husband had just died in the house a few months prior. Their children had already grown up and moved out of state. At one time, buying that home was the happiest day of their lives, and they were probably around the age I am now."
Oh, Common Life is a masterpiece to me. My dad was diagnosed with cancer not long after this came out and Run Brother Run became one of the hardest fucking things in the world to listen to. This album, in so many ways, is just so so so sad--even the "oh oh oh's" on The Hotbed of Life sound sad--and the way they captured this sadness with music that is typically associated with either joy or teen angst is just perfect. EDIT: Sorry if this was already posted, but if anyone needs a Dave-fix: Strangers Again, by Tea & Water
Oh I thought I was emotionally ready to revisit tracks 7-11 of OCL. Got through the first 6 fine, used to hurt a little bit at track 3, but thought I was strong. I was not ;_;
The Back Window's Down is such a cool song. Simple choruses like that usually don't work for me, but just something about that one and Bed Sore sores back to back... heck, then Flies On Tape and Woods, that might be my favorite 4 song stretch from this band. Encapsulates everything they do well.
Assuming they don’t collapse from playing 23 Songs in a row, an ideal encore for said reunion would be... Oh, Common Life (with super cool guitar feedback transition into) I Grew Up in a Legion Hall Detroit
oh common life -> one more creature dizzy with love -> wild bunch would've wept horribly during this section
As far as I’m aware, that’s the only time they did an encore the whole tour. Give ‘em a break. I saw them on the last leg when they went through Seattle with Weatherbox. Crowd was small at an already small venue, but it also didn’t help that there were at least six bands on that bill (it might have been seven.) On a weeknight, no less. Traveled over an hour to see them, got there around 9:30, Fireworks definitely didn’t start until at least 11:30. I mean, I was happy to be there, but jeeeezzzz...
Ha, fair enough then. That song just isn't a very good set closer IMO, especially for their last show ever.
I was at their last show I don't think they ended up encoring with it but earlier on the tour when I saw them they did I want to say they 100% closed with Detroit which makes sense but I would have accepted When We Stand On Eachother as well
Listened to fireworks a lot this week. Often switching to bands like NFG and Valencia to try and objectively evaluate the arguments made this week. (While not expending a huge amount of effort towards the task.) Needless to say I didn’t get a lot out of the endeavor. I’m chalking the whole thing up to people who really like to talk about the hills they’re willing to die on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
According to my Facebook Memories it's been 4 years since they streamed Oh Common Life a week early. Where does the time go!?