Based on the lyrical snippets that have been posted, The Gathering reminds me of The Sand In The Gears - or what I would call, the "too much on the nose" type of lyric-writing that he sometimes does.
He does that. Sometimes it works, like in sections of Recovery. Sometimes not as much. Is there a studio version of Sand in the Gears or just the live one?
Officially just the live one, but he did “leak” a studio version on SoundCloud. If I recall, he talked about trying to use it as the first track on Be More Kind but was talked out of it. It reminds me of the studio version of Make America Great Again, and I mean that in the worst way possible.
I liked both songs enough? Maybe I'm just starved for live music at this point so I feel the intention behind The Gathering. I think these songs really weren't meant to be played acoustic either.
horrendous cringey lyrics aside, i just also dont really think i will ever be interested in listening to a song depicting quarantine/lockdown. thats not entertainment for me.
It can be done poorly or it can be done well. Bon Jovi (ha ha) - their single last year had the line "until we find a vaccine" or something like that. DEAR GOD what are they thinking. Another band I like called The Vandoliers had a recent song with Covid lyrics that worked - it works when done subtly, it does NOT work when done bluntly
I third that. I would be extremely interested to hear the leaked studio version of Sand in the Gears. I didn't hate that song nearly as much as most people on here did, and the thought of a studio version recorded with the band sounds great.
It’s not good (I don’t even mind the live one too too much) https://m.soundcloud.com/fthc/sand-in-the-gears-2019
Thank you very much for sharing. Also, that version of the song is fucking atrocious haha! WTF. Wow, I really hope he got the urge to make something like that out of his system with the BMK sessions.
I'm not gonna listen until there's a studio version, just in case that version is superior then I'll never know the terrible version
The music and song structure and even the vocal melody is pretty passable, but the lyrics really, really, really destroy the song.
This is definitely better than the acoustic version. I'm not going to lie and say those first few lines are going to win awards, but the majority of the lyrics are evocative and have a ton of classic Frank imagery. The first two lines in particular, despite being awkward, don't ruin the song in any way for me.
The music, production, and delivery is what I want with Frank. The lyrics are horrifically bad and ruin the song for me. I don’t care if it’s Frank, Brian Fallon, the Menzingers. Bruce, Taylor Swift, the Beatles, etc. I DO NOT want lockdown/post-lockdown quarantine songs from anyone, I just don’t need that.
The song is corny as hell but also I immediately like it more than pretty much anything off of the last two albums. Think it'll be fun live, and it's nice to have something from Frank that I don't hate lol, the bar was really low.