Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Weathervanes (June 9, 2023) Album • Page 10

Yeah the atmos is hit or miss for me generally but DEFINITELY a hit for this record

 

Here’s my non controversial take that I’ve settled on and feel 100% comfortable in as of now: this is his best record credited as Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and by a good amount

 

Also: it has been ten years as of today

 

speaking of the only album that could possibly stand in this one's way, happy 10th birthday Southeastern!

 

jynx

 

I think after this weekend my ranking would be:

Southeastern (officially 10 today! Woot woot!)
Reunions
Weathervanes
Something More Than Free
The Nashville Sound
Here We Rest
Sirens of the Ditch
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

A bit of a coin toss on SMTF and TNS. Weathervanes could definitely push higher, but that top 2 is tough to crack for me.

 

Cast Iron Skillet, King of Oklahoma, and This Ain’t It are my early favorites, but this whole thing is close to perfect. Truly believe he’s the greatest doing it right now.

 

Can’t wait to sink into this record all summer. “King of Oklahoma” is so good. If I’m critiquing something I guess I’m not sold on a few songs from the back half yet but I need more time!

 

SMTF = Weathervanes
Southeastern
Reunions
Here We Rest
JI&400U (non Cobb tracklist)
Nashville Sound
Sirens of the Ditch


Please do not tell my wife I’m putting two records above Southeastern lol this is above our mantle in our living room

 

Unfortunately discovered today that my copy of this record has somehow gotten warped over the years to the point that it actually sounds a little funny on the A side. Choosing to welcome this development as a readymade excuse to buy the inevitable deluxe ten year edition later this year…..

 

Reunions/Weathervanes
SMTF
SE
Nashville
Here We Rest
S/T
SOTD

 

I feel like I’m misremembering how great Reunions is now

 

it’s the only one where the slow songs are on the same level as the rockers imo

 

What is it about SMTF that makes it his best for you? I love that record, but as a full album experience, I just don’t think it has quite the thematic heft or flow/arc of Southeastern or Reunions. (It also closes with what is handily my least favorite song he’s put on any of the last five albums, so that’s a big part of it.)

 

It's become pretty clear to me that I don't love Reunions quite so much as many of his fans here, and that I like Here We Rest a hell of a lot more. But like I've said before, he has no bad albums. I love all 8 of them.

I think Dave Cobb's production was absolutely perfect on Something More Than Free, but I think him being the producer hamstrung both The Nashville Sound & Reunions a little bit.

 

I think that original pressing is just not great. Mine has always had some skipping issues. I think it’s just a tad too long for a single LP. Hoping for a deluxe that splits it out over three sides with a fourth side of b-sides/bonus tracks.

 

See, I like his production work way more on Reunions than on Something More Than Free. I felt like he and the band found a new gear together after a few albums of diminishing returns.

Re: Here We Rest, I think the first half is basically perfect, but it definitely falls off big time for me after “Daisy Mae.” I penalize it a lot in my rankings for that.

 

On Reunions I think the slower songs sound much stronger than the rockers. "Dreamsicle" & "Only Children" are both absolute masterpieces, just completely perfect songs. But with a song like "Be Afraid" I feel like he (or they) struggled to capture the sound they were going for, and the song should be a little bit more muscular and rough around the edges.

These are complete nitpicks and they kinda make it sound like I don't love Reunions, and I do. It is a phenomenal album. I don't think Dave Cobb's production style is my favorite when this band of insanely talented musicians wants to cut loose and rock out a little bit.

 

I think about it a lot like Bruce’s Magic: it doesn’t have some grand narrative arc or theme and the songs kind of each live in their own world but you put it all together and somehow it just makes sense as a unit. I really can’t quite put my finger on it but I’ve always felt like there is actually something running through that record that unites the songs—it’s just more subtle than on other records. It’s kind of like the deep breath after Southeastern, an album full of songs embracing the joy and/or facing the pain of what’s right in front of you. In a weird way I also think it’s his most “southern” record, at least maybe until this one, it resonates with me based on people I know and places I’ve been more than most of his albums do. Plus it’s the perfect balance production and instrumentation wise of his “softer” records. It just sounds so so good and it feels a tiny bit more balanced to me in that way than Southeastern. Less of a dichotomy between the songs that lean more towards solo acoustic and the ones that have more of a band on them.

But the honest answer is probably just that I both cleaned my life up and met my wife in 2015, when that record was on repeat for me haha. Good year imo.

And I’ll have to politely disagree about “To a Band I Loved” as I can think of at least 4-5 songs on the two records that came next that I like less. Agree it’s the weakest song on that album though. In my book he really didn’t have a truly knockout closer between “Relatively Easer” and “Miles.” Should have closed the album with “Palmetto Rose” which in my humble opinion is one of his most underappreciated masterpieces.

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the A side of Here We Rest is as good as any stretch of songs on any of his records. It falls below the others for me because nothing else besides “Tour of Duty” on there is anywhere near as good.

 

Well “Only Children” is maybe still his best song so that sure helps

 

It's way too early for me to accurately rank including the new one, but if I had to, it would prob look like this -->

Southeastern
Here We Rest
(Weathervanes)
Self-Titled
Something More Than Free
Reunions
The Nashville Sound
Sirens of the Ditch


(Edited to add that I don't even like how that looks having Sirens way down the bottom like that - that is an album that I actually think is underrated and always wanna go to bat for. Chicago Promenade, Dress Blues, Razor Town, The Magician, Whisper*, Hurricanes & Hand Grenades - all absolutely phenomenal songs. Guy is incredible.)

 

holy shit motherfucking will johnson is joining the 400 unit

 

!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Centromatic reunion set feat Isbell on lead guitar woulda been the highlight of Shoals Fest 2021 if it wasn’t topped a few hours later by Jason doing John Henry with DBT. Extremely excited for this. Hope they record every damn show