Wait, someone a few pages back said Something Loud and Place Your Debts are b-sides from the Surviving sessions...are they? For some reason I thought they were songs recorded a few years after the Surviving sessions.
I don't think they said they were b-sides, I think they just put them on a playlist since they're certainly not going on an album. (sideeyes Jimmy)
I have plenty of bands that have songs I like less than others but don't hate or even dislike, but then again I am a pretty simple kind of man.
i have a few bands where i like everything but they all have pretty small discogs, but even thats rare, you gotta be on some receiving end of sirens or empty country level shit and thats like the highest bar there is very hard to accomplish with a larger discog, so many of my favorite bands have made tracks i cannot fuck with along their journey
all things considered, most of this bands music is great. the songs i dont really dig arent horrible or anything its hard for me to pick a definitive favorite band since my priorities as a listener change a lot, but u2, r.e.m., and the beach boys have all held that title at one point or another throughout my life, and oh boy lmao
Through various interviews I’ve seen I’ve gathered they planned to start going for more of a “singles” route and recorded SL and PYD independently as singles, but then abandoned that idea and have been working towards an album instead.
Delivery is some of Jim’s best writing. There are 3 separate parts in that song that floored me on first listen. “We realize that we’re in a future memory” “Ending up’s not real. The life we build we never stop creating.” “Only partially the truth someone’s out there for you. But not everyone’s ready to be found. No you might not be ready to be found.” I may be the only person who likes One Mil. It’s kinda cheesy but it works for what they’re going for. (The only line that I think is clunky is shred majestically. But knowing Jim’s influences, it’s probably a Superchunk reference.) Recommit is the side of this band that I connect with the most. And it’s not that sonically far off from something from Futures or maybe even Stay of My Side Tonight, imo. I don’t like Diamond, but everything else on Surviving ranges from fine to good (or great) for me.
Jim’s lyrics on Surviving often sound like he’s been taking in a lot of philosophical/psychological influences. Or done some serious therapy. Not sure a better way to describe it but I bet someone else here could.
It does sound like 80s montage music, which is complimentary because I think that’s what they were going for. I don’t think it’s bad, I just personally don’t vibe with it. Their discography is so strong we can go deep on Surviving, which is probably not even a top five Jimmy record for most of us.
I did a deep dive on the band in the past year or two. And a lot of themes that sound like therapy/psych stuff, Jim has attributed to things he’s learned in recovery for alcoholism. (He’s actually done a couple interviews with recovery-focused podcasts about it.)
Call me crazy but 555 is my favorite on Surviving and one of my faves out of their entire discography at this point