Man I really thought people were exaggerating for comedic effect, but 3.5 songs in and this truly is appalling. It feels disrespectful to the original to even continue listening.
Pretty much this, yeah. Thing is, if instead of re-hashing the past like this, if Leighton would have dug deep on the writing, hopefully in concert with some new musicians to fill it out more as a band project, Lydia could be where Copeland is post Ixora and Blushing in terms of album quality, and I genuinely believe that. If you want to be real sad today, think about what an Ixora-level Illuminate follow-up would sound like. And then weep for the fact that we're never getting it.
It breaks my heart, for real. He clearly still has the voice for it - he really needs a solid band around him, or at least a guitar player who can get as weird as Steve did on their best albums. Gates seems to not be a band anymore, I wish there was a world where Leighton gave Ethan a call (or hell, the whole band) and did an album with vibes like that. Or like I said earlier, I think this project would have been received so much better if it was like this version of Stay Awake, with just Leighton and Mindy with a piano or acoustic guitar on all the tracks, and not all of the stuff they did instead. Would also make a lot more sense if it was on an actual anniversary of the album and not some arbitary year in June. Do a livestream with high quality piano renditions of the album, respecting the original melodies, and I'd be all in. Not this. Or do what Copeland did and choose songs from the entire discography if you want to do a reworks album. I really have mixed feelings, because I'm sure Leighton knows most of this, and might just be feeling stuck or tapped out in general on new music, or the prospect of putting something out and getting back on the road is daunting as a father, or any other reasons, but man, this release is a huge miss for me. I feel for you man, music is hard. but damn.
Well yeah, it's easy to tell bands what they should be doing, but essentially let's just let him do whatever he wants - I think this project is worth listening to once or twice, but maybe it will land for some other people, and for most of us here (from what I'm seeing in the comments) it might also initiate a spike in revisiting the original hahh Ps. always loved gates after that (while they're mentioned), and States as well, but yeah, mostly gates - one of the best bands really!
Haven’t listened yet, and I defend the band a lot here, but it has long seemed to me that Leighton just seems very removed from that era of his life, and I imagine that makes putting out a project like this easier. Sure people grow and change, but idk, this seems extra. I’ve been to a couple shows where he just rushed through a partial play-through of this is twice now. What are we minimizing a discog highlight for? For…when it gets dark out? Georgia? I don’t want them to be beholden to playing old stuff, i find it nauseating when bands do that, but when you look at it all in context it makes even a benign, understandable money play like this feel, well, worse.
It legit sounds like AI wrote this completely devoid of understanding what made the original so great. It semi annoyed me listening to it.
I listened to assailants, Paint it Golden and Run Wild last night lol. One of those, “am I crazy, this guy made good music right?” Things.
This right here. Had to actually unfollow their accounts because it was getting too weird for me. Felt like I was obviously not his target audience anymore.
Sad we never got to hear the full Saturn Hands record from Steve. I talked to Ethan years ago about it and he said it was some crazy shit.
Seeing these Leighton ads that are like "let me help you with your songs!" are just getting funny at this point, dude needs someone to help with his own damn songs. or maybe this is just a stealthy way for him to find new bandmates and collabs
Holy shit, that is heartbreaking. I was literally just complimenting the drums on Illuminate yesterday, sending love to his family and friends.
Oh thank fuck. I did notice how the post was removed a bit after it was posted yesterday, but didn't initially think anything weird about it.
Very pretty pressing still mad that “when it gets dark out” goes from cool eery alt sounding intro to bubblegum pop chorus in a second.
Had the urge to throw on This December on a drive over the weekend, and that album is such an unmatchable vibe for me. It's incredible that they followed it up with an even better overall album, but something about how raw TD sounds is just so cool to me and holds SO much nostalgia for driving back and forth between my hometown and college during my first year. It's also kind of funny to me how highly I regard the album while also still not understanding a lot of the lyrics. I would travel any distance and pay any amount of money for a full-band reunion performance of it. I doubt we're ever getting anything like it again, but I'm so thankful it exists.
December is a great record and is a stern reminder of what was possible when Leighton had a proper band structure to fall into versus going it alone. I think I have to give it to Her and Haley being the best track on the record, and one I'd be most excited to hear live with all the right pieces in place.