Up Against is good and fun! If anything MBH messes up the flow/momentum. I love the song but it doesn’t fit there imo. in a sense, a lot of Louder Now has always felt to me like a disconnected collection of b-sides from a grittier, edgier TBS in a parallel universe but I love it for that. It’s the more polished songs like Ghost and Liar that almost feel out of place. Up against, error, 20-20, Miami, I’ll let you live - all rockin bangers. To that point, should’ve just kept Brooklyn and sleep and make it a 13 song album.
It's always weird to me that people focus on Up Against instead of Twenty-Twenty Surgery, which has worse lyrics and such a boring chorus. I at least like Up Against's energy, and the end of the bridge is awesome. Either way, I think Divine Intervention is a total dud and would be the first song to go. That said, I agree that the flow of the album (4-6 in particular) is strange and Brooklyn would've been much better in the #4 spot.
I’m loathe 20/20 and Divine. A lot. I was so happy they played Your Own Disaster instead of Divine last year when I saw them.
id pick smth from the 2010s probably. tidal wave and happiness is are my favorite records by this band
I have a separate Louder Now playlist on Spotify where I replaced UA with Sleep so it acts as a proper bridge between MDS and MBH energy-wise, then Brooklyn goes between Divine and Miami. I feel like it all flows way better that way.
my louder now subs are sleep for up against and brooklyn for error, boom classic album dont have any strong negative feelings about either song i drop tbh but sleep and brooklyn are legit like the best songs from these sessions not named "my blue heaven"
LN's b-sides are fire, and I also say that the LN live tracking demos have some superior choices on them versus the finished tracks. The Unnamed demo is top tier and should not have been left off / unfinished.
genuinely blows my mind how good some of their non album stuff is. say what you will about the self titled album but the demos of the songs they shelved from it go unreasonably hard
You Were Right, Semi-Automatic and Mackey Sasser are legit some of my favorite TBS songs of all time. Sub Who Are You Anyway, Money and Since You’re Gone for those 3 songs, and S/T becomes at least an A-tier TBS album.
I can’t in good conscience imagine a world where Error doesn’t make it onto the album because of how hard that song goes live, especially when Mark was in the band. Nothing against their fill-in drummer, but that song doesn’t work without Mark’s power and fills.
I think Error and Spin have a 'heavier' element to them that often comes out live that I don't think the recording accurately captures. The 7th Avenue Drop performance of Spin is an all-timer.
went back to check it, this is the only quality I'm able to quickly find, quite a bummer this isn't in HD somewhere - it's really hard to tell, but I could be convinced that there's some dubbing going on. this show wasn't aired live and it wouldn't surprise me if they did multiple takes and worked them together into the best overall performance for the actual airing. Adam moves the mic away from his face as he is singing multiple times, while the notes carry through. Not that I have a problem with any of that whatsoever, it definitely still sounds live, just stood out when watching.
I wouldn't be surprised. The Angels and Airwaves 7th Avenue Drop is embarrassing how obvious the dubbing is. And when I was there live for the Coheed 7th Ave taping they did a few songs more than once.