People are seriously picking a bonus track over Carpathia?........... -Carpathia -Where My Mouth Is -Lonely, Lonely -Swing -Sing Into Me
In fairness, "Didn't See That Coming" and "Winter Passing" are some of the most interesting songs the band has ever released (in terms of trying out "different" sounds). That being said, Carpathia is a jam.
I like the acoustic Orensanz version of almost every song on that album better than the originals lol.
Carpathia Where My Mouth Is Lonely, Lonely(Both awful) Swing(Second best song on New Again) Sink Into Me(Tough round)
This mornings totals: Didn't See That Coming-9 Carpathia-9 Long Time Comin'-4 Where My Mouth Is-14 Catholic Knees-6 Lonely, Lonely-12 Cut Me Up Jenny-0 Swing-18 New Again-11 Sink Into Me-7 Also: Welcome! Glad to have you here. (No one has done this for brand new as I recall. Just Blink-182 and The Wonder Years)
Really wish we'd have included Mackey Sasser, You Should Have Waited and Morning Sickness to the self titled round. Would have voted all of them over most other songs on that LP.
After listening back to this album this morning, here's what I think would've made this album truly great if these changes had been made (mind you, this is my 3rd favorite TBS album because of the point I was at in life when it came out and how some of the songs impacted me) -Fazzi was criminally underutilized vocally, he voice should've had more presence -Aside from the bass (Rubano's performance on this album is top notch), the production on guitars and drums feels kind of flat to me. -Take out "Cut Me Up Jenny", put "Didn't See That Coming" after "Swing" and put "Long Time Comin'" after "Where My Mouth Is".
Absolutely, I wish I would have seen them live with that line up. He really is the stand out on Live at Orensanz and from youtube videos I saw, he was amazing and full of energy during a normal electric set.
I saw them twice in 2009 with him. Once in Philly at the Electric Factory and they played at my school a few months later. He nailed both performances, and was also just a really nice dude.
Carpathia Long Time Comin' Lonely, Lonely Swing New Again New Again vs Sink Into Me was tough, but New Again just edges it out for me, probably because I love that baseline. Ask me again on a different day and that could change. Sink Into Me is a real fun and catchy song. I was bummed at having to vote out Didn't See That Coming in the 1st round. I'll always scratch my head at that one not making the final cut.
Carpathia is probably my second favorite TBS song, all things considered. That song just does so many things that I love. The way it opens is immediately attention-grabbing, with Fazzi's angular and aggressive, yet melodic and almost jazzy, chord progression and Adam singing through what sounds like angrily clenched teeth, like he's almost holding back from singing even more aggressive. Then that Chorus opens the song up melodically and is just so rhythmically interesting, the beauty/aggression dynamic is utilized flawlessly. Then there's the little things that really bring it to another level: Rubano's bass runs in each chorus and before the second verse, that whole bridge with the three part harmony and how it totally changes the mood of the song for a minute, and not to mention it's one of the few songs that Fazzi's vocals are easily heard on. Song absolutely fucking rules and it bums me out how underrated it is in their catalog. For it to lose in the first round would be sad and I can truly say I Didn't See That Coming. That's not to say the song it's up against is bad or anything, it's just nowhere near as remarkable imo, but very few songs are to me. I'm of the opinion that none of the NA-era stuff was bad, per se, though some songs just don't necessarily fully work (Cut Me Up Jenny being the best example), and Capital M-E kind of seems out of place and one of the b-sides probably would've made a better fit in its place. Idk, y'all, I really LOVE New Again and I wish more people saw the little flashes of brilliance I see in it (that I honestly haven't really seen much of since).
I'm happy they reunited the old line-up, but I definitely think New Again is definitely their most interesting album. And I would have loved to see where they went with another Fazzi album.
How "Cut Me Up Jenny" made the final cut over that song, I'll never know. The riff in that song is awesome.
Yep. Especially considering how good that HBSB record was, and how some of it kinda seemed like it could've fit on a follow-up to NA (Emperor, On The Road, and Time in particular). Get rid of Cut Me Up Jenny and Capital M-E and put Long Time Coming and Didn't See That Coming in their place and the album would seriously put up a good fight against WYWTB for my favorite TBS record.