I feel overwhelmed and underwhelmed by this album at the same time. The highs are high, but I'm going to need some time with it before I figure out my thoughts on some of the tracks, and the album as a whole. Either way, love this band a lot.
Wasn't sure I liked a lot of the non singles on here at first but now I am starting a more focused emotional listen and this is hitting in ways I didn't really expect, of course I was very hyped for it but didn't expect to feel it on such an emotional level
i went to dive route ILIWYS is like, such a masterpiece that I never really return to because I forget how good it is.
Been a few days now for me. I think I like this better than ABI, but I thought the singles on ABI were stronger for the most part. I like the non-singles more on Notes.
I wasn’t sure about some of this on my first listen, but I’m liking it a lot more on my second round. I really like how the instrumentals “frame” the singles and some of the more traditional songs by them.
Again, creating playlists, skipping tracks on specific listens, etc. I see no harm in - I do it too. I’m not out here listening to Greta every time I start the album either (sometimes i just skip to the last 10 seconds to hear that “it’s time to rebel” into People transition, owwwww). I think specifically the notion that I wholeheartedly disagree with is simply deleting tracks off of an album entirely or rearranging them in your own order - that doesn’t seem right to me because of the permanence of it all. It alters the listening experience for the entirety of the time it exists in your app which isn’t giving the proper order, or the songs you deleted, a fair chance later on down the road. This album being an exception because of the way it comes across I can’t agree with either. I just fear that the more we keep chopping up track lists and deleting tracks, the more that leads to artists just abandoning the “album” all together and just releasing singles and smaller batches of music and that is a world I am terrified of, lol. Maybe i’m overly sensitive of the topic because I can sense the music industry leaning toward a direction of the album being a thing of the past so I feel the need to defend it. I hope that makes sense.
I still don't think the highs on this are as high as ABIIOR, but this is a very good album all the way through. I can't really think of a song to skip during a listen. Maybe "The End" and "Streaming"? But they're short enough so what's the point? I don't like the rap in "Nothing Revealed" but I do like the choir vocals. I still don't really like "Tonight" but I feel like if i keep listening to it I will. I'm drawn to the weirdness of it.
I think I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the most I’ve ever loved a poorly sequenced album lol it reminds me a lot of when I make long playlists that I try to make flow like an album and I end up with a couple track 1’s and 2’s in a row and a bunch of closers grouped together. It works better if I tell myself that The 1975/People is a bridge connecting this and ABI and the album really starts with The End. But I can’t think of a single song I’d cut, I really love all of this. There’s not a single track that doesn’t do something for me.
I think almost every song here has grown to love status for me, it's just a much more understated album than their last few and it still has a few weaknesses in terms of overall flow.
I think it’s important to point out then when I add something to my Apple Music library, truly all I’m doing is copying those files into a new playlist that’s framed with album metadata. It’s not like anyone is sitting here with a key and scratching out the songs they don’t like the from vinyl. It’s just taking the songs they don’t like off of the “Album” playlist with a big play button at the top. There’s actually little to no distinction between deleting those songs from your library altogether and deleting them from a new playlist that’s just a copy of the album that’s also in your library. On top of that, it’s fine to let people not like things! Not every song is a grower! I don’t think it’s productive to say that it’s “rude” for someone to know they don’t like a certain song and make a choice that only makes it easier for them to not have to hear it again on subsequent listens.
I definitely get that, and agree that a future of all singles and no albums is the last thing I want. And I’m not eve deleting tracks or rearranging the album in iTunes itself. I just have a playlist folder for albums that I want to fool around with resequencing. Then I can still go revisit the stuff I like less if I want to.
gonna share my full MFC-era playlist here, where I did ABIIOR in sequence first, then a heavily amended sequencing of NOACF after, and I am really happy with the flow of this. if I ever wanna listen to both records in full back to back, this is def how i’m gonna personally do it.
I appreciate the back and forth! I didn’t ever want to come across as snooty. I just feel strongly about things and feel the need to defend them. But thanks for being respectful of that!
I'm gonna try this. On paper it alleviates some of my issues with the first half and opens up the second half quite nicely. thanks for sharing