The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 270

Oh, I have listened AT LEAST 10 times. Musically it their most complex with solos! Sevendust has solos!!! I love Lajon's vocals on this as well and is by far some of his best singing. It feels very melodic yet heavy at the same time. I would come out of hibernation if @Bad Frequencies wanted to do a bracket for them. Only if there is enough interest of course!

 

I'd participate!

 

Julien Baker review later. Found it hard to write this one but it's finally done and will be up when I get back from seeing my girlfriend.

 

Great reviews! I was way into that Wakefield album back in the day. It doesn't hold up perfectly, but I think you're right in that it's a fun listen and contains a decent amount of variety. I would maintain that a handful of the tracks are still jams, including the first three tracks (rap verse notwithstanding), "Asleep on Broken Teeth," and "Picture Frame." Listening to "After School Special" now it's SO early Butch Walker. Awesome.

I believe the single version of "C'mon Baby" on streaming services leaves out the rap verse, though I've heard it so many times by now that I kind of prefer the album version. The version without it just plays the background music with no vocals and it sounds little empty.

Not much more to say about Muse. That's just an excellent album that blew my face off in 2003 and it's still great. It's a shame they've gone a bit cheesy on their past few albums and it's tarnished their earlier work IMO. I remember until The Resistance was released I took their stuff so seriously. Can't say that is the case anymore haha. They've kind of become a parody of themselves (though I do still enjoy their work for what it is).

 

@skurt was paired with me this week.

I'm listening to Shaky Graves- Can't Wake Up

He's listening to Teenage Wrist- Chrome Neon Jesus

 

This week I was assigned Barcelona- Absolutes by my dear, dear friend and buddy @Colin Your Enthusiasm

I have heard the band’s name thrown around, but have never heard a single song of theirs. The record begins with “Falling Out Of Trees” where the singer sings with a lot of passion. It began on a slower song that set the tone for the record, which I’m always for, and went into an upbeat song during track two, “It’s About Time” The song has a pulsing bassline, and nice prominent lead guitar throughout the song. I could see it becoming very catchy after a few more listens. The singers voice reminded me a lot of the singer of Acceptance at points, especially the chorus of “It’s About Time”. After thinking this I did see that the band was from Seattle, where I believe Acceptance are from too! The song “Lesser Things” reminded me a lot musically and lyrically of the Academy Is… which is definitely a good thing! They seemed to have a lot of influence in general from those types of bands (Acceptance, The Academy Is..) which was a time period of music I’m still in love with to this day, so this record really takes me back. Some other highlights from the record for me were “Colors” which gave me some Young The Giant vibes. “Come Back When You Can” was a very optimistic song, with gorgeous Coldplay-esque melodies, and hopeful supportive lyrics of a loved one. It was easily the highlight of the record at this point. If Coldplay had written this song, it would’ve been a radio hit everyone was familiar with. “Get Up” and a lot of the songs in general had a lot of similar lyric content about a ‘she’ who has “lost their way” “given up” etc. It made me wonder throughout the record if this was all written about a specific person who was going through a rough point in their life. It almost made me wonder in piecing together the similarities if it’s written to be a fictional/non-fiction concept album following one character. The last 30 seconds or so of “Get Up” the band almost had a Sigur Ros moment of sorts, which I loved. “The Takers” kicked the rhythm back up, beginning with piano, and frantic drums. “First Floor People” was a stripped down song that was piano-heavy with very light drums backing it up. It was a gorgeous ballad that really showcased the singer’s vulnerability. The song picks up into a bigger moment reminiscent of Civil Twilight’s best ballads. “Response” also showed the singer pushing his vocals to their capacity in a more upbeat song. “Faded” was another good ballad song. I enjoyed the presence of the strings a lot in this track. “Stars” showed the singer having his closest Thom Yorke moment on the record vocally. On this song, and a lot of songs on the record. “Numb” was a pretty unique song on the record. It had a bouncy sound to it in the drums and bass and almost sounded like it could fit in on our very own Chorus user @Mr. Serotonin Emerson record. The record ended with “Please Don’t Go”. The beginning reminded me almost too much of the song “Transatlantacism” by Death Cab For Cutie. It was a very gorgeous track throughout though that had a lot of vulnerability, and the highest range used vocally on the record.

I can’t wait to check out the rest of this band’s discography in the coming weeks as I really enjoyed this record. I’m also pretty intrigued that it looks like they have a group of themed EP’s called Love Me, Love You, and Know Love. The band had a lot of influences throughout the record of bands that I really like which really made them sit well with me. I can see a lot of replays coming with this band. My only complaint with the record is that at 13 minutes and 54 minutes the record seemed a little long. It also never really had an identity. It went back and forth between upbeat songs and piano ballads, which impacted the overall flow the record. Some of the songs tended to blend into one another too, and sometimes sounded similar I’m interested in going deeper into their discography to see which sound they ended up leaning towards later in their careers.

Favorite Songs: It’s About Time, Colors, Come Back When You Can, The Takers, First Floor People, Faded, Please Don't Go

 

I actually really enjoy the new MUSE album. It reminds me a lot of Queen.

 

I like that one too! Probably my favorite since Black Holes and Revelations. I think what I'm trying to express is that Matt Bellamy's songs seemed very personal, for the most part, on their first 3 1/2 albums (Black Holes was 50/50). Since then it feels more like he's writing fiction, and I just can't connect to it/buy into it like I used to.

 

Oh shit, i've actually heard this before. Singer is great!

 

Love the track-by-track commentary! And love this album. It's probably my favorite by Barcelona. The three EPs start to go more into electro-pop territory and they kind of mark a transition point between the indie rock of Absolutes and the full electronic ballad style stuff he's doing now as SYML.

 

Thanks @Patterns in Traffic ! My last review for @SamLevi11 I started doing it that way. Instead of taking notes and compiling the info I literally write the review as a I go so it's my first impressions on everything! I'll continue doing it that way since you appreciate it!

 

I didn’t expect to see you in here. Thinking of joining us, doc?

 

If you read my review you would've seen that it's because I tagged him in my review!

 

Larry came-a-callin'!

 

Absolutely. As they have put out more albums they have gone more theatrical and fantastical (is that a word?!).

 

I’m still reading it I’m kind of at my desk reading between customers.

You should still join us

 

Where do i sign?

 

Just tell us you want in! We are literally just starting our weekly session so I can get you a partner

 

It is and I agree!

 

I went to the first page and read what this is and i'm in.

 

Great review my friend!

The one you played is the reissue and ya it's longer mine actually has 14 tracks. There's one after Please Don't Go called Time to Mend. 14 songs, 1 hour is definitely a little too long but Brian is one of my favorite vocalist so I don't mind it one bit lol

The version I fell in love with was shorter.

Track listing

• 1 Falling Out of Trees 4:16
  
  
• 2 It's About Time 3:55
  
  
• 3 Stars 4:12
  
  
• 4 Lesser Things 4:12
  
  
• 5 First Floor People 5:48
  
  
• 6 Get Up, Get Up, Get Up 3:57
  
  
• 7 Response 3:27
  
  
• 8 Colors 3:35
  
  
• 9 You Will Pull Through 7:24
  
  
• 10 Numb 3:21
  
  
• 11 Please Don't Go 4:30
  
  
• Total length: 48:37

Unfortunately it's not available anywhere anymore. I have it in my iTunes and old iPod but now I usually play the reissue because I dig the bonus tracks (Come back when you can, The Takers, Faded, Time to Mend)

I do recommend listening to this song tho since it's not on the reissue.

Also I strongly recommend checking out Brian's solo project SYML.

 

Sweet, @Larry David will be your partner this week!

 

Everyone welcome our new member @Mr. Serotonin

 

don't tell me what to do

 

This is one of my favorite Muse songs (possibly #1) and it still blows me away that this is track 1 from LP1. Like...who does this? Talk about coming out swinging.