Color, This is life, Infinite, Ghosts, & Fire are all really good to me. Looking at tracklist Luna is the only one I skip. The others I remember really liking just I would need a re-listen to refresh haha
The problem with self-titled, other than the tuning, is that it has zero all-timers. A bunch of songs I like, but none I really love.
Yeah that’s the problem in my head with Golden Record vs S/T. Catholic Girls is an all timer and maybe a top 3 song for me … but other than maybe Miles Apart & Sins, I don’t care for the rest of it. Give me the album with consistent good-ish than mostly bad (or forgettable I guess since I can’t remember much else on that album) (when comparing GR and S/T)
You can definitely tell they were finding their footing again with S/T, but there is an earnestness to that record that really elevates it for me. You can hear how much it meant to them to be making music again
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pinpoint why, but nothing they’ve done since the first two records has ever really hit me like they do. I think Sins and Catholic Girls are the last songs that really hit that sweet spot for me.
I wonder how much of it is us being younger when those albums hit.. I listened to Work in Progress yesterday, and imagined if it had been released on this newest album instead of War Paint. Would it really stand out as 100 times better than the rest of Gravity? I dont think so honestly. I think a lot of it was us being younger when these songs hit. Just an idea
Idk, nostalgia is obviously a big factor, but also...I just think a lot changed about how AJ wrote songs. I've made this point before, but the way he wrote bridges on those first two records (and a little bit on the third) was really visceral and added so much emotion and momentum to those songs. Even the songs I really like since the comeback (and even Mother Nature, an album I really love) just does not have that aspect of his writing.
Work In Progress would absolutely still hit if I heard it today I still routinely get floored by plenty of pop punk music coming out. Koyo, Arms Length, Hot Mulligan, and One Step closer all have multiple songs that hit me right in the gut the way old dangerous summer songs do. People will do everything but admit AJ has lost some of his songwriting chops
I didnt get into The Dangerous Summer until 2019. I think the Mother Nature singles were coming out and I saw a comment about Bring Me Back to Life sounding like Angels and Airwaves if "AVA was space then TDS is earth" so I was intrigued. Loved the singles, then I gave self titled a full album listen and loved it too. There really isn't much nostalgia tied to Work in Progress for me, so yes I think if WIP was on Gravity it would blow the rest of the album out of the water. But I also think Pacific Ocean blows a lot of pre-hiatus songs out of the water, too.
I honestly think What’s An Hour Really Worth fucking rules. Got a three hour drive on my own tomorrow, and back on Sunday. Gonna do a discography run.
They are the perfect long drive windows down band. I always throw their discography on shuffle when I go long distances
I was listening to The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation yesterday and think it might have it beat, but yeah this dude used to be a masterclass in bridge writing. Makes sense, he adores TSwift.
I like the bridges on War Paint way, way more, even though there are some excellent ones on The Greatest Generation. The only song on that album where the bridge is the first thing I think of when I think of the song is "Passing Through a Screen Door." On War Paint, there are like 7-8 songs where the bridge is my favorite part of the song.