That's "I Can't Stop Drinking" for me. It's slower, but it's definitely my favorite song off the album. I love that main riff and guitar tones.
That's pretty much the only song that I skip. But not all the time! I just have to be in the right mood for it.
One of the few bands I actively seek out news and new releases for. Hello Exile was my favorite record last year.
I’m really looking forward to this. It’s always fun to hear these new takes on the songs. I’m hoping there are a couple bsides from Hello Exile that come out someday too.
I was pretty much there already when I wrote about it last fall. I’ve come around on even my least favorite tracks, though, which never really happened with After the Party or On the Impossible Past.
I still struggle with the vocals in terms of album production. Song writing is fantastic on HE though. I hope this band is around for a really really long time because I need a band like The Menzingers.
Will probably give the proper album a re-listen once this version comes out. Been a while, I remember liking it more than After the Party but that's about it.
I think songs with a more urgency like Anna need the vocals and vocal energy more in the forefront (like they did with will on ATP). To me, that song didn’t need the singing in the shower down the Hall effect. Strangers Forever sounding vocal production on Anna would have worked better for me too. Songs like Hello Exile and I Can’t Stop Drinking thematically work more not having the vocals pristine in the forefront. Exile and using a slightly more distant feel to match the song and a hungover song doesn’t require the same clarity (for realistic readings). Just my thoughts.
This is probably tied with ATP for me, both trailing On the Impossible Past. Rented World has some of my favorite Menz songs, but also a few of my least.
ATP > OTIP > CW > HE > RW imo. That's not a ranking of best to worst, it's a ranking of favourite to least favourite where least favourite is still a fat 8/9 outta ten
I think Rented World they made a mistake in the choice of producer, just don't think he suited their style quite right. There is an alternate universe where that album was just as good as OTIP / ATP. But all of that is prefaced by, as MFA says, a """bad album""" for this band is still better than a good album from many other groups.
Yeah I don’t think RW sounds all that good, which is unfortunate because all the Restorations albums John Low produces sound great.
I'm really not a fan of Rented World. A few highlights, but I've come to the conclusion that it mostly plays against their strengths and is just not very enjoyable to listen to.