The National - First Two Pages... & Laugh Track Album • Page 27

That would actually be a great way to open the record. Its languidness would be a nice ease into a new record, almost like some of the R.E.M. slow album openers (How the West Was Won and Drive).

 

High violet is good. What is wrong with you people?

 

Lol at calling Anyone's Ghost "upbeat"

 

I can’t remember where (maybe the big feature and video series they did with Pitchfork?) but before the album was released they talked about how they tried their best to write a bouncy, upbeat song and it still came out like a moody National song. And I believe they even identified it as Anyone’s Ghost.

 

i didnt realize high violet was so divisive honestly

 

"afraid of everyone" was the song that didn't match up to my memory on relisten. The lyrics are just too much and it's kinda lumbering and monotonous to my 2023 ears

 

I def prefer the album version of Terrible Love, which feels like a dumb opinion given that it’s literally just the demo of the song, but it has a great vibe and also the takes an ocean not to break part sounds so particularly cool on it. It bothers me way more that they cut the horns from Bloodbuzz than that they put the version of Terrible Love on the album that they did.

my other weird HV opinions are that Anyone’s Ghost is a top half song on it, Afraid of Everyone is good but not classic, and Conversation 16 is the single most overrated song in their catalog.

other unpopular national opinions -

Sad Songs rules, it does enough in its first 4 songs to get more credit than most give it here.

All Dolled Up in Straps is the best song on Cherry Tree, not About Today (which is wonderful obv but I’ve never got it being THE emotional National set closer)

TWFM is too long, overall rating brought down pretty hard by the 3 or 4 weakest songs on it.

Coney Island is a bottom 4 track on folkrmore

original (pre twfm) tv Rylan is the best version

 

I like "conversation 16" mostly because it's funny. they used to have songs that were a bit funny

 

Agreed on TWFM. Trim 2-3 songs from the middle and it's a stronger record.

 

conversation 16 was my fav national song for a bit

 

The only song I could *maybe* see losing from TWFM is "I Need My Girl", but even that is more about it being back-to-back with "Slipped" and I think "Slipped" is the better song. I'm very curious what songs people would consider trimming...

I think I avoided TWFM for a long time because I really didn't care for "I Need My Girl" and it was the first song I remember hearing from it, and now it is my favorite album of theirs.

This is my first time seeing this live version of "Rylan" and it is absolutely incredible. I don't know if I would say it's better than the Live At KEXP version, but all of the live versions are absolutely superior to the album version from IAETF. The song was absolutely meant to just be played as a straightforward National song so-to-speak, and really was hurt by all of the transformations it went through before arriving on that album.

 

it would be fun if they got a Fridmann or BJ Burton level sonic shakeup at some point.

 

I'm axing Fireproof and Heavenfaced immediately, those are the main two. I'm not crazy about I Need My Girl and I think Hard to Find is pretty middling for its closer but I'd prob keep it.

 

I agree on "Hard To Find" being a bit middling, but I do think it's a beautiful song, so I think it falls just on this side of the the fence for me. "Humiliation" is absolutely killer and "Pink Rabbits" is an all-time-classic National song for me also, so I think it's tough to follow-up those two.

"Heavenfaced" took me a long time to fall in love with and for years I considered it a low point also, but I can't imagine ever losing "Fireproof". I've loved that song since my first listen.

 

You could definitely lose Fireproof and Heavenfaced without hurting TWFM. I love Hard to Find and I Need My Girl though.

 

To me, probably the biggest headscratcher they ever did is put Not in Kansas and So Far So Fast back-to-back on IAETF. It slams the brakes on an album that's already pretty slow-moving to begin with.

 

This is easily my favorite chunk of the album lol, like a languid song oasis planted dead center

 

I very strongly dislike "I Need My Girl" and I've never been able to figure out why. On paper it's a very The National song, and other fans seem to really like it, but I can't make it all the way through it. I really did think my tastes had just moved away from them at that point with that song. I just played it now and can't put my finger on it but in my head I'm just like "Nope!" and want to shut it off.

I really like both "Fireproof" and "Heavenfaced" but I can also completely see the argument that they can be dropped from an album that's already pushing an hour.

I do think the fact that this was the last album they made before exploring other musical avenues that I do not love as much - such as having Bryan Devendorf play a drum pad instead of drums sometimes - makes me a hell of a lot more forgiving of it's extended runtime.

 

I love I need my girl

I should live in salt and fireproof can go tho. Heaven faced could but Matt’s upper register saves it

 

“I Should Live in Salt” is an s tier National song

 

I'd die if they got in the studio with Fridmann that would rule. Probably would never happen tho

 

Drums are bad, but the lyrics are so on brand with my life that I’ve been enjoying the new song.

 

I love this song and think it's a great opener for the album.

I'm realizing that I definitely have a different idea of which songs are a little iffy on TWFM vs most fans. When I look at that album it's clear as day to me that the beginning is great, it dips in quality about ⅔ of the way thru (tracks 9 & 10), but then recovers with some all-timers right near the end.

It's grown on me a little bit since I first heard it. I still hate the drums, but it's definitely a cool song and it gets stuck in my head.

I know there was A LOT of new music that was released / announced that same day, but I wasn't expecting a new song from The National to be my least favorite out of everything.

 

Heavenfaced is the only song on TWFM that I’d be fine with cutting, but I still like it

 

i love fireproof