Normally I think I'd agree, I tend to prefer cohesive, clear image covers, but the other albums aside from CE offer literally nothing to look at haha. I do like ND though. I remember they did special packaging and designing for it and it seemed really sweet.
Really wish I was a Thursday fan in 2011, would love that special vinyl art. I think the bareness/lack of color of FC and ND offer a lot to think about personally. Like, ultimately, those are the most hopeful albums in their discography imo and it makes sense for them to be this piercing whiteness in contrast to the grime of the WATT cover and the pitch darkness of CE. And then there's City, that also makes sense due to the whole idea of blinding light being just as disorienting as darkness -- so in a sense it's almost a mirror of WATT and CE art. Like a negative of what it's really showing. Anyways, album covers amirite? Cool shit. I didn't mention waiting bc it has like three artworks, doesn't it?
I guess I hadn't really thought about em too much, but I like that. Gonna have to pore through each of the albums in full again. I've been on a Thursday high since the show. Having em all lined up would make for a great piece of symmetrical wall art hah. But yes, album covers. Always like talking about em. As for waiting, I can only think of the car (which reminds me of Harry Potter) and the reissue vinyl cover with the dove off the top of my head.
just listening to those final 3 albums on repeat is such an experience... you could hear them slowly pushing their sound to where they would end up with ND... Songs like No Answers are simply songs no other band could write. I don't need them to do another record bc I think what we have is a perfect progession/arc... Waiting to ND is a band fully realizing their potential and showing true growth over 6 records. If they were to write another record it would be interesting bc they could literally go in any direction that they wanted to since it would be a completely new era for the band.
Kill The House Lights documentary is great. It documents the band's existence from Waiting all the way to around the time they released A City By The Light Divided. I think the section on War All The Time was perhaps the most interesting part to me, as they were getting caught up in business with major labels as well as when tensions in the band started coming to fruition. One of the guys from Island believed they were gonna be the next Nirvana with War All The Time, which always struck a chord with me because obviously they were not and I think those sort of expectations led to Thursday following their own path with ACBTLD and I think would ultimately lead to their disbanding down the line.
Just updated my OP with more about it, but you absolutely should. I may give it a watch today or tomorrow now that I'm talking about it
May have said is at another point but No Answers doesn't do much for me. That said, completely agree on that last point. Not many bands get a nice clean break like that.
I had a moment at the show Saturday during Sparks Against the Sun, a song I really like but one of my least favorite Thursday songs, and I got thinking about how unique that song and lots of song on ND and how nothing really sounds like them. Love the atmospherics and how it ties in with the vortexy artwork. I think all the covers fit each album perfectly. CE is dark but simple and coherent. City is expansive, abrasive, pretty, and vibrant. I can't describe why WATT works but it does. This got tangential.
Favorite album artwork is either ND or CE. Love all the photography in the CE layout. Least favorite is City. That thing is ugly. They didn't do a special version on vinyl for ND but they did do a special version on cd that kind of folds out like an accordion. Idk how but I came into possession of two of them haha. They're hand numbered and Geoff wrote a ND lyric in each of them.
New idea: artwork ranking. ACBTLD > ND > WATT/CE > FC > Waiting. I think the waiting reissue is gorgeous but I'll stick to the car one in the ranking.
Love the waiting cover tbh. It feels like a product of the time, but so does the album imo. ND definitely fits the music best, I think, and it's a cool picture too. Kind of upset the dove isn't on there anywhere tho
I dont know if Beyond the Visible spectrum is underrated but it's a top ten. Also Love Has Lead Us Astray. That's a bonechiller.
Fast to the end & subway funeral. seeing them open with FTTE on their TBS tour is one of my favorite concert moments, and how subway funeral isn't played at every show I'll never understand.
How about those strings at the end of Steps Ascending? I'm not sure I ever noticed them before. (Can you guys tell I'm listening to WATT right now)