Heard it for the first time today & it has some killer tracks such as How Blue & Somebody Should Leave and especially Before I Met You. Has that 80s adult contemporary/Cambridge coffee shop feel to it at points but that's not a bad thing. I can see it growing with repeat listens too. From what I've read/heard, it's considered one of the key albums of 80s country music, and it definitely impresses at such. Very solid. Recommended!
Grade: B
RIYL: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith
Further Listening: Tanya Tucker, Ricky Skaggs
Last edited by Repo on 03/12/2019 04:15; edited 1 time in total
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
RIYL: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Further Listening: Tanya Tucker, Ricky Skaggs
its so weird how underrated reba and some of her contemporaries have gotten since these were in the mainstream. this record is good.
Completely agree. Heard it for the first time today & it has some killer tracks such as How Blue & Somebody Should Leave. Has that 80s adult contemporary feel to it at points but that's not a bad thing. I can see it growing with repeat listens too. I'd give it a solid B at this point. From what I understand though this is one of the key albums of 80s country music, and it definitely impresses at such. Very solid.
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
Completely agree. Heard it for the first time today & it has some killer tracks such as How Blue & Somebody Should Leave. Has that 80s adult contemporary feel to it at points but that's not a bad thing. I can see it growing with repeat listens too. I'd give it a solid B at this point. From what I understand though this is one of the key albums of 80s country music, and it definitely impresses at such. Very solid.
Among the millions of bands giving alt rock and post-punk revival a bad name with shallow, insipid, faceless, and noise-polluted music, Children Collide come across as a rare breath of fresh air at a music dump, ripping through their tunes with an effortless grace that hides considerable songwriting efforts, as well as plenty of energy and big radio-ready hooks that somehow don't require them to sign up for the clone factory. They did their homework, to be sure, with influences ranging from Hüsker Dü and Therapy? on their loudest moments, to Blur and even Kurt Cobain (at his quirkiest) on the quieter ones -- not to mention punk, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth -- but everything is pieced together into a cohesive whole made up of songs that are memorable and straightforward, but that don't lose that independent, jangly, and surly vibe. The band isn't here to kiss up to listeners, it's here to speak to them as equals, and if the audience catches a groove from what it hears, it's a win for everyone. Children Collide still never sounds completely original on Theory of Everything -- this deja vu feeling is likely to be nagging in the back of your mind from track one to track 12 -- but they don't sound like rip-offs, either. The lyrics play a part, too -- the group is less likely to sing about girls than about holes in the universe, and rhymes "fanatics" with "mathematics", but all of this comes across as poetic imagery (only rarely overblown), not naïve dross. Children Collide still lack a trademark sound -- something that would make people anywhere in the great wide world snap their fingers and say 'I know them!' by the third note -- but they are one of the better bands in a while to play such catchy music without losing their authentic rock gloom. -AllMusic
BOLD mine.
Well done & enjoyable accessible & catchy alt rock radio that still has an edge. While they do not have a distinctive sound they also don't sound like carbon copies either. Recommended.
Grade: B
RIYL: Foo Fighters, Everclear, Girls vs. Boys
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
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Love your work Tilly. Totally fair and valid points from both the reviewer and yourself. I've got nothing to add except to explain why this is one of my favourites from 2010. It was an at-the-time album from my prestreaming days when I could only listen to what I had physical copies of. Their debut album, The Long Now, was already a favourite of my wife and I, and was on heavy rotation in the car cd player, so we got our hands on this as soon as we could. This also became an often listened to album, although I still prefer their debut, even if Theory Of Everything was the more successful album. I always have had, and probably always will have a soft spot for quality alt rock.
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mickilennial
Repo
Purplepash
