previous exposure to either artist? None. At least not as far as I know. Pretty fresh sounds to my ears.
This was really good. Like, it really subtly affected me and made me feel a dark sadness. The guitar playing, melodies, atmosphere were great on almost the whole thing. The lyrics were mostly excellent - if tragic. But the final song is a great example of a bit of a downer album helping you back on your feet and dusting you off.
Album cover is great, Name of the album is brilliant.
Fave lyrics? hmm... not sure oh yeah there was one little thingamajig that hit hard (amongst many others) about christmas and it was a bit too real.
"Sunset Christmas evening
Church bells in your ears
Nothing's to give, boy
And nothing's to receive
This year"
all in all after 1 full listen I get why this is revered. Its so incredibly timeless sounding. And I think (but I don't know) you can hear the influence of this sort of sad, depressive, committed-to-the-darkness vibe in a lot of 90s and 2000s music, especially the sadder side of indie folk songwriting.
previous exposure to artist? I listened to his next album after this one - Harvest of Dreams - a couple years back when perusin' 1982 music. I kinda sorta loved that album. Never came to this as far as I recall.
This is a solid psychedelic folk album, with some really strange and smoky production, some interesting high pitched vocals, some cleans guitar mixed in with the more atmospheric muddled guitar. The sounds are unique and if you like 60s psych folk stuff you'll dig it. And i like that stuff. so...i dug it. Some momentum lost as album trudges on. First few songs are pretty good bordering on great. not sure why he felt the need to include the same song twice here, but whatever.
Not as good as Harvest of Dreams as I feel that album was more cohesive and seemed to be more focused on the surreal, foggy sound. I may be remembering that album with rosy glasses but I gave it a 4/5 at the time and that makes sense. This is more of a 3.
this is the opening track and its awesome and maybe the best song here.
lame cover art, cool enough name i guess. neither are as ace as its competition.
speaking of which, the lyrics weren't same tier as Songs from Suicide Bridge either. They were kinda unclear but i caught a few things, and I think i understood them. they were about girls, right?
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Verdict: Easy 46-21 win by the number one seeded Songs From Suicide Bridge. They will celebrate and wait (a long while i would imagine) to see who wins the Rickie Lee Jones-Jackson Browne match later this week. It's fair to say, whoever they face in the next round, hell even if the tournament runner switches it up and has them face the winner of the Group 3 round 1 match, they should feel confident and good about their efforts today and their prospects going forward. _________________ -Ryan
previous exposure to artist? I consider Astral Weeks to be essentially perfect and, funny story, I was listening to this album for the first time when I was 14 on my Sony Walkmen. I was in the waiting area as my first niece was being born. It was in the calm before the storm moment, and I was listening to Astral Weeks while also contemplating the miracle and beauty of life and grappling with the fact that teenage me was about to be a fucking uncle. I am pretty sure i shed a tear or 2 when I was listening to Madame George. anyway, I digress.
I also have heard Moondance which i think is good but never blew me away (Crazy Love is one of my faves), Veedon Fleece which is also good if not great but needs a revisit, "His Band and the Street Choir" which is okay, and the odd single here and there.
The thing with this album and all albums I have heard from Van Morrison post-Astral Weeks, is I feel like nothing has remotely come even slightly close to it. The gibberish sounds that Van would spout in Astral Weeks felt primal and pure, but whenever I hear some fucking syllabic rat-a-tat shit from him on almost anything else I tend to get annoyed. I don't know why but it feels silly outside of '68. His voice is the same damn voice but it doesn't hit like it does there. But okay, the sounds aside, there are some really friggin great songs here that I loved. And not gonna lie I felt almost a hint of the magic come back on the closing track here "Almost Independence Day". The loungin, joyous vibes with its horns and its yelps and stuff is really good throughout. The songs are solid. If I had never heard his album from 1968 I would probably be more impressed.
Okay, the cover art is kinda stupid. The name is cool but I am sure I am missing something cuz I'm not nearly the man Van is.
Lyrics? You Talkin' lyrics?? This man is a brilliant lyricist. I love it when a songwriter gives specifics - you know, dates, street names, people's names, actual fully formed sentences that express clearly a time and place and form and action etc. And Van is one of the masters. Even though I can't always understand him, reading his lyrics sheet is cool. Most of these poetic albums really look lame without music. Not so much with van.
previous exposure: none. The dillards play on these songs which is dope.
This album is so great! Maybe the fact that I have no baggage with this artist, but I found myself clicking with this album more. His voice is really odd. It honestly sounds like Ozzy Osborne at times. I know, but really really... can you hear it here at all? or am I trippin'?
actually the song here that sounds the most like Ozzy is "city scenes" but i can't find that on YT.
Anyway, the whole album was consistently engaging and differentiated itself enough that I wasn't bored or rolling my eyes at the cliche. Cuz the performances are great! The country songs are crisp, the more dour and kinda meaner songs like the above "Loser" which i shared a link for are so bluesy and expressive. The lyrics are equal parts poetic and a little airy fairy, and also direct and up front.
Okay, and the name of the album and the cover are cooler than that Van Morrison album. sorry but its true and you know it.
Lyrics aren't really a competition, although the lyrics and little details here are great! It just isn't quite the same level as Van. Then again, I can understand all the words here more clearly and that is something.
anyway.... this is a tough one so lets stop delaying....
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In a stunning upset, Since There Were Circles come out on top in 36 to 33 nailbiter! Holy cannoli!!! They will play the highest seed to survive either this group's first round or the 4th group's first round depending on what Ryan decides at that time. _________________ -Ryan
Yay - I'm assuming this is that project you were working on and basically are gamifying it... genius! Really good list. Makes me want to revisit this myself (I made a chart I'm mostly ashamed of and is full of ignorance... needs a revamp with a cool process like this).
Also when you are done, I think what really would make Gowi happy is a Emmylou only tournament 😄
In a stunning upset, Since There Were Circles come out on top in 36 to 33 nailbiter! Holy cannoli!!
Mercury
RoundTheBend
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