While looking up a few details on my latest Fighting Dantasy entry, I discovered this place. Which is awesome, cause Wikipedia doesn't accept links to Blogger sites. Don't ask how I know, haha...
So, I've heard a low-to-average download of the new Coldplay album, and it sounds... interesting. Not as directly poppy as X&Y, suffering from a few of the same production faults (as best as I could tell), but a lot more interesting. One of the songs, I think it was Cemetaries of London, really struck me as something quite magnificent... perhaps this was the song they were talking about a year or so ago when they said they'd written their best thing ever or something. If anything, it strikes me as an Unforgettable Fire, branching out and getting a bit droney, but that's probably Brian Eno's fault. Another difference would be that I reckon despite the great title track and Pride, The Unforgettable Fire was probably U2's weakest album at the time (followed by their at-the-time best, The Joshua Tree).
But there's definitely a progression in their songwriting, which is cool. I can't really say the same for Weezer though; though as much as I know The Red Album is still a long, long way from Pinkerton and Blue, I've been listening to little else the past week. It's more ambitious than Make Believe, more varied... you could say in those ways it's like Viva La Vida compared to X&Y, but otherwise, not really. Apart from the absolutely, definitely-on-the-inevitable-best-of Pork And Beans, there's little else that comes close to making it. Yeah, Troublemaker is good, The Greatest Man Alive is bonkers, and Brian Bell's Thought I Knew grows on you after a few listens, but they're just not on the same level as previous Weezer high points. Only some of the blame can go on the crisp-yet-crushed production, the rest has to go on the half-joking but half-serious nature of so much of the material - you can't tell whether to put your tongue in your cheek or cry on the inside when listening. Listening to Pinkerton, it's natural to do both at the same time, but when you're offered a choice, it's no fun.
But, it's not all bad news; it's certainly more distinctive a listen than Make Believe, and the bonus tracks, not officially part of the album, are fucking great. Miss Sweeney is probably the best non-single they've written in ten years, and despite his douchebag of a look, bassist Scott Shriner has a pretty decent voice.
But in the end, Pork and Beans makes up for pretty much all the musical crime they commit on The Red Album. It sucks though Rivers had to be bullied into writing it by his record company.
So, I've heard a low-to-average download of the new Coldplay album, and it sounds... interesting. Not as directly poppy as X&Y, suffering from a few of the same production faults (as best as I could tell), but a lot more interesting. One of the songs, I think it was Cemetaries of London, really struck me as something quite magnificent... perhaps this was the song they were talking about a year or so ago when they said they'd written their best thing ever or something. If anything, it strikes me as an Unforgettable Fire, branching out and getting a bit droney, but that's probably Brian Eno's fault. Another difference would be that I reckon despite the great title track and Pride, The Unforgettable Fire was probably U2's weakest album at the time (followed by their at-the-time best, The Joshua Tree).
But there's definitely a progression in their songwriting, which is cool. I can't really say the same for Weezer though; though as much as I know The Red Album is still a long, long way from Pinkerton and Blue, I've been listening to little else the past week. It's more ambitious than Make Believe, more varied... you could say in those ways it's like Viva La Vida compared to X&Y, but otherwise, not really. Apart from the absolutely, definitely-on-the-inevitable-best-of Pork And Beans, there's little else that comes close to making it. Yeah, Troublemaker is good, The Greatest Man Alive is bonkers, and Brian Bell's Thought I Knew grows on you after a few listens, but they're just not on the same level as previous Weezer high points. Only some of the blame can go on the crisp-yet-crushed production, the rest has to go on the half-joking but half-serious nature of so much of the material - you can't tell whether to put your tongue in your cheek or cry on the inside when listening. Listening to Pinkerton, it's natural to do both at the same time, but when you're offered a choice, it's no fun.
But, it's not all bad news; it's certainly more distinctive a listen than Make Believe, and the bonus tracks, not officially part of the album, are fucking great. Miss Sweeney is probably the best non-single they've written in ten years, and despite his douchebag of a look, bassist Scott Shriner has a pretty decent voice.
But in the end, Pork and Beans makes up for pretty much all the musical crime they commit on The Red Album. It sucks though Rivers had to be bullied into writing it by his record company.
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