Some amazing piano work, great cosmic country-soul vocals from Jim, awesome guitar tones, warm psychedelic vibes, just enough crunch....mwuah!
This year continued to be a bittersweet godsend for fans of great, established rock bands.
I've been waiting impatiently the whole 5 years, but this was as good a time as any to put it out... I guess I'm glad I got it now.
I definitely thought it sounded like a Grade-A, cohesive album. I have a sneaking hunch it ends the year in my top 5 (and nowhere to be found on any publication's most likely, haha....:(
). Combined with the already excellent "Magic Bullet", "Get Back" into "Wasted" is one of the best 3-song runs of the year.
On one hand "does it remind me of a band I don't know or care about?" seems like a silly question to cover 5 times (Skull & Roses is their second live album; the phrase "sunshine daydream" is primarily associated with "Sugar Magnolia", one of the ones that might just occasionally pop up on the radio).
On the other hand, this is a ridiculous, stupid cashgrab set of products if ever there was one, so...I guess the article doesn't really warrant much respect to be shown.
It's awesome how much reach he's turned out to have. "Sundress" is a total jam and I lived that Rocky came out for Coachella. Tame headlining a night of that in 2019 was one of the coolest music things I could have imagined at that point (and they crushed).
Yeah there's some same-iness to it when played as a whole and a lot of moments that feel derivative, often of his own prior work:
Lost in Yesterday (which is one I really like, actually) = The Moment
On Track = Eventually
Posthumous Forgiveness = Redbone (not his, granted)
Instant Destiny = ok, thankfully there's no precedent for this in the rest of his catalog because this song is pretty lame
I'm so glad to see the "100 Years Ago" love. Top 10 Stones song for me.
"Dancin With Mr. D" is a nice sort of mission-statement song for the album, too.
It had some great songs ("Breathe Deeper", "Is It True", "It Might Be Time", "Lost in Yesterday"). It was a good album, but I just can't see calling it a great one.
I don't think he has a strong singing voice. I think his voice sounds cool because it's got that element of Lennon in it, but he can't "reach for the sky" the way great singers can and his voice sounds thin a lot of the time live.
That said - still probably my favorite band of the last ten years and a blast live, but I think if he was a more powerful singer it would just push him/the band into even more rarefied air.
A good, fully-conceived live backing will usually elevate hip-hop to the next level, IMO. Especially live - there are obviously huge benefits to just getting a high-end producer like Madlib, Alchemist, etc to produce your rap album, too.
But live, it's unquestionable for me. I've seen great, band-less hip hop shows, but none of them wouldn't have gotten something out of some live instrumentation on stage.
Yeah but it comes before It's Only Rock and Roll and Black & Blue, so it really should gain some stature for what came after it even if it loses some for what came before.
Yes, make The Brussels Affair easier to stream! THAT is the definitive evidence of The Rolling Stones as an elite live band. The version of "Midnight Rambler" on there would murder the Ya Ya's version and floss with its entrails. They are FIERCE on The Brussels Affair.
Also, yes for Goat's Head Soup. The last album with Mick Jones, and you can tell when you compare it to the mid-70s albums that came after, because this is a lot more muscular and just better. "100 Years Ago" is possibly the most underrated song in the Stones' catalog.
Oh, one more thing - "Magic Bullet" does now and always has fucking rocked. I'm glad it's getting a place on an album. The fact that it existed, sounded like it belonged with the core Waterfall stuff, and was so awesome just made the wait that much harder.
Agreed, I almost posted that earlier, too. I don't think their most overrated can be one of the last 3, just in terms of no one of them having the kind of consensus love that the first 4 receive.
I guess it would have to be At Dawn for me since I think it's the weakest of the first 4, and because I can't bring myself to suggest it's ISM or Z.
Okonokos is one of the 2 or 3 best (very possibly #1) live albums of the last twenty years, no doubt.
If anyone feels compelled, check the Bonnaroo '04 set for one of their best performances ever. It's obviously shorter than some of their later festival sets, a little less jammy than they became, but just PERFECT MMJ. I mean...untouchable music. And yeah, I was there, but it's still elite (actually The Waterfall tour was the best I'd seen them since, which was awesome, especially with the vastly expanded catalog and yes, increased jamming in certain segments).
Fair, but I liked this new solo one better than the Whigs reunion albums.
But then again my favorite thing he ever did is the second Twilight Singers album.
I've come to appreciate Tennessee Fire a lot more as time has gone by, it's such a unique, nocturnal record.
And I DO really like At Dawn, but it feels a bit demo-y to me at certain points. The live version of "Lowdown" makes the studio one seem like a tinker toy joke and ruined my ability to enjoy it. And "If It Smashes Down" and "I Need it Most" back to back is a total energy suck.
I couldn't get a Red Rocks ticket but I saw the show they streamed from the one night a couple of weeks ago. I did make it to the one in Queens, though. The Red Rocks one sounded a bit better.
I mean honestly they don't have a ton of bad tracks. The only BAD tracks are "Thank You Too" & "Look At You", both off EU and both just the band at its sappiest.
I think Circuital's back end gets bogged down a bit (nothing essential after "Black Metal") and that "Remnants", "Aluminum Park", and "Librarian" might have served better as b-sides, but none of them suck or anything.
Good point - assuming The Waterfall II even touches my expectations for it, we'll be able to add them to the list of The Strokes, Pearl Jam, Phish, Greg Dulli, etc of veteran rock acts who released rare strong new albums this year and couldn't tour behind them. :(
...
But fuck it , I am still ecstatic that we're getting this album!
The Waterfall > At Dawn for me, easy.
(I actually prefer it to Tennessee Fire, too, but I love the latter too much to relegate it to the casual end of a less-than carrot)
I do agree that they have 4 great studio albums, though - TF, ISM, Z, Waterfall
Circuital and Evil Urges were both inconsistent, but that doesn't change the fact that they gave us:
"Circuital" "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2" "Smoking from Shooting" "Holding Onto Black Metal", "Victory Dance", "Touch Me Pt. 1", "Wonderful","I'm Amazed", etc
They're my favorite band of their/my generation, hands down. Between '04 and last year I've seen them around a dozen times and Jim James twice, and that's with me having lived in China for five years.
Shortlist option for best live band of the 2000s and a fantastic discography. It Still Moves is my favorite album of the last 20 years and buying Z when it dropped and listening the first time is one of my favorite album listening experiences ever. And then, just when I had given up on them ever making a great album again after Circuital & Evil Urges were hit-and-miss, they dropped the first The Waterfall and blew me away all over again!
So yeah, I heart me some Jacket.
I couldn't do this because I'd have half of my picks from the new album. Not to slam her older stuff, I just totally adore Saint Cloud. That said, "Arkadelphia" wouldn't be one of those picks, haha.
"Hell" off the new one never gets any love but I think it's one of her best.
Also, justice for "Silver", her best rock song.
Re-fucking-spect.
Judging only on his musical decisions, he was a weird-ass dude, like so many visionaries and geniuses are, and he made it work for him.
Anyone ever watched Duck, You Sucker? Who the Hell else would have ever even dreamed of that score?
I hated nu-metal and associated hard rock stuff that got so prevalent in that era pretty hard (and I was technically the demographic - teenage and white). But I have to admit, I owned and kind of liked a decent chunk of that Godsmack debut.
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