cobl04
45:33
So I have a menial job to do at work which seems like the perfect time to finally listen to this album. Twenty seconds in and it's already boring.
Okay so. It doesn't start too badly at all! Pure Comedy, Total Entertainment, Ballad of the Dying Man and Birdie are all pretty good. I'd say Ballad of the Dying Man is the highlight, and Pure Comedy is great once you get past the first two minutes.
Can definitely hear that 70s Elton John/Neil Young influence others have spoken about it. In fact, whenever there is music used on this album that isn't just piano notes played three seconds apart or slow and unmemorable acoustic guitar, it's quite great.
But I was right about most of it. Leaving LA, jesus christ. Who could possibly enjoy that. In fact from that song through until the end it's just incredibly boring. All those songs are largely exactly the same - background piano, meandering acoustic guitar, slow drumming, stretched-out Tillman vocals, maybe a few synths dotted here and there.
The only reprieve in the last two-thirds of the album is the instrumental section/back half of Magic Mountain, which is utterly gorgeous and quite moving in its beauty.
Best thing I can say about it is that it's a lot better than Sun Kil Moon's shit stain of an album, but that's really not saying much at all.
I'm sure there's some lyrical takeaways or insights that are great but there's no chance I'm sitting through that again.
Yeah. Up until Leaving LA I was a little embarrassed about my previous posts to be honest, but it falls off a cliff at the point onwards.
But the second half of Magic Mountain is tremendous. Anyone else agree?
Yeah. Up until Leaving LA I was a little embarrassed about my previous posts to be honest, but it falls off a cliff at the point onwards.