MERGED-->Snow Patrol Are Back!!! + Snow Patrol...

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Fantastic album! Just listened to it for the first time! I think this might be better than the Pearl Jam album.
 
STING2 said:
Fantastic album! Just listened to it for the first time! I think this might be better than the Pearl Jam album.
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Absolutely! I love this album. Love it love it love it! Pearl Jam is good but all the songs haven't really appealed to me yet. But this one is packed with good stuff. I think I have every single song rated 5 stars on my itunes. I'm not even exaggerating.
 
Am I the only one that thinks Final Straw was much better? They have lost all of their indie sounding appeal and have gotten way too bombastic and anthemic. While I like U2 and Coldplay for those reasons, this reminds too much of Train or something Adult Top 40 like that. So far, the gospel-tinged Make This Go on Forever is the only song that stands up to Final Straw. Other songs just sound like sad shells of the predecessors (Hands Open vs Wow, Chasing Cars vs Run, etc.)

So far, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen and Tool all trounce this album.

Sorry, I wanted to like it more. :(
 
phanan said:
So I just picked up the CD, and I got a promo with it. It has one of the two UK bonus tracks (Warmer Climate) plus a live, acoustic version of Run.

I love freebies.

:D
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are those different from the ones I sent you :shifty:

It hasn't shown up in my stores yet.
 
bsp77 said:
Am I the only one that thinks Final Straw was much better? They have lost all of their indie sounding appeal and have gotten way too bombastic and anthemic. While I like U2 and Coldplay for those reasons, this reminds too much of Train or something Adult Top 40 like that. So far, the gospel-tinged Make This Go on Forever is the only song that stands up to Final Straw. Other songs just sound like sad shells of the predecessors (Hands Open vs Wow, Chasing Cars vs Run, etc.)

So far, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen and Tool all trounce this album.

Sorry, I wanted to like it more. :(
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Its funny that all the artist you site have released albums that are selling better and receiving more airplay than Snow Patrol's new album. Not exactly in line with "indie credentials". What does it matter if something does sound like its "Adult Top 40" if its good?

Sounding rough and hard and unlikely to get radio airplay may get you noticed in the indie scene, but it says nothing about the quality of the music.
 
bsp77 said:
Am I the only one that thinks Final Straw was much better? They have lost all of their indie sounding appeal and have gotten way too bombastic and anthemic. While I like U2 and Coldplay for those reasons, this reminds too much of Train or something Adult Top 40 like that. So far, the gospel-tinged Make This Go on Forever is the only song that stands up to Final Straw. Other songs just sound like sad shells of the predecessors (Hands Open vs Wow, Chasing Cars vs Run, etc.)

So far, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen and Tool all trounce this album.

Sorry, I wanted to like it more. :(
Click to expand...


I hear ya...Final Straw felt raw....this feels carefully conceived
 
STING2 said:


Its funny that all the artist you site have released albums that are selling better and receiving more airplay than Snow Patrol's new album. Not exactly in line with "indie credentials". What does it matter if something does sound like its "Adult Top 40" if its good?

Sounding rough and hard and unlikely to get radio airplay may get you noticed in the indie scene, but it says nothing about the quality of the music.
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Obviously I agree since I conceded how much I like U2 and Coldplay. It just sounds wrong for Snow Patrol and they are not as good as it. The album retains little of what I liked about them in the first place.

Blueyedpoet just explained it perfectly: "carefully conceived"
 
Maybe it's just me, but when I listen to songs like "Chocolate" or "Run", they don't sound raw to me at all.

Their first two albums? Sure, yeah - very raw and indie sounding. But Final Straw? I don't see it. If anything, Final Straw was the beginning of them transforming their sound to what it is now. A change for the better, too.
 
phanan said:
Maybe it's just me, but when I listen to songs like "Chocolate" or "Run", they don't sound raw to me at all.

Their first two albums? Sure, yeah - very raw and indie sounding. But Final Straw? I don't see it. If anything, Final Straw was the beginning of them transforming their sound to what it is now. A change for the better, too.
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I have to admit I have not heard their first two albums, and I agree that Chocolate is not raw at all. Run is very anthemic but has a darkness that is mostly missing from the new album, especially the first half.

I think his vocals are a big part of my problem. Where is the cynical edge where it sounding like he was pissed at his girlfriend at the same time that he loved her? Where is the depth and the realness? Where is anything as experimental as Ways and Means or Somewhere a Clock is Ticking? I don't want a whole bunch of "you complete me" lyrics while he belts it out his most singalong vocals possible.

I don't dislike the album; all the songs are fine but I really didn't want fine.
 
bsp77 said:


I have to admit I have not heard their first two albums, and I agree that Chocolate is not raw at all. Run is very anthemic but has a darkness that is mostly missing from the new album, especially the first half.

I think his vocals are a big part of my problem. Where is the cynical edge where it sounding like he was pissed at his girlfriend at the same time that he loved her? Where is the depth and the realness? Where is anything as experimental as Ways and Means or Somewhere a Clock is Ticking? I don't want a whole bunch of "you complete me" lyrics while he belts it out his most singalong vocals possible.

I don't dislike the album; all the songs are fine but I really didn't want fine.
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I agree that some of the songs on Final Straw were not raw. Chocolate and Run are produced really well. However, the lyrics are raw. They sound one or two take-ish. He's not a brilliant lyricist, but his lyrics are beautiful when they come from the heart. Some poet once said that great writers are able to make beauty out of everyday language.
I like that Final Straw has mistakes. Tracks 2-4 sound way too similar. I like that.

Hell, I prefer U2 to make mistakes, rather than trying to prefect their craft.
 
Granted, Eyes Open isn't as dark as Final Straw, but I guess that's why the album is titled the way it is. It's obviously a much more optimistic record, but I think it works well, and while the lyrics are simple at times, I think they are just as heartfelt as the previous album.
 
phanan said:
Granted, Eyes Open isn't as dark as Final Straw, but I guess that's why the album is titled the way it is. It's obviously a much more optimistic record, but I think it works well, and while the lyrics are simple at times, I think they are just as heartfelt as the previous album.
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I am starting to like the second half of the album quite a bit, especially Make This Go on Forever and Open Your Eyes. All my complaints are really directed at the first half, which is magnified by the first track, which kind of annoys me. And I think I am going to have to start skipping You Could be Happy and I almost never skip songs.
 
I don't understand how I overlooked 'Open Your Eyes' before, but it finally hit me how great and beautiful everything from 2:56 on is.
 
Early impressions:

I can see where bsp77 is coming from to a degree. On my first listen, the album barely registered, one same sounding song after another, with the exception of "Shut Your Eyes" and "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" which stood out for Martha Wainwright's vocals. Gary's voice didn't sound like itself perhaps due to overtreatment...... or that he just wanted to sing differently. It all sounded pretty calculated; a stab at arena rock bombast without really super terrific songs to back it up. It occurred to me that perhaps they should change their name to Snowplay.

On first and second listen, I heard reworked and sometimes lesser versions of wonderful songs from the past two albums (Final Straw, When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up). For the first three albums they relied heavily on Sebadoh and others for inspiration. Now they seem to want to take their sound somewhere else (a good thing), similar to the Goo Goo Dolls aping the Replacements (poorly I might add) before moving on to insipid drivel you could just ignore.

Third time through, I started to get into it a bit more. Plenty of solid tunes sprinkled throughout. Nothing blew me away, but charms and hooks starting to show through. I gather where bsp77 latched onto the Train comparison with the handful of ac friendly ballads that crescendo into hollow nothingness(at least for now).

Should we question Gary Lightbody's sacking of bassist and co-founding member Mark McClelland? Probably doesn't matter as they were headed in this direction regardless and it is, for the most part, Lightbody's band. (On a side note, I've noticed the phrase; "mums and dads of the world be patient with your children" has appeared at the end of their liner notes for every album. Maybe Gary is trying to tell us something.) Overall, it'll probably turn out to be a holding pattern for them musically. My guess is it'll keep growing on me and will yield a few "hits" worthy of mix tape consideration. Who knows, it might even make a few year end best of lists including my own.
 
STING2 said:

Sounding rough and hard and unlikely to get radio airplay may get you noticed in the indie scene, but it says nothing about the quality of the music.
Click to expand...

I think sounding rough and hard is more likely to get you on mainstream radio these days. The singer/songwriter 70's/new wave 80's/grungy 90's have given way to a a whole bunch of loud, obnoxious so called "hard rock" crap and its polluting the airwaves. Or maybe I'm just getting old. :sad:
 
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