After giving this album the once-through, I had the immediate impression that a) some people will hate this after the first three songs and b) if those same people skipped the first three songs and started with track 4, they very well may love the album. The first three tracks are crazy, and not in a good way. Jim James' voice goes where few men have gone before, and to be blunt, it sounds a little too nasal for my tastes.
OTOH, once past track 3, we get into the meat of the album, and the rest of the way is more or less a return to form - perhaps, going back more to "It Still Moves" even. Like I said, this is after giving the album one full listen. It's a long album (14 songs), and like I said, the first three songs IMHO are utter crap and worth skipping. I'm not sure why James and crew ordered the tracks the way they did, as it would have made more sense to put these songs at the end. I sure hope it's not a sign that they intend to head even more in this direction in future work.
Posts: 750 | Location: Ain'T it stiLl obvious? | Registered: 22 August 2006
Originally posted by ezatldude: After giving this album the once-through, I had the immediate impression that a) some people will hate this after the first three songs and b) if those same people skipped the first three songs and started with track 4, they very well may love the album. The first three tracks are crazy, and not in a good way. Jim James' voice goes where few men have gone before, and to be blunt, it sounds a little too nasal for my tastes.
OTOH, once past track 3, we get into the meat of the album, and the rest of the way is more or less a return to form - perhaps, going back more to "It Still Moves" even. Like I said, this is after giving the album one full listen. It's a long album (14 songs), and like I said, the first three songs IMHO are utter crap and worth skipping. I'm not sure why James and crew ordered the tracks the way they did, as it would have made more sense to put these songs at the end. I sure hope it's not a sign that they intend to head even more in this direction in future work.
after one listen this is my reaction: shit, utter shit. i have never been a huge mmj fan, but i can admit "z" was damn good. jim james has a great voice, but early on in this album you would never guess that. the prince comparisons are unfair...to prince. the rest of the album (after the first 3 songs) is ok. who knows maybe this will reveal more upon each listen, but as of right now it seems pretty boring - nothing special or new.
Posts: 328 | Location: San Diego | Registered: 26 November 2007
I think Jim James may be the first to actually use the word "interweb" in a song ("Librarian"), which I found amusing. That's probably my favorite song so far. I like some of the additional vocals, but mostly the female ones. The male backing vocals, for example, on "Sec Walkin" sort of remind of the Bee Gees. I love the Bee Gees, but...Actually, I really like that song.
Posts: 750 | Location: Ain'T it stiLl obvious? | Registered: 22 August 2006
Originally posted by ezatldude: I think Jim James may be the first to actually use the word "interweb" in a song ("Librarian"), which I found amusing.
Actually, Max Bemis used the term in "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too", a b-side from ...Is a Real Boy. Nobody probably cares, but it is one of those fairly useless musical tidbits that I actually know.
Posts: 102 | Location: At work - not working | Registered: 26 February 2008
I haven't heard most of this album yet (I will wait to the actual release date) but I downloaded the track "Evil Urges" off their website and personally I think its amazing. I could see how some could be turned off by Jim James' vocals on the song but I've always been a fan of his falsetto. I also heard a live version of "Highly Suspicious" and while it is something of a throw away it is by no means a bad song. I found it to be quite entertaining and humerous. In fact I'm a little bit dissapointed to hear that the rest of the album goes back more to their sound from "It Still Moves". Not that I don't love that album but I was kind of hoping for more progression after the greatness of "Z".
Have i told you how much i love you. Possibly more than MMJ, one of my favorite bands. Boy, would i like to hear the new MMJ album (hint hint), but am retarded and don't know how to use the PM function quite yet (newbie that i am).
Ahem, anyway, this is possibly my most anticipated album of the year, and have yet to hear anything from it (I don't like downloading one song from an album, it seems so out of context for me), so boy would i love to hear this album right now. It would be like Michael Jackson going to disneyland.
Posts: 84 | Location: California | Registered: 06 March 2008
it's going to be torturous, but i'm going to wait until its release and force my girlfriend to buy it for me as a late birthday gift. i know that if i download it now, i'll find something else to drop lettuce for on june 10th and end up never buying it. which from the sounds of things might not be a terrible plan, but i fucking loved Z and it still moves and i have a strange inkling that i might like the first three tracks... i'm weird like that.
Posts: 104 | Location: uwo | Registered: 09 January 2007
Ok, will someone explain whats so bad about the first three tracks? I thought they ruled. Yeah, a little different sounding but thats a good thing. I don't wanna hear the same shit all the time.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
i'm all for experimenting, but the vocals on the early tracks sound like a cheesy karaoke attempt at singing prince. i prefered the soaring, beach-boyish vocal melodies from z. also, if they were going to change things up, they may as well have made it work better with the dynamic of the album (it sounds like two separate albums).
Posts: 328 | Location: San Diego | Registered: 26 November 2007
Hmm, I think I may be the only person to quite like 'Highly Suspicious', although it does stand out like a sore thumb.
I think 'I'm Amazed' is one of the weakest on the album; it's repetitive to the extreme (Ahhhhhm Ammmaaaaaazed, Ahhhhhhm Ammmaaaaaazed). I know you are mate.
That said 'Sec Walkin" is genius, 'Touch Me I'm Goin To Scream' is lovely and the rest of the album has a bit of an 'It Still Moves' vibe. Still processing this one, I'll probably be completely contradicting what I've said here once I've listened to it a few more times.
Posts: 65 | Location: Hull, UK | Registered: 23 November 2007
If it's anything like the Flaming Lips when they tried to sound like Prince (I can still smell the stench of "Free Radicals") i will not like it.
How can Jim James' voice sound bad at all? See the man belt it out in a smaller club and there's nothing like it... hell, his vocals were amazing at Coachella singing in the wide-open desert.
Posts: 84 | Location: California | Registered: 06 March 2008
I am most gracious to you both. I don't mind the vocals at all, but MMJ is probably one of my top 10 bands out there right now, so i may be slightly biased.
Is this the true production? Cuz i found another leak somewhere else, and i don't know if there are demos floating around or not... meh, I'm happy either way.
Posts: 84 | Location: California | Registered: 06 March 2008
