quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:

Let me list the albums that have been scored better this year:

Montag - Going Places
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
The Magic Numbers - Those The Brokes
T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P.
Ryan Adamns - Easy Tiger
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
R. Kelly - Double Up
Dntel - Dumb Luck
Young Buck - Buck The World
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Air - Pocket Symphony
Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch
Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
The Good, The Bad And The Queen - The Good, The Bad And The Queen

I totally agree. A Weekend In The City is one of the best albums of '07. It deserved at least an 8-8.5.

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:
My biggest issue is that nowhere in the review did the reviewer really knock the album. The language in his review was very lukewarm, which should have resulted in a lukewarm score of between maybe 6.5 and 7.5.


Basically my issue is that even if you find the album to be bland and lacking in energy (which I do not), it still certainly does not deserve one of the lower scores given to an album this year by Pitchfork.

Well, I do think it's bland and lacks energy, but I agree with the point you made above. Had I read the review without seeing the score, I would have guessed it would be higher.

quote:

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War

I think this blows Challengers out of the water.

I would think that anyone who found Challengers to be boring would also find Bedroom to be boring. Although it does have a slightly cinematic quality to it.

quote:

Originally posted by acorvey:

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:

Let me list the albums that have been scored better this year:

Montag - Going Places
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
The Magic Numbers - Those The Brokes
T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P.
Ryan Adamns - Easy Tiger
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
R. Kelly - Double Up
Dntel - Dumb Luck
Young Buck - Buck The World
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Air - Pocket Symphony
Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch
Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
The Good, The Bad And The Queen - The Good, The Bad And The Queen

I totally agree. A Weekend In The City is one of the best albums of '07. It deserved at least an 8-8.5.

You're misunderstanding me. I was providing examples of albums that I feel prove how ridiculous the rating of Challengers is in comparison. In other words, in my opinion, A Weekend In The City sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:
I would think that anyone who found Challengers to be boring would also find Bedroom to be boring. Although it does have a slightly cinematic quality to it.

Not necessarily. I think it is more lush than Challengers, and that definitely adds to the "cinematic" quality you mentioned. Maybe Challengers will, um, grow on me, but after a couple listens, I just don't remember anything about the album.

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:

You're misunderstanding me. I was providing examples of albums that I feel prove how ridiculous the rating of Challengers is in comparison. In other words, in my opinion, A Weekend In The City sucks.

They totally did. I laughed at that post.

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:
Maybe Challengers will, um, grow on me, but after a couple listens, I just don't remember anything about the album.

Hopefully it will grow on you PRG. I think all of their music is the kind that grows on me, that's just my opinion based on my experiences with their albums. I've heard Challengers about eight times so far and the first few listens I just didn't get. However, now after a few more listens I am liking it more and more and am seeing just how great of an album it is. Maybe you will grow to love it like you did Joanna Newsom's Ys.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Hopefully it will grow on you PRG. I think all of their music is the kind that grows on me, that's just my opinion based on my experiences with their albums.

See, for me, I loved their first three right away. The energy and hooks immediately brought me in. There was none of that with this one.

quote:

Maybe you will grow to love it like you did Joanna Newsom's Ys.

I stood up for you in the MLB thread, but now that you have mentioned her, I may team up with Max. Jack!

Surprisingly, this is the first New Pornos album I've liked on first listen. I had to revisit Mass Romantic, Electric Version, and Twin Cinema (respectively) several times before I was able to fully appreciate them.

Challengers is a much more mature album and most of its beauty lies in its subtlety. I don't get the Slow Wonder comparisons or the Bejar side-project comments because this seems to be the most cohesive New Pornos album to date.

I also disagree with the way reviewers are slighting this album because it doesn't contain the power pop and climaxes that Twin Cinema had. If you like those things so much just go back and listen to Twin Cinema. I would've been disappointed if they made a Twin Cinema clone.

This is a great album and a fine addition to their beautiful catalog.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sh6ne,

I've spent the day at work listening to Challengers. And my reaction is largely unchanged. It just feels so anonymous. It fizzles. It lacks that brilliant hook-filled pop majesty. And it simply drifts without imprinting itself upon your mind. If I had an issue with previous NP releases, it was that they felt like ecstatic collections of singles rather than cohesive albums.

Challengers has solved that criticism, but only by becoming so uniformly dry and that there's nothing to grasp onto. As near as I can tell, there are only three or four worthwhile songs: My Rights Vs. Yours, Go Places, and Unguided - and even some of these songs suffer from this sort of fizzing out: they start strong, and end with a whimper, or they start weakly but build to a wonderful climax (Unguided), or they're solid but stumble on an awkward chorus (Mutiny, I Promise You).

But... we'll see.

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:
I stood up for you in the MLB thread, but now that you have mentioned her, I may team up with Max. Jack!

Naturally, I was just joking around and naturally, I appreciate you "going to bat" for me in the baseball thread. I do appreciate that. Don't ever team up with Max. Jack--for he is already on my hit list.

Anyone else have lots of love for "Adventures in Solitude"? I think its my favorite song on the album. Its just a great little quiet song with a wonderful chorus featuring Neko Case. Its not chugging power pop like "Use it" or "Sing Me Spanish Techno", but its still fantastic songwriting. So they didn't repeat their past formula, who cares when the songs are this strong?

I also really like "Adventures in Solitude," at first I thought the Neko Case songs were throw-aways but now I really like it. This album is growing on me more and more.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
at first I thought the Neko Case songs were throw-aways...

"Poor Places" is also one of my favorites. I agree "Challengers (the song)" isn't one of the best on the album.

I thought she was totally wasted on Twin Cinema. "Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables", those are throwaways. She was awesome on "Bleeding Heart Show" though.

quote:

Originally posted by Hophead:

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
at first I thought the Neko Case songs were throw-aways...

"Poor Places" is also one of my favorites. I agree "Challengers (the song)" isn't one of the best on the album.

I thought she was totally wasted on Twin Cinema. "Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables", those are throwaways. She was awesome on "Bleeding Heart Show" though.

For me, the Case songs are the highlights on Challengers (I know I'm the minority, I don't care) and as for "Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables," I love those songs!

quote:

Originally posted by Platypus Quest:
(I know I'm the minority, I don't care)

And you shouldn't, Quest. As long as you like something then who cares what everyone else thinks. I am starting to like the Neko Case songs more and more.

"Adventures in Solitude" isn't Neko Case, it's Kathryn Calder. You have probably heard her singing backup in songs dating back to Electric Version; Neko Case is only in those songs where they really push her to the front.

quote:

Originally posted by Platypus Quest:
For me, the Case songs are the highlights on Challengers (I know I'm the minority, I don't care) and as for "Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables," I love those songs!

I'm not sure that you're "in the minority" as much as you think. I've always love the NP songs where the women take the lead, even such "dull" songs as Bones of an Idol, and Fire in the Street.

In fact, the only song I didn't really like when I first heard the album has become my favorite: Myriad Harbor. When I first heard it, I thought she sounded like Laurie Anderson!

quote:

Originally posted by kendocubano:

quote:

Originally posted by Platypus Quest:
For me, the Case songs are the highlights on Challengers (I know I'm the minority, I don't care) and as for "Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables," I love those songs!

I'm not sure that you're "in the minority" as much as you think.

I agree. That might be though that I love Neko Case's voice and I simply can't stand Bejar's.

I do wish they'd let Neko let loose on some of the newer songs, though. Her songs on Mass Romantic and Electric Version were thrilling because they were sung so damn passionately. "I cried five rivers on the way here, which one will you sail away on?!" Her stuff on Twin Cinema and Challengers doesn't really let her go all-out.

for me the only reason i listen to NP is to hear Neko Case's voice. it's so gorgeous