Quote:
Originally Posted by RanaldoNecro
I really hear 1990 era REM at one point during the first song. reminds of "LOW"
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Are you just referring to the 3-chord guitar riff, or Lee's vocal? I've always been surprised by how many people ask if I'm playing R.E.M. when a "Lee song" comes on an SY record. "Karen Koltrane" in particular, numerous people have told me it sounds like Michael Stipe...
Anyway, my local shop wins - they got BTTATT in on Friday and I probably played it three times that night. Some of the negative comments in this thread had me curious, but this record exceeds my expectations completely. He assembled a great group of musicians - you can rarely go wrong with Nels Cline's touch, Steve is naturally flawless, and I love hearing fluid, driving basslines behind these songs - the whole group mixes quite well! Pretty much every song had burned itself into my mind by the 2nd listen. I think it does a good job of blending his rock, pop, folk, and noise influences, and while it's hard to avoid occasionally sounding like Sonic Youth when you have half of the band playing, these songs cover a lot of musical territory. "Hammer Blows" is even stunning enough to satisfy my initial expectation that the album would be mostly acoustic, and the rest are pretty much high energy rock with a melodic slant or sick guitar fury (often in the same song). Oh, and every song is sung by Lee Ranaldo. What's not to like?
