Tag: cad

Classic Album Review :: The Weakerthans — Reconstruction Site

Do you ever look up from your day-to-day and realize you have not done something important? In my particular case, it is YELL at you about possibly the MOST important album EVER RELEASED!

ahem… got a bit excited there…

I am actually nervous to talk about this album simply because it’s hard for me to talk about it and NOT quote it incessantly. I realize that I have stated albums are my favourite in the past, so I will attempt to state the importance of this album in a way that dictates just how it has impacted me without using hyperbole. Any comparison I make, therefore, is warranted.

I still remember hearing “Our Retired Explorer” forever ago and thinking that it strikes that very delicate balance of being silly, yet poignant. I am going to start the review at that time, even though it’s a song in the literal middle of the album.

I was just in high school, so early 2000’s, and saw the music video on one of the many alternative music video shows that dotted the airwaves at that time. The song starts with a strike, the jumps into lyrics that tell a tale of a weary explorer. That’s right: the title of the song gives a hint of what the song is about. The entire song, on face value, is talking about a man who has dreams of going back to antarctica and spending time with penguins. Really, the song is a metaphor talking about longing after a time in the past using memories of exploration of lands undisturbed as a metaphor.

How do I know that it’s something deeper than the aesthetic? I don’t. All I can do is inject my personal ideas onto it to find some sort of deeper meaning.

The whole album is like that: a descent into the mind of someone running out the clock. The reason I have this sort of perception of the content is that the album has two tracks that break the album into sections. These tracks clearly share a narrative, and it is bleak and beautiful.

I can say, with great certainty, this album contains some of the greatest lyrics ever written. Songs like “One Great City” are silly and irreverent, meanwhile tracks like “Plea From a Can Named Virtue” are depressing and honest.

Musically, the album is a combination of punk and country. It might be a more common combination, but I have honestly not come across it prior, or since. I am NOT a country fan, but this album uses the ideas perfectly. There is little complicated about the composition, and minus a couple of excellent solo’s, few albums this plain hold my attention this well.

Yeah, I pissed off people because I had to write this. I am not sorry, and I will probably write about them in the future. This is such an important album lyrically, and the next album they released was the “next chapter”, if you will — getting even darker and more cynical.

Also, you need to be proud of me. I went this entire retrospective without quoting the lyrics for (Manifest) and (Hospital Vespers).

Classic Album Review :: Tears for Fears — Sowing the Seeds of Love

Hey! I’m actually doing an album that I consider a classic from the perspective that it came out around when I was born!

I have grown up in a household where this album reigned supreme. I have still yet to find a collection as varied as this album can be. It’s like a strange combination of pop, jazz, and electronica. Even other albums that this band released never touched just how eclectic this track list can be.

I am very proud to state this is my favourite release by TfF, though I am expecting some flack for not saying “Songs from the Big Chair”. The main reason that I place this higher on the admiration scale is because this album feels more mature: almost like it just wants to be whatever it can. The best example I can offer to better define what I am trying to say is the song “Badman Song“, which still has one of my favourite opening drumlines over 30 years later.

Know what? Just some of the best composition ever throughout the whole song. Bass and drums. Fight me.

Playlist of all the songs.

Classic Album Review :: Portishead

I don’t know how, but I kind of forgot about this album. It will always be one of my favourite albums from the decade of the ’90s, but somehow I have never written about it. I think I have this sick sense of personal ownership over it, like I am the only person who remembers this album even though Portishead were huge and sold incredibly well.

I think part of my hesitation is how there is no real instruments on the album. Portishead are one of the few acts that I jump to describe as Trip-Hop. That sleepy, almost dreamscape portrayal of soundscapes which only film better catches the emotions created by the sound.

Trip-Hop is one of the few genres that actually benefits from music videos, in my opinion. Still remaining completely unnecessary, The videos illustrate the worlds generated by the music. Few successfully capitalized on this as well as Portishead, even though they only released four videos over a career spanning from 1994 to around 2008 (as far as my research shows).

It is important to point out how 2008 is a softcap, as they went “silent” from 1997 to 2008 with little noise coming from their corner of the world. According to what I could find, they have done one-off teases to their fans and those still paying attention.

So, what about this album, I hear noone ask? As I mentioned before, it is quite important in my collection. It reminds me of a detective movie from the 1940’s. Heavy bass shots, mixed in with simple (but tasteful) drum loops. There are few albums that I can describe as “cool” with little else needing to explain what I mean, but this is very much a perfect example of exactly that.

Oh, her voice is a bit… different…? I am not saying that it is bad, by any stretch of the idea. Her ability is amazing and her range is unmatched. I completely understand if anyone is turned off by her tone, yet I implore you to listen again.

This song remains one of my favourite songs of all time. There is something perfect, and the video illustrates perfectly just how haunting the song is.