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Post by Jules on Oct 11, 2017 19:19:55 GMT
Tomorrow... I won't be online, but please tell what you think about the song once you've heard it!
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Post by Jules on Oct 23, 2017 14:44:51 GMT
My first impressions...
Production: Pretty noisy sound. I probably wouldn't recognize it as TFF, it sounds like any run-of-the-mill current charts track. Listen more closely and there's a lot going on, TFF-typical rhythm programming but it would be better audible with less overall compression. If the new album is like this, it will probably be another headache like ELAHE was. A shame, TFF had such a great three-dimensional sound on their albums into the 90s. Steven Wilson said "The Seeds of Love" is the best-sounding album ever produced alongside "The Dark Side of the Moon". Why not try and resume that tradition? Instead they have opted to try and sell out to the so-called demands of the modern music business once again (which didn't work with the horribly flat sounding ELAHE). Tell me, again, what was it that hurt the CD sales so much and has later led to the comeback of the LP? Surely not too quiet or dynamic CDs? "Closest Thing to Heaven" sounded weak when played after "Break It Down Again", "I Love You But I'm Lost" sounded weak when played after "Shout". Those older songs are still played on the radio because they sound *good* on the radio...
Roland's voice: Hm, either he was going for a slightly whiny sound or he has lost that power that made him such a great singer. Hurts me to say that - hope I'm wrong. Not sure whether Curt was involved as well, I think so, but there's so much going on in the mix and probably lots of effects on everything that it's hard to tell.
The song itself: It seems they went for a rather straight pop song without too many parts, but I'm glad they stuck in a "Sowing the Seeds"-esque moment of singing/reverb without much drumming. Oh, how I laughed when I heard the line "All we needed was some time"! And near the end the repeated chorus with thumping electronics and beat seems to remind me vaguely of "Pale Shelter" with the sounds of 2017. It's been long rumored that the new TFF music would be more electronic so that's no surprise. Can't say I'm too thrilled about that, since my favourite albums are SOL and RATKOS; those live from the dynamics and interaction of a live band playing together. And no guitar at all (yeah, like "Mad World" - maybe the days of guitar bands are actually over [once again]?) seems like a wasted opportunity. Was there any bass on this song?
I'm glad TFF are back, but I'm not sure... yet. Most TFF songs have grown on me, hopefully this will be the case here as well.
Update after first relisten: Still not a fan of the overloaded sound (which also makes it close to impossible to understand the lyrics...), but certainly there are hooks to be found ("the 5th of November"), and I think some of RO's vocal strength can be heard in the second verse, so I guess the singing style was really a deliberate decision.
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Post by morgan1098 on Oct 23, 2017 20:20:05 GMT
I think I like the song a bit more than you, but I understand the criticisms. I had previously seen the interview with Roland where he said the songs on the new album are more electronic, so this is pretty much what I was expecting. It's got a great melody and and good vocals from Roland. But the production is definitely "wall of sound" and there isn't a lot of nuance or separation between instruments. Most of the "instruments" are probably synths anyway. It's definitely catchy, which is a plus. If they're hoping to garner attention in today's musical landscape they should probably do something like this rather than something aching and heartfelt along the lines of Woman in Chains. I'm much more concerned about the state of the new album itself. I think the interview this summer with Westword revealed that there is yet more drama in the TFF camp. This is the one where Roland essentially referred to himself as TFF throughout, where he described Curt as nothing more than an "A&R man" during the recording of ELAHE, and so on. www.westword.com/music/roland-orzabal-of-tears-for-fears-talks-ahead-of-fiddlers-green-concert-9002721I have no way of knowing any of this, but my theory is this: *Westword interview is published, and Curt is offended, possibly even "quitting" the band *Last dates with Hall and Oates are postponed, due to what is called a "family emergency" *Curt is eventually convinced to complete the tour, if for no other reason than legal obligations *The tour is done but the new album is very much up in the air, so a couple new songs are placed on the compilation *The Royal Albert Hall gig is still on the books, but is Curt on board after that? I'm not so sure All speculation, of course.
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Post by Jules on Oct 24, 2017 9:04:28 GMT
I think I like the song a bit more than you, but I understand the criticisms. I had previously seen the interview with Roland where he said the songs on the new album are more electronic, so this is pretty much what I was expecting. It's got a great melody and and good vocals from Roland. But the production is definitely "wall of sound" and there isn't a lot of nuance or separation between instruments. Most of the "instruments" are probably synths anyway. It's definitely catchy, which is a plus. If they're hoping to garner attention in today's musical landscape they should probably do something like this rather than something aching and heartfelt along the lines of Woman in Chains. Bear in mind that I wrote down these lines directly after hearing the song. It has already grown on me musically, but the wall of sound is a huge problem. Because every act sounds like that these days. I tend to use the waveform/fingerprint analogy: Squashed dynamics takes away a lot of the individual traits of bands/musicians. If they want to get attention they have to go for a clean sound, it worked well for Daft Punk or Mark Ronson (hey, "Uptown Funk" was one of the few recent-ish 'dance' hits that you can actually dance to!) and it would appeal to those who still like their old material, which has proven to be mostly timeless thanks to not pandering to the mainstream all that much. Which has now been proven to be mostly incorrect... (not that I would have guessed)
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