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Post by wootoo on May 21, 2014 13:31:46 GMT
I’ve feared for some time (ie long before I heard a note) that this album wouldn’t be for me. First hearing Refugees did nothing to persuade me otherwise. I thought it okay; but whereas the first four Embrace albums each came, to some extent, at ideal points of my music listening life, right now I listen to pretty much no contemporary indie rock at all.
But I bought the EP, and was pleasantly surprised: Refugees was far better than I’d first thought. Its nuances and dynamic shifts don’t come across all that well over the radio, I don’t think. And melodically it’s not one of the strongest things they’ve ever done. But it’s a great recording; kinda mysterious, enigmatic… very Embrace, and yet different. Danny’s delayed entrance seemed a strange move, but works extremely well. The b sides did nothing much for me. I’d best not say what I thought of Chameleon. The other two were okay.
When I heard Follow You Home my heart sank again. I’ll say no more.
I was always likely to buy the album anyhow, but seeing that live TV thing with Refugees, FYH and Ashes reignited my excitement. FYH sounded much better with a rawer guitar sound, and they played brilliantly.
And I’m very glad that I did buy the album. I haven’t listened to it a huge amount, but there’s some fabulous stuff on there. Refugees, I’ve mentioned, but also Quarters, Thief and Self Attack Mechanism. All pushing new ground, and superb. I like Protection and In The End a fair amount too, although I have (small) reservations about both. I really like At Once, but it frustrates me that the band still insist on making even their smaller songs either BIG or HUGE. To my mind the drum sound is simply inappropriate. It doesn’t detract from my enjoying the song right now, when it’s fresh to me. But I know that I’ll rarely listen to it in years to come. Whereas I not infrequently dig out, for example, Now You’re Nobody.
It amazes me that the band (and so many of you good people) consider I Run to be a triumph. I hear nothing to recommend it. I don’t want to say too much negative stuff; I doubt the band read this anymore, but just in case they do. They’ve given me plenty over the years and I don’t want to disrespect that. But I really think Madelaine did a similar thing considerably better some years ago, and no amount of overblown presentation can hide that. Meanwhile Follow You Home isn’t as bad as I first thought. Its improves along the way, and its ending is good. Again I dislike the production for various reasons…
But I recognise that if Embrace only appealed to people like me then they would be getting nowhere near the top 5!
In short I think it’s a very decent album; thankfully far better than This New Day. And I’m glad – for them and for us- that they’re back.
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Post by joshwood on May 22, 2014 16:00:43 GMT
I really like At Once, but it frustrates me that the band still insist on making even their smaller songs either BIG or HUGE. To my mind the drum sound is simply inappropriate. It doesn’t detract from my enjoying the song right now, when it’s fresh to me. But I know that I’ll rarely listen to it in years to come. Whereas I not infrequently dig out, for example, Now You’re Nobody. It amazes me that the band (and so many of you good people) consider I Run to be a triumph. I hear nothing to recommend it. I don’t want to say too much negative stuff; I doubt the band read this anymore, but just in case they do. They’ve given me plenty over the years and I don’t want to disrespect that. But I really think Madelaine did a similar thing considerably better some years ago, and no amount of overblown presentation can hide that. Meanwhile Follow You Home isn’t as bad as I first thought. Its improves along the way, and its ending is good. Again I dislike the production for various reasons… For my money, At Once just builds and builds, and it feels like it HAS to be big. I think it's worth noting that it's intentionally structured to hit you like a wave and then it's gone, in a little under four minutes, especially for such a "big" song. And I'll never get sick of that guitar. I Run clearly has Danny's fingerprints all over it, and people who like Danny's stuff the best obviously love it. Yeah, Madelaine might be better, maybe. I wish Madelaine SOUNDED more like I Run though. Everything on this album just feels so heavy, and I love it, and that even goes for the songs that aren't my favorite favorites. Follow You Home is better live for sure. But the last minute of it is great no matter what.
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Post by wootoo on May 27, 2014 10:13:51 GMT
I really like At Once, but it frustrates me that the band still insist on making even their smaller songs either BIG or HUGE. To my mind the drum sound is simply inappropriate. It doesn’t detract from my enjoying the song right now, when it’s fresh to me. But I know that I’ll rarely listen to it in years to come. Whereas I not infrequently dig out, for example, Now You’re Nobody. It amazes me that the band (and so many of you good people) consider I Run to be a triumph. I hear nothing to recommend it. I don’t want to say too much negative stuff; I doubt the band read this anymore, but just in case they do. They’ve given me plenty over the years and I don’t want to disrespect that. But I really think Madelaine did a similar thing considerably better some years ago, and no amount of overblown presentation can hide that. Meanwhile Follow You Home isn’t as bad as I first thought. Its improves along the way, and its ending is good. Again I dislike the production for various reasons… For my money, At Once just builds and builds, and it feels like it HAS to be big. It really doesn't though. The first chorus arrives and there's a big piano chord behind it, and a big guitar, and its forced, frankly. They're pushing it somewhere it doesn't have to go. And then the enormous drums come in. If they believe in the song, let the melody do the work. You don't always need to SIGNIFY that things are MEANINGFUL. Okay, it works. It doesn't ruin the song. But every single song they've done over the last 3 albums falls into this trap. That doesn't necessarily diminish the songs individually, but it certainly diminishes the albums themselves. And its frustrating, becuase the band have always been very good at understated, as well as anthemic.
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Post by willow on May 27, 2014 17:24:41 GMT
For my money, At Once just builds and builds, and it feels like it HAS to be big. It really doesn't though. The first chorus arrives and there's a big piano chord behind it, and a big guitar, and its forced, frankly. They're pushing it somewhere it doesn't have to go. And then the enormous drums come in. If they believe in the song, let the melody do the work. You don't always need to SIGNIFY that things are MEANINGFUL. Okay, it works. It doesn't ruin the song. But every single song they've done over the last 3 albums falls into this trap. That doesn't necessarily diminish the songs individually, but it certainly diminishes the albums themselves. And its frustrating, becuase the band have always been very good at understated, as well as anthemic. I see what you mean... I don't feel like it's forced but I would be interested to hear a stripped back version of the song, now you've pointed this out. For me, it doesn't diminish the albums though, I like big songs.
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Post by wootoo on May 29, 2014 15:19:11 GMT
I like big songs too. But do you like 10 big songs in a row? You know, I'm sure some people probably do, but I think Embrace albums have tended to have too many songs pulling the same (or similar) tricks. Which undersells them because they can and do cover a lot of ground.
Even, you know, Nevermind has Something In The Way on it.
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Post by willow on May 29, 2014 20:30:15 GMT
I like big songs too. But do you like 10 big songs in a row? I do actually lol
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Post by joshwood on Jun 11, 2014 16:34:43 GMT
Personally, I think At Once is the wrong song to pick on for using that sound, mostly because I think it's probably the best on the album. There are a few missteps in terms of approach - In the End might've benefited from a lighter touch (or maybe, should've just stuck with the Too Many Times coda treatment), and Follow You Home is definitely better live, and probably better acoustic. I Run is probably a bit over the top too, but I won't pretend I don't enjoy the hell out of the drama.
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Post by toddy on Jul 4, 2014 19:41:02 GMT
I have played the album to death now. I can honestly say its my Favorite album, I just don't tire of listening to it
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Post by boudreaux on Dec 14, 2014 16:48:51 GMT
Ok, so I'm a bit late jumping in on this thread but I (shamefully) hadn't realised that the new album had been released until October and so in 10 minutes I had the signed album/dvd ordered plus 2 tickets to the gig in Oxford on 5/12!!! I've listened to the album a lot, even more so in the last week so I thought I'd review and score each song as I see it: 1. Protection 7.5/10 - When I first played this I thought WTF???!! This is certainly a departure from what we're used to but it does serve as a good opener to introduce us to the massive sound that the band are delivering. Actually this is to me a usual Embrace song with it's rousing chorus that's just been put on steroids! It's a real grower and I like it a lot. 2. In the End 8.5/10 - I love the guitar & synth sound of this song. There's a real New Order feel to the music, particularly the bass part. Love the lyrics and the brilliant sing a long chorus. Continues to grow and grow on me! 3 Refugees 10/10 - Nothing short of a triumph IMHO. By far the best track on the album, great lyrics brilliantly delivered by Richard with a lovely moody bit from Danny at the end. Deserved airplay that it never got. 4. I run 9.5/10 - Just in case we thought that Embrace had gone all techno on us, here's a fabulous song to remind us that they can deliver very powerful ballads. Amazing lyrics brilliantly delivered by Danny. Personally I'd have put this out as a first single but without that 360 degree video which doesn't really do the song any justice! 5. Follow you home 9/10 - I can't see why anyone wouldn't like this song. It's typical Embrace fare, rousing chorus with a nice foot tapping beat. The lyrics are a bit dark but then Danny does try to qualify it by singing "I'm not your stalker it's just my need. I only said it to see if you'd follow me" so hopefully we won't be seeing this on any anti domestic violence videos anytime soon! 6. Quarters 9.5/10 - Awesome song, as others have said on the forum, this is ripe for a re-mix to become a club anthem! This has a gigantic sound, love the guitar part, brilliant lyrics nuff said! 7. At once 8.5/10 - Great song, not as strong as I Run but still great stuff. This nicely breaks up the big sounding tracks that precede & follow it. 8. Self attack mechanism 7/10 - This song seems to have polarised fan opinion and in my house this no exception (the wife thinks it's too noisy). The song has a brilliant bass part and is just a gigantic sound. But, possibly a bit overdone? ?? This doesn't grab me like other tracks have. 9. The devil looks after his own 8.5/10 - Am I alone in really liking this track? There is a real Editors feel to the song but I love it's catchy chorus and guitars. An underrated track IMHO. 10. A thief on my island 7/10 - I WANT to like this song and certainly up till the final couple of minutes or so it does well. However I think Richard decided to pull all the stops out and give us an ending we wouldn't forget. It's just too loud, there's a great guitar part in there but it's lost behind the enormous synth sound which is a shame. Hope none of the above is too controversial!! Overall I think this is an excellent return from the band. You can tell that a lot of care and thought has gone into the album. The band have obviously wanted to come back with something different which they have spectacularly achieved! There are some MASSIVE sounds on this album, they work probably 95% of the time but there are moments where it's too much but I do like the fact that they've put themselves and us fans out of our comfort zones, just think they could have returned with If You've Never Been part 2! I think the standard of playing on this album is the best yet, Richard's guitars particularly need recognition for the high standard displayed. I am a little surprised that given the length of the hiatus, that more material hasn't been recorded. It's worth noting that when the Stereophonics recorded their last album it is said that they actually recorded 3 albums which would be released over a period of years, so what I'm saying is could there be another album of material waiting in the wings?
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