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Post by DC on Jul 30, 2014 10:43:46 GMT
It's pretty much three months to the day since the album was released and I wondered how we each felt about the songs now.
These three threads are to vote on what you think is the best song is on the album, the song that's your favourite (not necessarily the same, they're not for me in any case) and the song you skip the most.
Which is your favourite song on the album, the one where if forced to only pick one you'd carry with you to your desert island? Don't just vote - tell us why!
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Post by tomw on Jul 30, 2014 11:08:21 GMT
I'm still pondering whether for me 'best' and 'favourite' are the same thing...
But I'm going for Protection here. It's a brilliant opener and a great combination of the established, big chorus Embrace with the beefed up 2014 version. Hearing it at the Boxing Club SG blew me away - I love the Blue Mondayesque drum machine.
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Post by DC on Jul 30, 2014 13:11:50 GMT
My favourite song on this album is 'At Once.' It has a beautiful intro, I love the piano and something about it is lush and swoony. It feels heartfelt and honest.
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Post by Stephen on Jul 30, 2014 15:30:16 GMT
Thief - It's just vast, epic and full of spaces and ideas, that monstrous riff, and the perfect end to the album.
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Post by joshwood on Jul 30, 2014 16:03:16 GMT
I've been thinking about this a lot lately - the songs that I come back to most often for individual listens are Refugees, At Once, and Thief. I voted for At Once.
I'll get to Refugees in the best song thread.
At Once for DC's reasons - it's just absolutely lovely. God, that fucking guitar line. It feels like the only song on the album that could have conceivably fitted on every album they've done. The production on this album is most suited to it, but still. Sometimes I think it's about falling in love for the first time. Sometimes I think it's about betrayal. Maybe it's both.
Jesus. That fucking guitar.
Thief feels like it's too big and important to be my answer to either one of these questions. It's a bit flawed, in that sometimes I just want to skip the first two minutes 'cause the strings are too much in the first chorus, and maybe the song just takes its time too much, or maybe the last two minutes are just that much better than the rest. The most muscular guitar riff of Rik's career. That fucking NOISE, repeated and repeated and repeated. After you've listened to the song enough times, you really inhabit the breakdown. You know which bits and little ideas are coming and how they'll feel and it's just a big fucking house of a song that you can really live in, you know?
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Post by wootoo on Aug 1, 2014 12:59:50 GMT
I voted for SAM. At this point in time its the one I listen to the most; which probably means its my favourite.
I really own listen to SAM, Thief, At Once, and occasionally Quarters right now. I listened to Refugees loads for a while too.
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Post by willow on Aug 1, 2014 14:08:01 GMT
DNA for me. Even when I hadn't heard it all that many times, it already sounded so familiar and comforting. Also, the lyrics.
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Post by richielumsdon on Aug 1, 2014 18:19:01 GMT
Its a toss up between Protection and At Once for me but Protection just about wins in a close sprint finish.
Protection instantly hit me as sounding both familiar and new at the same time. All the ingredients of classic Embrace are there (impassioned vocals, skyscraper chorus etc...) but with a new electro twist. The sound of a band reborn and like most of the album totally cracking production.
I mentioned in the worst song thread that Thief sounded like a pale imitation of themselves, this is the exact opposite, a band embracing (sorry!) their past while also looking forward. A truly sublime song..
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Post by Tracy on Aug 2, 2014 14:55:30 GMT
Tough but I went for DNA (closely followed by Quarters and SAM and At Once and.......difficult to put in any order really)
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Post by lucinda on Aug 2, 2014 17:17:54 GMT
At Once.It's a lovely track with a beautiful intro. I'm surprised at the distinct lack of love for I Run as that would be my second choice ( but then my preference is always for the Danny ballads on every album).
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Post by willow on Aug 2, 2014 18:16:25 GMT
I'm surprised at the distinct lack of love for I Run as that would be my second choice ( but then my preference is always for the Danny ballads on every album). I love I Run as well. |
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Post by gogog on Aug 2, 2014 18:56:12 GMT
Refugees
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Post by Duncs on Aug 4, 2014 10:13:42 GMT
I'm surprised at the distinct lack of love for I Run as that would be my second choice ( but then my preference is always for the Danny ballads on every album). I love I Run as well. blah blah bore  |
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Post by lucinda on Aug 5, 2014 8:11:07 GMT
blah blah bore  ....Willow and I are must be more emotionally intelligent and can empathise with Danny's pain Duncs! |
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Post by hywelwj on Aug 5, 2014 11:43:02 GMT
'at once' is the only one I really listen to any more. The echoey guitars are gorgeous and Danny's voice the best it's been on record
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Post by Duncs on Aug 5, 2014 13:00:28 GMT
blah blah bore ....Willow and I are must be more emotionally intelligent and can empathise with Danny's pain Duncs! it's the alternative lyrics when Danny sings "no no more" I can get emotional I just think it's a very weak ballad |
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Post by retlivdead on Aug 5, 2014 19:48:21 GMT
Refugees is still as brilliant as it was the first time I heard it. In fact I listen to the Refugees EP more than the album these days, haven't played the album in full for months.
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Post by buckley on Aug 5, 2014 20:25:50 GMT
DNA. It just grows and grows and grows. I love it so much. This is the Embrace I love. Massive mistake to leave it off the album. Although the same could be said of the brilliant EP tracks.
Which makes me think, that I dont actually see them as seperates anyway as I play them all as one continuous 14 track album. Should have released it as a 14 track album.
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Post by firstcut on Aug 6, 2014 12:18:53 GMT
it'd be interesting to see what % of album sales, digital and physical, came from itunes. giving itunes exclusive songs (not just live and alt versions but proper songs) is absurd. cd sales still account for over 60% in the uk (over 70% i believe in germany for instance), so what do artists gain from giving itunes exclusives apart from help itunes dominate digital sales? more prominent placing in the itunes store? big wow. i'm not going to pay for an mp3 or aac lossy file.
it's the same kind of thing with cds in japan, how international artists are encouraged/forced to give japanese labels bonus material to sell music there. what isn't mentioned is that the record shops there sell eu/us/asian imports way cheaper than the domestic releases. why are artists, most of whom can never afford to go to japan and tour, helping keep the japanese record labels afloat and rip of japanese (and from the rest of the world who want those tracks) fans? evidently having a domestic release in japan doesn't help get offers to tour there.
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Post by Duncs on Aug 6, 2014 16:40:36 GMT
DNA. It just grows and grows and grows. I love it so much. This is the Embrace I love. Massive mistake to leave it off the album. Although the same could be said of the brilliant EP tracks. Which makes me think, that I dont actually see them as seperates anyway as I play them all as one continuous 14 track album. Should have released it as a 14 track album. Danny sung a tad of DNA in Aberdeen before anyone knew what it was, it was the clearest I'd heard his voice it was like getting him back, I think he was singing it for his girlfriend for valentines day. |
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....Willow and I are must be more emotionally intelligent and can empathise with Danny's pain Duncs! 
