nooneisawake. wrote:

I completely disagree. I have to admit that I was expecting minor changes on the songs I've paid quite a bit to own in 2006. But, from the majestic Monitor and the quick shift into Rain, to the ominous piano before the word "Corazon," I am an absolute fan of the final versions of these songs. I felt vitalized as the blood was running down and we were singing, more than I have before. I'm a big fan of varied instrumentation and Bishop Allen's growth is phenomenal.
I wish lazyeyelou felt the same, because this feels like album of the year material to me, and I plum didn't expect it based entirely on the songs being the best material of last year. The EPs DO now feel like rough drafts.
I'm ecstatic. Now let's open a forum for album three and beg for new material.

Sorry, I don't know who this is...I assume a member of the band?

Anyway, I should precede everything by saying that the reason I feel so passionately about this is that I'm a huge Bishop Allen fan. I really felt this COULD have been album of the year material, and could have busted BA into the indie mainstream, as it were. Instead, I feel like I've listened to a critical disaster.

The ominous piano on Corazon, to take one example, aside from being melodramatic to a maudlin extent, is entirely redundant. The song itself is so fucking good, so powerful, that the drama is inherent. Attempting to underscore it with that delayed piano beginning is an unbelievably awkward error. I had my roommate listen to both versions without any prejudice (he's also a big fan), and his immediate reaction on listening to the Broken Strings version was to laugh. It's like listening to a film score for a summer blockbuster.

Again, calling The Monitor "majestic" is entirely accurate, because the song itself, with the build of lyrics and melody, is majesty embodied. It's a brilliantly written song, but on the album, the thunderous percussion (designed to resemble cannon fire, I'm guessing?) obscures the fantastic verse-closers (including one of my favorite moments: "They're moving their mouths, but the blood in their ears!") and chorus with that awful eruption.

Honestly, the list goes on. I hope this doesn't sound too cruel or whatever, because my point isn't to be a naysayer for its own sake. I was willing and hoping to crown this album of the year. Instead, it's a huge disappointment. Because I've heard the other versions already, it's impossible for me to know if the awful production will harm the recruitment of new listeners, or if the songs are good enough to survive the onslaught.

Anyway, it's all a huge surprise to me. From Charm School onward, I never thought Justin/Christian et al. had a single production misstep. Their instincts always seemed to be irreproachable, which makes me think they were forced to let an outside producer go to work on this one. If that's the case, it's really sad, because he or she obviously had no feel for BA's songs.