Wednesday, 22 Jun 2005
A lot of bloggers are already starting to put up their top (fill in a number) lists for 2005. It’s cool to read and I love adding mine to their comment section (even if they change on a weekly basis). I thought I would buck the trend and put up 5 records that were complete disappointments to me thus far in 2005. Please feel free to leave a comment with your disappointing albums thus far, or tell me why you think my picks are wrong, wrong, wrong!
Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise First, let me say that this isn’t a horrible album at all. In fact, I listen to it, and don’t hate it. The problem is the music is so similar to everything on Michigan it feels like Sufjan got pressed for time doing all the Illinois research for his lyrics that he forgot to write new musical arrangements to go with it. I know I’m in the minority here and will probably be the only one that doesn’t think this album is solid gold, but I’m a big Sufjan fan, and this album just didn’t live up to my lofty expectations I guess.
EDIT: THIS ALBUM KICKS ALL KINDS OF ASS AND OWNS!!!!!!!!!(7/14)
The Decemberists - Picaresque Pretty easy this album pales in comparison to Her Majesty and Castaways and Cutouts. Not to mention that when I saw them here in Madison their show did absolutely nothing for me. That could also be because Okkervil River played first and did their share of face shredding and tearing the roof off the Barrymore Theatre.
Magnolia Electric Company - What Comes After The Blues I love Trials and Errors and I think Magnolia Electric Co, is just one of those bands that you will never truly capture their brilliance in the studio. Their live shows are amazing, and Trials and Errors captures them perfectly in my opinion.
Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up Not that I was expecting anything great from Dave and Co, but this is simply god awful. I really don’t understand how and why people are spending money on this stuff. I’ll be honest I liked the first song when I first heard the album, but it gradually gets worse and worse from there. I didn’t think anything could get worse than Dave’s solo work on Some Devil, I guess I was wrong.
Coldplay - X&Y The band everyone either loves or hates. I enjoy the company of a Coldplay disc amongst my friends who’s music collection and appreciation is a tad lacking. They aren’t a horrible band, but this was a total lack of musical effort on Chris Martin’s band. The songs are boring and don’t have the punch that certain songs on the previous two albums had. Even some of my aforementioned friends who argued with me excessively that the album was great have now conceded to me (publicly even!) that this album is rubbish.
June 23rd, 2005 at 8:48 am
i agree, but have not said, I really feel everything on Illinois is just a continuation of Michigan…maybe that’s bad, maybe not.
DMB is terrible, I can’t believe he put it out.
I don’t really agree on The Decemberists or Coldplay.
I think Weezer is by far the most disappointing album of the year. Steven Malkmus hasn’t really blown anyone’s doors off either, but I haven’t heard all of it, so I can’t comment.
Beck is interesting here…not on a lot of best ofs, but not worst either…where does it rate?
June 23rd, 2005 at 9:32 am
I never have liked Weezer too much, so I haven’t even heard their new one. Same thing goes for Malkmus. I hated the Beck when it first leaked, now I’m indifferent.
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:26 am
I know this conversation has happened before, but I can’t disagree any more about Illinois. I think that there are two songs reusing the 5/4 time Charlie Brown style for the melody, but the musicianship on “Come On Feel the Illinois!” especially is miles above Michigan. The time signature change, melody switch and arrangements there are top notch and huge leaps forward for a guy who was using trumpets playing the scales on Michigan.
As for the rest of the record, songs like Gacy, Predatory Wasps and Concerning a UFO are some of the most gorgeous songs from the last couple of years. And Zombies, man his voice on Zombies?!?
Yes, Pulaski, Chicago and Tallest Man resemble Michigan, but I think that can’t be held against him when he achieved so many other high points.
I guess I’d give it a couple more listens. You may never love it, but I think you might be discounting it a bit early.
June 23rd, 2005 at 1:52 pm
point taken. There is no convincing me about DMB and Coldplay though!
June 23rd, 2005 at 2:17 pm
While I think a lot of people are disappointed in the DMB CD’s, I still like it. It is definitely not what they were putting out a few years ago, but I think as they, and their key demographic, are getting older they are gearing more towards the ‘adult contemporary’ side almost.
I don’t think Stand Up is a great CD, but there are a few songs that I can appreciate, such as ‘Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd’ and ‘Steady as We Go’. Again, it is not even close to the same caliber of music they were putting out a while ago, but it’s not bad.
June 23rd, 2005 at 3:14 pm
i like Illinois WAAAY more than Michigan, in fact behind Andrew Bird it’s my fave record this year, that and Aimee Mann still
i still probably prefer Seven Swans to the rest of his stuff though, but i see that changing to Illinois soon.
the stuff before Michigan blows ass.
the Decemberists record is good, but you are correct, not as good as the other 2 full lengths. i’ve always been a bit so so on them anyway, fun live, but i dunno, i can only listen to them so much.
the Mag studio record reminded me why i never really got into Songs:Ohia in the first place. not bad, just doesn’t come close to the magic of the live show or Trials. i kinda figured that might be the case before Blues came out, but kept my hopes up anyway.
as for Coldplay, i’ve only listened twice, and while it wasn’t that great, save for 2-3 songs, i did enjoy it. i doubt i’ll like it more than Rush, which i genuinely did like, not in a guilty pleasure sorta way. and other than Shiver and maybe one other track i didn’t like Parachutes much.
June 26th, 2005 at 6:27 am
Yeah, I agree with Solace about Illinois.
WAAAY better than Michigan, my #1 of the year, and has topped Seven Swans as my favorite Sufjan album.
I wish you liked it more.