clewsr wrote:
I think Amazing Grace era live was about as noisy as they got, and for me that wasn't a very inspiring period.
it really is funny how things go - for me that tour/live era was the moment i was hooked on the band! i'd a couple of their albums & enjoyed them & AG but i'd never seen them live.
& to put it into context it was a time where i was really disillusioned with rock music.
then that 3 guitar assault on the opening number, Electricity, that was it started for me. those shows were, at times, so heavy loud noisey & brutal
& then that's when the likes of Broken Heart etc really shone through.
i think they need more noise to highlight the beauty of the ballads/pop songs more. but being pummelled by those driving grooves & being reconfigured by the wig-outs while picking my brain off the back wall all at the same time is where i want to be. those moments are as good as it gets for me.
in the last A&E tour, again harking back to sunray's comments, there was a definite lull in the middle of those shows as they played a handful of the softer, quieter numbers & kept the noise til the last 2/3 songs.
i prefer the live show with more noise. i do think it helps make the ballads more stunning. i do think there is a balance between the two - i'm not adverse to the ballads/pop songs in fact i love a great deal of them & dislike a few of the rockers, but i do prefer that noise.
& on the topic of LGM i do think there is a storm brewing below the surface of each of those tracks. they have a very different energy that say the more songwriter-y Mama Said that excuses them any sort of criticism.
& i dunno for sure, but were those songs not transformed into noise when they played live? Take Your Time for instance is a rock behemoth. Smilies?
but yea fair point about the pop origins of that album, especially the first track(s). but none of these new pop songs care the same floating spacey glory as If I Were W/Her Now
& can i just say, fwiw/ftr, i think Ballad of Ritchie Lee is great & I would love to hear the full version (18mins?) of I Gotta Fire & I really really like This LIttle Light & Never Goin' Back (tho obv the best rockers on the last two albums were Cheapster & YLYC)