Posted by R. Griswold (174.109.113.68) on August 10, 2018 at 18:49:05:
In Reply to: High Water I out today.. post your reviews here posted by B-Ville Crowe on August 10, 2018 at 09:43:56:
Giving this multiple runs here on a Friday night, as the gf's timing to go down to Atlanta and leave me in my bachelordom, couldn't have been better since her dealing with this on 11 3-4 times tonight, would not been good for me tomorrow.
Anyway, after first listen and as I go into the second listen, it's good, but I am not catching any homeruns (No Wiser Time, Thorn, Sister Luck, etc) and I sort of expected some more facemelting action from Ford, but maybe that's more prevalent on High Water II? Let's hope so.
I am hearing everything from Nick Drake (High Water), to the Beatles, Little Feat (Take It All), Petty (Walk on Water) and The Faces (Hand in Hand).
Good balance in terms of song ordering, so good flow there, and no embarrassing moments (!), which is a plus.
Mary the Gypsy might be the worst song on the album for me. It comes off like a generic Rich song, but not awful. Just slightly surprising it would kick off the record. I would have put Send Me An Omen there since it's classic RIch and immediately engaging with that descending chord groove, but no biggie.
Color Blind needed a Ford 90 secondish outro on it to close it out, but overall, a nice, balanced record.
The songs come off better strung together on vinyl, too, as opposed to hearing them as one-offs. I had a hard time not stumbling onto these on You Tube in recent weeks, but I didn't listen to them all the way through to avoid ruining the album experience.
It's nice to see them keep some traditional Rich/Marc sound, but also veer off a bit on something like Sister Moon, which had me thinking "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS at the beginning, which is a weird thing to think about there.
If I was going to grade it, I am thinking a B+.
It's the Crowes related album since hearing the Ba d in '97, where I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to like songs that were just not that good for me.
As crappy as BYS and Lions were for their own differing reasons, this probably is the most thorough album they have attempted since then.
Warpaint was thin as hell and Before the Frost came off incredibly disjointed and limiting in terms of song yield. They had like 20 songs or something for that and I only liked maybe a handful.
At the end of the day, it's nice to hear a genuine, natural, free flowing and easy Rich/Marc product that is 20 years in the waiting. is no question to me, and this is good, that they are trying to create a Magpie sound, one that keeps the skeleton of the Rich/MArc sounds, but veering off a bit into something new.
Packaging is generic, which is fine, vinyl seems to be solid quality and I like the marble look. Something different, anyway.
I am sure I will be listening to this a lot!