Okay, well it's only fair, now that all greyed-out tracks have been returned to Black, that I start with the album I was going to do next originally but had to put to one side, due to its length and being a double album. I have actually been waiting a while to see what this is like, and I'm sure bob will be interested to know what I end up thinking of it, so let's get started.
Title: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Artiste: Husker Du
Genre: Indie Rock
Familiarity: Zero, though I've heard them spoken of with mostly high praise.
1. These important years: Like the guitar tone to this, not really what I expected (not sure what I expected; sort of harder, post-punk maybe) but this is nice. Good start.
2. Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope: Pretty much more of the same, no problems so far. Good guitar rock.
3. Standing in the rain: Like the rain effects, but the song is not as good as it could be. Bit too much of the latent punk about it maybe?
4. Back from somewhere: Yeah it's alright but nothing to get too terribly excited about at the moment. Short anyway. Okay, got a little more interesting with the slowdown near the end. That was good.
5. Ice cold ice: I really like this. A lot of power and energy without going over the top. Very impressive.
6. You're a soldier: This is not bad but a little one-dimensional. He's a soldier, we get it. Don't have to keep repeating it every five seconds!
7. Could you be the one?: Meh, it's okay. I'm sort of finding much of this quite similar, which is making it hard to have an objective view on it. Doesn't help that most of the tracks are so short either.
8. Too much spice: Yeah again it's okay but you know, nothing I'm getting too excited about.
9. Friend, you've got to fall: Still not doing anything that's particularly interesting me.
10. Visionary: I mean, there's nothing wrong with any of this, but there's nothing either that's likely to have me coming back to them. It's not quite meh but it's not all that far from it.
11. She floated away: Okay, finally, something decent. I like the sort of swaying rhythm and then this is counterpointed by stuttering guitar. Almost like a metal band playing Country, though not really.
12. Bed of nails: Yeah, this is a whole hell of a lot better. Like this a lot. Angry guitar, slower, got something going on. Sounds a bit REM-ish.
13. Tell you why tomorrow: Continuing with improvements, it's like the first half of the album was written by someone else. This is far better, again.
14. It's not peculiar: “Photograph” by Leppard?
Good guitar though. Feel the guy singing (Mould? Hart?) sounds a bit like Springsteen at times.
15. Actual condition: Hate this. Like some bloody retro fifties rockabilly thing, and I hate rockabilly, especially retro rockabilly. Oh god! Make it stop!
16. No reservations: Thank you. This is much better, though again I see a strong REM influence (or is it the other way round? Whatever)
17. Turn it around: Yeah it's not bad but the quality is starting to dip again. Kind of ironic, given the title of the track...
18. She's a woman (And now he is a man): This is a whole lot better, very much an Elvis Costello vibe to this. Groovy.
19. Up in the air: It's okay but again nothing special.
20. You can live at home: This however is terrible. No, it actually gets a lot better near the end. Change red to orange. Still don't love it though.
End result: For such a long album, and eventually girding myself to get through it, I'm very much let down by the payoff. I expected more, and it started well, but there's just so much mediocre fare on here that the few really good tracks find it hard to shine and be seen. The moments are there, to be sure, but you really have to not only look for them, but with so many tracks, remember them when the distinctly downbeat last few tracks have played out, and let's face it, they're going to be the ones in your head as you end. As they are in mine. So although I didn't hate it, I sure did not love it, noway nohow.
So, Love or Hate? I think this is going to be a solid
Meh. I can't honestly say it deserves even a Like. Sorry bob.