I'm a little disappointed he changed/toned down the Dancing lyrics from it's live debut we got years ago;)

Gone is "Poor little raven, addicted to fame, trying to begin at the end of the game, all those who love her, they look on in pain." Ouch!

Dancing is everything that is wrong with the way he performs NGBA. It makes me want to throw tomatoes at him. That is not music. It’s like spoken word. ANNOYING spoken word.

I like everything else except Blind Love.

Favorite is On the Wrong Side.

I’m out of pity.

I had never seen this before!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZSzx3rg2fE

A lot of people dislike it, but I’ve enjoyed it since this vid came out! Was wondering if it would ever turn up in studio form. Again though, I think the first version is lyrically superior.. or at the very least more biting:D

The opening of Power Down sounded straight from a John Stewart song.

I am digging the new collection of songs. Like many, “Swan Song” is the one I keep returning to, but I think about seven of the songs are really strong. Kudos to Lindsey for pulling this off at such a late stage of his career. He exhibits no sign of either diminished creativity or lack of guitar ingenuity.

I would have LOVED to hear Christine harmonies on “I Don’t Mind.”

Odd thing: as with the LB/CM release, I wasn’t excited by the musical previews or songs released in advance, but was pleased when I heard everything in its full context.

Yes this is a great follow up to the BuckMcVie songs.

I like the album a lot. The two I skip are “Blind Love” and “Time” - nice that they’re right together!

The remaining songs are well crafted and insanely catchy. Someone used the term “ear worm” and that’s spot on. Even the stuff I hadn’t heard before started repeating in my head after only about three listens.

Agreed 100%! I can only take so much whispering.

After 4 listens front to back, "Blue Light" is the only other track I'm not crazy about. The rest is as good as anything from SWS or GoS, imho...

or straight from a David Bowie song.

There’s quite a distance between John Stewart and David Bowie, which tells us a lot about LB’s wide-ranging, eclectic interests. His music is more versatile within the bounds of 3.5 minute songs than almost any guitarist songwriter of his generation.

But I am noticing that his productions have a lot of back to back duds, going back to SYW, with Silver Girl and RTTG. That sequence caused 3 reported comas. And I believe Lindsey did the sequencing while everyone else was in Hawaii and it was such bad sequencing that he deserved to get fired from the band, 15 years later. Then with BM, we had the back to back snooze of On with the Show and Carnival Begin. Although there, since both songs came at the end you could just in the album after Game of Pretend and it would be fine.

Blind Love has the worst lyrics too.

I think my favorites after On the Wrong Side are Scream and Swan Song. And Swan Song has the freshest guitar work. Very beautiful.

Oh, no you didn't go there!

I LOVE On With The Show! Love, love, love!!!

But I'm with you on Carnival. People RAVED about how it was the second coming or something. I mean, it's okay... if you love Only Over You, Storms, Mystified, Beautiful Child, and Oh Daddy. Snoozeville is the address of those. Although I appreciate the money they save me in buying Tylenol PM.:p

Sleep through RTTG?? I guess it's possible, if the Silver Girl induced coma is deep enough. :laugh:


It's brilliant how each fan has such varying opinions after their first listens.

Other than the three singles, Power Down remains my favorite at this stage.
And Dancing is so atmospheric, melancholy, and the perfect closer.

Even though the style of Blind Love, Time, and Blue Light would probably not be my cup of tea for the whole album, I think they fit in perfectly amidst the other tracks here, and each on their own is still a standout.

The production is so good, the vocals so clear and the music so engaging, moreso than much of his more recent work IMO. The whole album has a cohesive "twilight in California" vibe--the most cohesive sonic and narrative gestalt since Tango and Cradle.

It almost feels a violation to listen to one song in isolation rather than in the context of the whole album.

This for me. The only song that I might be listen to without the rest of the album is Santa Rosa.