Quote:
Originally Posted by Dex
I loved Say You Will and hated the EP.
|
That's interesting. Lindsey said it was the best work the band after did right after SYW came out. Then about a year or two ago he said it was inconsistent. He must have been reading the critiques I wrote about SYW from day one, making that very point.
Now, in trying to compensate for that inconsistency, he offered songs to the band for the EP that actually went in a diametrically opposed direction from his brilliant songs of SYW, in favor of pablum. To me, SYW is brilliant even with songs like Bleed to Love Her and Steal Your Heart Away, which, though poppy, are still brilliant and edgy in their own right.
Where SYW fails is in Lindsey's inability to give some of Stevie's songs the right treatment. In fairness, I don't think Silver Girl could have been saved, nor do I think the atrocious crimes against grammar in Smile at You could have been fixed by Lindsey without Stevie's consent. Sure, Thrown Down, SYW and a couple of other songs were pretty good, but the 80s sheen of Running Through the Garden, the inexcusable self-absorption of Illume and the nefarious crimes agains the English language of Smile at You are hard to overlook. Tell you what: Pull those three songs and Come out of the mix, and I see if you don't have a terrific album.