Seeds We Sow - Lindsey's worst album?
 

That's what I've decided. Discuss.

Not for me. That's Go insane, IMO. I do, However feel SWS is a huge disappointment. Sooooooooo many recycled ideas, no growth. It's so predictable. Have not spun it since the month of release:shrug:

Mick

:eek:

My personal choice for that honor is Law and Order.

I haven't stopped spinning it!! I've been listening to it non-stop since the Saban concert. Live version...studio version...I just love it <333

Ditto.

I agree.
 

I agree, 100% and totally. I think most of the songs sound unfinished, lazily mixed, and simply pale copies of previous songs. He had an unexpected chunk of time open up to make this record, so he was in no rush. And we know the man likes to tinker and add like 100 tracks to a song. Similarly, he's self-mixed some excellent tracks before as well, like most of UTS. There's really no reason this record needed to come out the way it did other than he had free time, made a lazy album, and is justifying that by beating his "DIY" sensibility into the ground. NEWSFLASH: He's been DIYing it for decades already, and it didn't suck before.

Sadly, yep. I'm not crazy about most of UTS, but it is a better album than SWS. Also, the mixing. Eek.

And yeah, the songs are weaker overall than any other album. I know he has the theme of "one song with other people on it" going, but I actually think he remixed/overdubbed/whatever TTWLG so much that something like Illumination actually sounds MORE like other people are playing on it! And TTWLG is better live.

I haven't listened to it for at least a month either. :shrug: I still listen to Law and Order now and then, same with Go Insane. I listen to OOTC and UTS rarely, and GOS now and then.

Still, his "worst" album is better than plenty of people's "best" albums...

i hate hate hate that you started this thread of all days today when such bad news just came out re the UK tour.

and for the record, i think SWS is a gorgeous album and i'm extremely grateful he put it out this year, followed by an incredible tour and DVD/blu-ray.

but unlike some in this thread i can see that tastes are different and not everybody likes what i do.

Glad you pointed that out. I'm so sick of the press touting that like it's the first time ever in history! :rolleyes:

THANK YOU Elle
 

I'm going to be completely honest: I love this effing album. I don't give a **** about "recycled ideas" and all that. The music and the songs are what I'm about, ok? And, to my ears, these songs are absolutely sublime. I have fallen in love with each of them (well, except "One Take" which I think is just fun and SSS which I can take or leave) at one point or another since the album was released. I am STILL playing the album. With Lindsey's albums, I always dive in with the subconscious expectation that it will have to be played a few times before it hits me.

That didn't happen with this one- or OOTC. I'm not saying this makes the album better than others, or that this is an indication of a superior album. I'm just saying that the album was a gem from first listen on for me. I don't skip a track. It takes me out of a bad mood. The transitions are beautiful and I honestly can't criticize it because I feel so connected to it at this point. I place it right up there alongside Out Of The Cradle and it is the LB album I most recommend to my friends. And it's the one I have had the most success impressing them with.

If anything, Lindsey's "borrowed" and "same old" that is making so many of you feel SWS is underwhelming is him just repeating and borrowing from himself. I don't think he can help it and, at this point, why try to escape it? He defined his own sound and his albums all have his distinct style all over them...he's only building on what HE made in the first place.

I really don't agree with the title of this thread, but I don't care either because- to me- every single Lindsey album is interesting and has it's own quirkiness that makes him a one-of-a-kind. I love that there are so many people that have different favorite LB albums, instead of everyone agreeing on just one album. I mean, that is great as well but the various shades of his character are represented in different ways throughout his solo catalog. And I love that about the artist that he is.

Anyway, LOVE SWS and am not embarrassed that I still play IOOT really loud and squeal over "Rock Away Blind" like the fangirl that I am for this amazing album.

That's mine as well!!! :laugh:

Actually, while I'm not thrilled with SWS I did quite like a lot of it. I hated Under the Skin and Gift of Screws (can't listen to them), so no, SWS isn't his worst album.

Though, to be perfectly honest, his solo work isn't even close to his work with Fleetwood Mac. :shrug: :sorry:

Definitely Law and Order or UTS would rank at the bottom of my list. I kind of feel that for the time though and it being his first album that Law and Order deserves a lot of credit and shouldm't be viewed in 2011 as it would have been when it debuted. I liked UTS fine when it was released, but it doesn't hold up so well over time for me and I probably liked it more, because I had been waiting so long for another album from him. So, it benefitted in my estimation, by the timing of its release.

Show You How still is one of my favorite all-time songs of his, though.

Regarding albums, SWS, GoS and OOTC are at the top.

That puts Go Insane in the middle, but I love that album. I think it is stellar. The fact that it comes in 4th does not mean it lacks quality in my mind at all.

Michele

I like the songs on SWS a lot. But the production / mixing and whatnot really takes away some of the quality for me. It sounds unprofessional and unfinished a lot of the time, like it's just a working demo or something. I still listen to it a lot because like I said I do love the songs but I can't help but wish it didn't SOUND so do it yourself and quite frankly, amateurish. There are only a few songs that I think sonically are play this way because it doesn't diminish them in any way - RAB and IOOT for example.

And again, I'm speaking of the recording and production.... I find the songs stellar and love them live especially.

Just my opinion.

I must be the only one who loves "Go Insane" as one of my favorites! perhaps it now holds meaning of a special, certain time in my life...BUT wehn I heard it then, i was obsessed with it. No, it wasn't 1984, it was 1999, LOL, but I just loved it.

"Out of the Cradle" is probably my favorite now though. The whole CD just flows together for me. I wish I had seen him on that tour. UGH!

I DO enjoy SWS, but it's not my favorite album. There are some great tracks on there, and some have been given new life to me after hearing them LIVE at his shows. I still far prefer a live version of Stars Are crazy:D I feel the need to imitate his "shoulder shimmies" and vibrato whenever i say "Stars Are Crazy". (see other thread, LOL)

OMG, as I write this, I am listening to a show I went to in March '07 in Philly...(thanks to a very sweet and fellow loving Lindsey fan!) Hearing this 4 and a half years laters is amazing...and our audience was CRAZY! The venue was small, and we shouted things and virtually spoke to Lindsey in between songs...and I just heard him yell "You guys are a great ****IN' audience!"...which I had totally forgotten that he said to us!! I think i just about died when i heard that in person i am sure! LOL, it's funny to hear people you idolize say naughty words!! Heehee.:p

I don't know that I'd say its his worst but after the first initial listens, I haven't found myself going back to it all that much, aside from a few songs ("Rock Away Blind," "The Way Love Goes," "In Our Own Time"). It kind of brought to light a few frustrations that I have with Lindsey in general and part of that is my own taste evolving over the past few years. I don't have as much interest in the perfection that he strives for, and I think this album has more of the aspects that I'm not as taken by anymore. Gift of Screws was like a breath of fresh air after Under the Skin, and both were very different from the previous three in a lot of ways. I'm not the type of person that requires a distinct change with each album from an artist or a full evolution or anything like that but something about SWS makes it feel a lot less interesting than his other work.

Me too! (Both loving Go Insane and it being roughly 1999! :cool:) I have the Go Insane poster on my bedroom wall; I made sure to put it right across from the bed. :thumbsup:

And I agree with some of the previous posters that it's not so much the songs on SWS that are disappointing (well, most of them aren't), but the production, mixing, and five million compressions and overdubs. IOOT, RAB, TTWLG, Illumination are all great songs. Some of the rest do feel a little like "more of the same" compared to other albums.

Love it! And I too have a Go Insane poster in my room:) Right next to my "OOTC" headshot that he signed last month!! Ahhhhh:]

I have a preprinted (or possibly signed in person for somebody else) OOTC headshot - the 12" thing, right? I think my mom's colleague (who is a Stevie nut) got it for me, but I don't remember for sure. I have more posters than wall space! On the wall are GI, The Dance poster, and the 1984 Chris poster. In storage are another Dance poster, Tango, Tusk double-sided, Live long poster, SYW vinyl poster, and a perfect condition Law and Order poster. :D

My signed SWS CD sits on my desk in a Bath & Body Works box because it's see-through but still protects it, and I can't figure out what else to do with it... :o

Drooling! LOL where is the emoticon for that!! That "Tusk" double sided poster..my friend had that one, oh man was that nice.;) Yeah my headshot thingie from OOTC is double sided 12"x12" which i think is referred to as a "poster flat." Never would've happend if he didn't do the interview/signing thing in NYC! Anyway, to bring this back full circle, I am so happy someone else enjoys Go Insane as much as me. I would crap my pants if at one of his shows he broke out with "Loving Cup" or something crazy!!

But I didn't critique anything about he quality of the songs OR the production. :laugh: Please don't lump me into that group. I am DAMN HAPPY with the album and find it to be one of his best and one of my faves of the year, quite frankly. :)

I wasn't lumping. :p Should I change it to "some previous posters?" :lol::angel:

I never said it was a BAD album, anyway. Just not as good as his others.

My tongue was firmly in cheek and I can't begrudge you your opinion. :wavey: Even if I don't fully agree. ;) But, you know, I wanted to point that out so that it doesn't go down on Ledge record that everyone pretty much thought the above. That's all.

Seeds We Sow !!!!
 

:wavey: Nico...I agree...we all do on this end!
Different is so wonderful and the guitar work
is rockin' good! Lindsey is a great musician !!!

You are not the only one! I absolutely love Go Insane. It's my favorite!!

I also wish a million times over that I could have seen him during the OOTC tour! I had just graduated from high school and had absolutely no money to travel to see him!!

I have to say that I don't completely understand the dislike so many fans have of UTS. I like it better than SWS or GOS.

After seeing him play some of the SWS tracks live, I have a new appreciation for the album (which, as some will remember, I trashed mercilessly upon it's release). Granted, it's basically "more of the same"...but, there are a few songs on the album that stand up to anything else he's done. But, what I find to be interesting is that I thought the iTunes bonus tracks were better than quite a bit of the songs that made the album's final track listing. (I especially prefer the "electric" Seeds We Sow over the album's track)

Now, I wouldn't call SWS his WORST album, but it's far from his BEST. (For me, he set the bar so high with Out Of The Cradle, he'll never reach it again)

Chili, I agree with you about SWS electric!! I love that infectious track and *sometimes* I wish he would have ended the night with that one instead of the acoustic.

I pretty much agree with ya... minus the "electric" bonus tracks being better than the album ones. ;)

"Sleepin' Around The Corner" sounds like it was a leftover from the official Gift Of Screws album.

Now...we're only:

Gotta Get Away
Deep Dense
My Little Demon
Given Thing
Blue Turns To Grey
&
The Singer Not The Song

away from all those '96-98 tracks "officially" released.

Although, I'm really disappointed at the offiical release of "She Smiled Sweetly"...I think the leaked GOS version is far superior to the SWS version.

Totally agree. :nod:

I need to go back to "Sleeping Around the Corner." I don't know why it didn't impact me as much as it did for others, but I will certainly give it another go.

However, I always feel like I'm the only one who loves the acoustic version of "End Of Time." But then, frankly speaking, I stan for that song so much that I would take any version.

For me, dislike would be too strong of a term. I do dislike Flying Down Juniper. Do not want I am Waiting there. Other than that, I like everything on it, some more than others and some I loved at the time and only like now. The album as a whole isn't a bad one for me. But putting them in order, something's got to rank at the bottom.

That album came out when it should have. If it debuted now after GoS and SWS, I'd throw rocks at it. But back when it was released, I had nothing but welcome, open arms and an eager ear.

Michele

I love SATC! It has a funky vibe.

And, the acoustic EOT is by far my favorite. I usually go for the acoustic versions of anything, not that I don't love the electric versions too. But, I especially love Lindsey's other acoustic takes like the Try for the Sun (hotel version), Castaway Dreams (doc version), Go Insane (Dance version) and Shut Us Down (Live At version).

Michele, when you say do not want IAW there -- does that mean you'd prefer it on another album or that you don't like it at all?

what is that - i don't think i've heard it?! can you share? the only version i know is GOS CD-R version and UTS version and those 2 are pretty close.

Sure, here you go Elle:

http://www.mediafire.com/?34yy6ro7p3c0mru

This was from the little promo tour videos he did for UTS tour.

What is the GOS CD-R?

I guess I don't want it on an album at all. I just am happy with it as a "b" side.

Michele

thanks!!

original GOS (2001). wasn't it supposedly bootlegged from the CD-R LB gave Warner?

I never knew where it came from, but I have it too.

I feel that all of Lindsey's albums are challenging in various ways. For me, they don't stick to me - meaning they're not imbedded in my mind. That's not to say I don't like them - I admire his talent and find his work interesting.

Certainly, Out of the Cradle was the only album that approached his most commericial appeal. But I also respect his off-beat leanings. Seed We Sow is an album that I need to listen to a bit more to appreciate. I only played it twice, shelved it and forgot about it.

Funny thing is, I despised Law and Order when it first came out. I was impressed that he played most of the instruments himself. But I guess I was expecting something more polished like Fleetwood Mac. Some of the songs seemed so wacked. I didn't get it.

But I listen to it now with different ears. It's actually one of my favorites. Why? Because, it's light-hearted, fun and doesn't take itself so seriously. His more recent albums have a more heavy, serious and highly personal introspective tone. Often I listen to music to lighten the emotional load, not add to it.