The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

[Coatigan]

I think the review that this is "Friends music' is quite eye catching. However, when subject to the most basic examination, that analysis turns out to be somewhat glib and superficial. In that sense it reminds me of one of those American comedy programmes. The one where ...

Well we can probably assume that neither Rob nor Gornink got your joke there.

 

[Coatigan]

We should note that the original record is 12 songs, up through “Cheatin’”. My US Spotify has another hour-plus of additional stuff on the 2001 re-release.

Yeah I was hoping someone would clarify that. Held off listening, thought I'd wait. Till I hear it from you.

 

[RobMCFC]

Yeah I was hoping someone would clarify that. Held off listening, thought I'd wait. Till I hear it from you.

There are so many special editions of albums these days that the first thing I do if the nominator hasn’t already clarified is look on Wikipedia to check where the original stops.

 

[journolud]

The first couple of mainly superficial listens have been OK, does sounda notch up from some of that American indie pop stuff we've had.

 

[Coatigan]

The first couple of mainly superficial listens have been OK, does sounda notch up from some of that American indie pop stuff we've had.

Really? Interesting.

 

[Coatigan]

A preamble, of sorts, for context.
I don't see music as a contest of grit, bravado, vigour or whatever else. I am perfectly comfortable with softness, and soft can be good, great even. Not everything needs to be bold and rough around the edges. I'm very much a 'sometimes you just can't beat a well done cacio e peppe' kinda guy, two basic ingredients, a fair bit of skill in fairness, nothing fancy as such, but done right boy does it work! Two, while I think this album will suffer from an age thing, i.e particularly those hearing it the first time, I can safely say it is not that for me, I held this view 20 odd years ago too. If anything I desperately tried to challenge it this time round.

This is about as middle of the road a 5 as it gets. I want to like it more, but can't. Nothing there to really dislike as such, but I largely do.

Gin Blossoms are for me a 'soundtrack' band. One imo of those bands that write a really good catchy song in maybe 10-15 of theirs, and happens to be perfect for Film/TV. And you are drawn to look for more, but there's unfortunately no more there. On this album, that song is Found Out About you. It is actually good enough to merit a bonus point to the 5 on its own! But because the final song Cheatin is such utter sense offending dogshit, that point is instantly wiped. Beyond those two however, the album is pretty much made up of repeats of the exact same song in ever so slightly different performing positions. It is fine, nothing wrong with it as such. They can all play their instruments, cool. But really, the mood and tone is missing.

I compared them to Del Amitri earlier, and that's where I am with them, and this album, still. 'Not quite Del Amitri'. While musically, they are not worlds apart at all, they might even be 'better' in certain ways, what is missing is the mood. That steeped in dreichness tone. The relatablility. That layer of subtlety, that only that basic starchy pasta water carefully blended through the finely grated pecorino can give you, but instead they seem to have tried to do it by adding cream and it has all turned into mush! Del Amitri themselves are not far datached from a 'best of' kind of band in fairness, and they too have seen a fair share of songs in soundtracks, but they move me far more often. To avoid going on a tangent, that's where Gin Blossoms do work, when they nail it. But from my endeavours of trying to like them, it is too spread out, and this album is probably a good example of that - nothing ever really happens!

 

[threespires]

A preamble, of sorts, for context.
I don't see music as a contest of grit, bravado, vigour or whatever else. I am perfectly comfortable with softness, and soft can be good, great even. Not everything needs to be bold and rough around the edges. I'm very much a 'sometimes you just can't beat a well done cacio e peppe' kinda guy, two basic ingredients, a fair bit of skill in fairness, nothing fancy as such, but done right boy does it work! Two, while I think this album will suffer from an age thing, i.e particularly those hearing it the first time, I can safely say it is not that for me, I held this view 20 odd years ago too. If anything I desperately tried to challenge it this time round.

This is about as middle of the road a 5 as it gets. I want to like it more, but can't. Nothing there to really dislike as such, but I largely do.

Gin Blossoms are for me a 'soundtrack' band. One imo of those bands that write a really good catchy song in maybe 10-15 of theirs, and happens to be perfect for Film/TV. And you are drawn to look for more, but there's unfortunately no more there. On this album, that song is Found Out About you. It is actually good enough to merit a bonus point to the 5 on its own! But because the final song Cheatin is such utter sense offending dogshit, that point is instantly wiped. Beyond those two however, the album is pretty much made up of repeats of the exact same song in ever so slightly different performing positions. It is fine, nothing wrong with it as such. They can all play their instruments, cool. But really, the mood and tone is missing.

I compared them to Del Amitri earlier, and that's where I am with them, and this album, still. 'Not quite Del Amitri'. While musically, they are not worlds apart at all, they might even be 'better' in certain ways, what is missing is the mood. That steeped in dreichness tone. The relatablility. That layer of subtlety, that only that basic starchy pasta water carefully blended through the finely grated pecorino can give you, but instead they seem to have tried to do it by adding cream and it has all turned into mush! Del Amitri themselves are not far datached from a 'best of' kind of band in fairness, and they too have seen a fair share of songs in soundtracks, but they move me far more often. To avoid going on a tangent, that's where Gin Blossoms do work, when they nail it. But from my endeavours of trying to like them, it is too spread out, and this album is probably a good example of that - nothing ever really happens!

A fine review but now with your cibo povero analogy I'm just going to look like a peasant because I was simply going to mention shandy. You may have also created a monster because now in my head I'm already mapping bands to Italian cuisine, when I eventually get thrown out of the family home for permanently talking shite it'll now be your fault in part.

Despite agreeing with some of what you say I'll be scoring it higher than you and I think it's rooted in that dreichness comment. Despite our shared language there are subtle sensibilities that don't always translate across the Atlantic and therefore that intangible thing the 'mood' doesn't always make it across the gap. Not a problem say with Kiss where what is being transmitted is hard to mis-receive but much more of an issue with say the likes of Amiee Mann and I would argue this album. Is New Miserable Experience a masterpiece of juxtaposition between lyrical melancholy and musical breeziness? Well no, but whether you think it is worthy of more than a 5 probably hinges on whether you think it hints in that direction and that is probably where the slight difference in transatlantic sensibilities kick-in.

But now I'm distracted by trying to come up with a better comparison for Idles than Arrabbiata. Thanks for that.

Edit: FFS, I'm now going to have to google the name of that Oxtail stew that you get in Lazio which is a much better comparison.

 

[threespires]

Prompted by Coatigan's review I'm currently interleaving Gin Blossoms and Del Amitri tracks and listening intently. It's proving highly informative.

 

[Saddleworth2]

A preamble, of sorts, for context.
I don't see music as a contest of grit, bravado, vigour or whatever else. I am perfectly comfortable with softness, and soft can be good, great even. Not everything needs to be bold and rough around the edges. I'm very much a 'sometimes you just can't beat a well done cacio e peppe' kinda guy, two basic ingredients, a fair bit of skill in fairness, nothing fancy as such, but done right boy does it work! Two, while I think this album will suffer from an age thing, i.e particularly those hearing it the first time, I can safely say it is not that for me, I held this view 20 odd years ago too. If anything I desperately tried to challenge it this time round.

This is about as middle of the road a 5 as it gets. I want to like it more, but can't. Nothing there to really dislike as such, but I largely do.

Gin Blossoms are for me a 'soundtrack' band. One imo of those bands that write a really good catchy song in maybe 10-15 of theirs, and happens to be perfect for Film/TV. And you are drawn to look for more, but there's unfortunately no more there. On this album, that song is Found Out About you. It is actually good enough to merit a bonus point to the 5 on its own! But because the final song Cheatin is such utter sense offending dogshit, that point is instantly wiped. Beyond those two however, the album is pretty much made up of repeats of the exact same song in ever so slightly different performing positions. It is fine, nothing wrong with it as such. They can all play their instruments, cool. But really, the mood and tone is missing.

I compared them to Del Amitri earlier, and that's where I am with them, and this album, still. 'Not quite Del Amitri'. While musically, they are not worlds apart at all, they might even be 'better' in certain ways, what is missing is the mood. That steeped in dreichness tone. The relatablility. That layer of subtlety, that only that basic starchy pasta water carefully blended through the finely grated pecorino can give you, but instead they seem to have tried to do it by adding cream and it has all turned into mush! Del Amitri themselves are not far datached from a 'best of' kind of band in fairness, and they too have seen a fair share of songs in soundtracks, but they move me far more often. To avoid going on a tangent, that's where Gin Blossoms do work, when they nail it. But from my endeavours of trying to like them, it is too spread out, and this album is probably a good example of that - nothing ever really happens!

thats pretty much where I am with it. Nothing to really dislike/nothing to really like.
I did enjoy your description of caccio e peppe' though. I'm 50/50 on that between perfect and disaster.
My pasta alla norma and gnocci caprese are a great deal more consistent however :-)

 

[Coatigan]

thats pretty much where I am with it. Nothing to really dislike/nothing to really like.
I did enjoy your description of caccio e peppe' though. I'm 50/50 on that between perfect and disaster.
My pasta alla norma and gnocci caprese are a great deal more consistent however :-)

I'm a fried over boiled gnocci any day of the week kinda guy. Aubergines are underrated.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I'm a fried over boiled gnocci any day of the week kinda guy. Aubergines are underrated.

They are indeed. Don’t get me started on Moroccan recipes :-)

 

[threespires]

I'm a fried over boiled gnocci any day of the week kinda guy. Aubergines are underrated.

True but they can be tricky. It's all on the preparation then being very attentive to when they need to come out.

 

[Coatigan]

True but they can be tricky. It's all on the preparation then being very attentive to when they need to come out.

Aubergines or gnocci?

 

[Coatigan]

Prompted by Coatigan's review I'm currently interleaving Gin Blossoms and Del Amitri tracks and listening intently. It's proving highly informative.

For all the new music readily available, can't beat revisiting things we Know we like. Wet feet visit the same old places.

 

[Coatigan]

Prompted by Coatigan's review I'm currently interleaving Gin Blossoms and Del Amitri tracks and listening intently. It's proving highly informative.

Once you interweave Till I Hear it From You, you might lose track of which is which!

 

[Coatigan]

They are indeed. Don’t get me started on Moroccan recipes :-)

Somewhere in Spain @RobMCFC has suddenly inexplicably got the urge to nip to his nearest eatooterie for some berenjenas con miel..

Edit. Fun story, I did once confuse my berenjenas and my boquerones on a spanish menu! Expected aubergine, got fash!

 

[Saddleworth2]

Somewhere in Spain @RobMCFC has suddenly inexplicably got the urge to nip to his nearest eatooterie for some berenjenas con miel..

Edit. Fun story, I did once confuse my berenjenas and my boquerones on a spanish menu! Expected aubergine, got fash!

Andalusian i think but very nice as a Tapas in Cordoba.

I'm partial to a little Zaalouck once in a while.

 

[Coatigan]

Andalusian i think but very nice as a Tapas in Cordoba.

I'm partial to a little Zaalouck once in a while.

Aye they had that one in an episode of Friends at thanksgiving once!

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

A preamble, of sorts, for context.
I don't see music as a contest of grit, bravado, vigour or whatever else. I am perfectly comfortable with softness, and soft can be good, great even. Not everything needs to be bold and rough around the edges. I'm very much a 'sometimes you just can't beat a well done cacio e peppe' kinda guy, two basic ingredients, a fair bit of skill in fairness, nothing fancy as such, but done right boy does it work! Two, while I think this album will suffer from an age thing, i.e particularly those hearing it the first time, I can safely say it is not that for me, I held this view 20 odd years ago too. If anything I desperately tried to challenge it this time round.

This is about as middle of the road a 5 as it gets. I want to like it more, but can't. Nothing there to really dislike as such, but I largely do.

Gin Blossoms are for me a 'soundtrack' band. One imo of those bands that write a really good catchy song in maybe 10-15 of theirs, and happens to be perfect for Film/TV. And you are drawn to look for more, but there's unfortunately no more there. On this album, that song is Found Out About you. It is actually good enough to merit a bonus point to the 5 on its own! But because the final song Cheatin is such utter sense offending dogshit, that point is instantly wiped. Beyond those two however, the album is pretty much made up of repeats of the exact same song in ever so slightly different performing positions. It is fine, nothing wrong with it as such. They can all play their instruments, cool. But really, the mood and tone is missing.

I compared them to Del Amitri earlier, and that's where I am with them, and this album, still. 'Not quite Del Amitri'. While musically, they are not worlds apart at all, they might even be 'better' in certain ways, what is missing is the mood. That steeped in dreichness tone. The relatablility. That layer of subtlety, that only that basic starchy pasta water carefully blended through the finely grated pecorino can give you, but instead they seem to have tried to do it by adding cream and it has all turned into mush! Del Amitri themselves are not far datached from a 'best of' kind of band in fairness, and they too have seen a fair share of songs in soundtracks, but they move me far more often. To avoid going on a tangent, that's where Gin Blossoms do work, when they nail it. But from my endeavours of trying to like them, it is too spread out, and this album is probably a good example of that - nothing ever really happens!

I think this is one of the easiest records we’ve had so far for me to rank order songs from top to bottom. The two you mention bookend that ranking for me as well.

 

[bennyboy]

First listen weirdly not one song i hate and not one song I really like.
4th listen and the same as the first listen.
Probably my last listen of any Gin Blossoms stuff.
Nothing stood out but an easy listen.6