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I think yr right. J’s music is becoming to boring and melancholy. Like he’s playing on his own public persona.
‘Thats how its gotta be’ is the only decent song on the album. Its fine and good to say ‘yeah it is a good album and has some good songs’, but theyre not the usual GREAT songs we used to get e.g Get Me, The Wagon, Goin Home, little Fury Things.
Free So Free is an album that sounds like a whole bunch of really crappy b-sides and filler. I mean ‘Bobbin, Freedom, Free so Free’…What the hell is that crap?
Sad to say, but it seems J is running out of ideas. All good things come to an end I guess.
Its been a downward spiral with his albums the last ten years or so. God help the next one. Even though the BBC album is coming out, most of us have already heard the songs and personally to me I couldnt think of anything more boring than whats on there. Anyone else agree?
The only thing that can save him now would be to bring Lou back.
If you want to re affirm your faith in rock n roll:
http://www.weedfreaks.comJustin
I think Free So Free is a lot better than the early Dino albums. It has more emotion, more depth, it’s more of a spiritual ride, whereas the early stuff is more like punk music for kids.
Freedom – great tune, funky, raw, like the lyrics, it’s fast, it’s kind of like a Chili Peppers song. It has hit potential.
If That’s How It’s Gotta Be – very sad, very beautiful. A classic song, imo. One that will stand the test of time. Strong vocal melody.
Set Us Free – really cool garage rock kind of song, it’s like a cousin to "Same Day". Again, I’m amazed with how great the melody is and the whole structure. Really solid song.
Bobbin – short, funny, I like it.
Free So Free – simple yet moving and very… meditative. Again, excellent lyric.
Tell the Truth – just "okay", not bad or anything, but not outstanding.
Someone Said – beautiful music, beautiful lyric, the simplicity really works. Could have done without the noise in the background though. I prefer the live versions.
Everybody Lets Me Down – kind of interesting, kind of weird actually. Took me forever to learn thing song, i mean, to actually remember it. Strange single choice.
Say the Word – Love the verses. Really funky and groovy and all that. Nice structure with the long crazy instrumental solo and then back to the verse.
Outside – complex, which is a great thing because that just means it lasts longer than a song like, say, Get Me, which is totally boring these days.
All songs are fully listenable on free so free. the songs are cool.Totally ok album. But if I had power and money I would make sure that all albums would be produced in the same way Without A Sound and Where You Been was recorded. Let others do the mixing. It would cost much more, so that’s definetly a drawback, but I think J’s songs are so good, they deserve the best studio threathment available.
right now, I’m listening to Hand It Over.. It’s been a two three months, since I’ve listened the album through..
The sound differs from both WYB and WAS. it’s sort of more real, more raw. It’s not as polished as WYB and WAS. Sometimes I don’t like that, other times I love the sound… It could probably sell more if the production/mixing was more like WYB and WAS.More light seems to have taken basic from Hand it over, when it comes to drumsound. I remember reading J Mascis was inspired from Deep Purple live lp?
anyway, my point is.. All albums could have had major hitpotensial, if the production had been different. But I guess that has never been a goal.I don’t know. If J likes the production, that’s what’s important. It’s his work.
Must agree w/ bob and JayDee. Free So Free is pretty dull in contrast to all the great Dino stuff as well as More Light. More Light is fucking great in terms of song writing AND production. I think the production quality on More Light is pretty raw actually. There are GREAT songs on Free, such as Everybody…, and Set Us Free, but the majority of it pretty bland. It’s good to see J try new things though and every live performance (I’ve seen lots) is insanely good.
As far as production goes, I think Where You Been’s production is crap- much much too glossy. However, so is Green Mind and that’s a sublime record! Yet, since it’s somewhat of a pop record, the glossy production works.
And bringing back Lou WON’T help I don’t think. That’s so long gone that it’s ridiculous to comprehend. However, YLAOM is a brilliant, amazing piece of rock n roll (production too). One of the best records period.There has been a big load of topics about what we like about Free so Free when it came out. I appreciate eraserheads song by song brakdown very much, it sums up these conversations very well
Me, I do like Free so Free, it is ranking among my top favorites, alongside with the Dino albums and More Light.The thing I most disagree with here is when it is said that J produced something because people expected this or that of him. From all what he said about his songwriting in interviews is that he records just exactly those songs which come to his mind, no matter who would like them or not, although it’s fine with him of course if people like it. But you couldn’t shock him with criticism.
"mjw666" wrote:J should start giving lou Barlow credit for once. Lou is probaly laughing in his face right now."Jay Dee" wrote:The only thing that can save him now would be to bring Lou back.Lou Barlow? What he hates most is when people keep telling him they only like some of the old stuff he once did & that he should return to do the same things again like before.
really sorry to hear you don’t get into J’s new stuff. sorry, because you miss something great.
btw: if we collect the songs which are fine for those who are critical about Free so Free, we nearly get the complete album
"bob" wrote:Set Us Free
Free So Free
Outside
those 3 are amazing
forgot about No Way"chiodo" wrote:some good songs, like free so free"JayDee" wrote:‘Thats how its gotta be’ is the only decent song"inkling" wrote:There are GREAT songs on Free, such as Everybody…, and Set Us FreeI like Free So Free,no it`s not as good as More Light but it`s much in the same vein as ML;I think it`s better then Without A Sound
a bunch of opinions
I think I may be the only person in the world that thinks without a sound is one of the best dinosaur albums and was a great direction for J to go in.
add "Tell the truth" and "If that’s how it’s gotta b" to the songs I like "freedom" and "everybody lets me down" have their days, some good some bad.
I have a problem with the production from Hand It Over and up. Not that it’s "not raw" but that it’s so loud and unbalanced that it’s absoultely not listener friendly. It’s fine for the initiated like us but imagine someone hearing something like this for the first time.
I think the best songs from More Light (Ammaring, all the girls, ground me to you, waistin, same day, where’d you go, back before you go) we’re a peak for J when it comes to songwriting. Great hooks, great compositions, just really well crafted songs. (despite weak lyrics at the end of where’d you go).
‘Without a Sound’ is alsolutely one of my favorites (probably because this was my first Dino album) – there’s definetely something special about it. It doesn’t seem to be particularly highly rated among others though (see the recent thread about ranking albums).
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