Bill nada fan of Nada Surf...
My twin brother, Bill, and I exchange CDs a lot to find out new music. Usually, I'm mooching off CDs he bought, but occassionally, I come up with CDs for him that I've obtained.
I had come across the newest CD by Nada Surf, called "The Weight is a Gift". I thought Bill might like it, so I made a copy for him to listen to and then give back later. ;-)
Bill flips through the CDs and says, "Mm Hmm. Like it. OK. Sure. (He gets to the Nada Surf cd). Nada. Nada going to listen to it."
I had listened to it a few times, so I defended my choice, "Hey! It's good! Just listen to it!"
You might remember Nada Surf from the end of the alternative craze in the 90s. They were supposed to be the next Weezer as their album was produced by Ric Ocasek, who produced Weezer's blue album. Also, they had an MTV-friendly video called, "Popular" that we definitely Weezer like. They seemed like a one-hit wonder. The CD was nothing special and I remember selling it. They fell of the face of the earth, or so it seemed, until they came back into prominence a few years ago.
Nada Surf's new CD is the follow-up to their sort of comeback CD called "Let Go". It was hailed my critics everywhere as the next greatest CD of that year it was released (too lazy to look, but I think it was 2003). I'm sure if you did a search for it right now on Amazon.com, you'd see plenty of 5 star reviews proclaiming it the greatest CD they've ever heard. I liked it. It wasn't so great. It was good. I liked plenty of songs on it, but it seemed to drag down when they'd hit a slow song. Just my opinion.
The newest Nada Surf CD suffers from the same kind of problem for me. I really like the uptempo songs, but I feel the slow songs drag it down.
The album starts with "Concrete Bed", a quick start song with a fast acoustic riff through it. The chorus proclaims that "To find someone you love, you gotta be someone you love." A simple enough message that you need to like yourself for others to like you. It's a nice song.
Then you hit, "Do It Again." It's kind of set up like a Pixies song in which the bass and drums hit first with some light electric guitar strumming. Things build by the bridge with the chorus of course being the selling point. Go figure, this song is about a relationship that seems to be about a couple lying around with nothing to do, so the guy begs his girl to "show me the keys" and "Do It Again". I'm sure you're seeing where this is headed. Maybe I missed something in that interpretation, but I think that's where it's going. It's a solid song.
Then we hit the single, "Always Love." This one tells you that "Always love. Hate will get you everytime." This one starts out quiet for the first 38 seconds and then kicks into high gear. It's a nice rocking song (for them it's rocking).
Next comes my favorite song, "What Is Your Secret." which seems to be about a failed relationship. Nada's singer proclaims, "I don't care about you anymore. The people got tired. Our movies don't play much anymore. The actress was fired." It's an interesting semi-rocking song about someone feeling mislead about a relationship.
So you have four really good songs to open the album, which is a problem. The rest of the album doesn't match up in my opinion. There are a couple of clunky slow songs that drag it down. And a really snappy corny song that Bill absolutely hates, "Blankest Year."
"Blankest Year" proclaims, "Ohh! The Hell with It! I'm gonna have a party!" Bill said that when he was listening to it, he was rolling his eyes. Then came the verse, "Ohh. Fuck It!" along with the background harmonizing of "Fuck It!" He said, "Oh no! They DIDN'T just harmonize "fuck it" did they?"
Bill said that he couldn't take anymore so he stopped listening.
I said, "Well I think it has a few good songs. The first four are really good."
Bill snorted, "That's great. I happen to like albums."
I snorted back like Bill, "I'm Bill. I only like albums. I don't like individual songs."
He got mad.
"Oh screw you! I didn't say that!"
All in all, it's a decent album. If I was grading it honestly, I'd give it a 3.5 stars. Seriously.
I had come across the newest CD by Nada Surf, called "The Weight is a Gift". I thought Bill might like it, so I made a copy for him to listen to and then give back later. ;-)
Bill flips through the CDs and says, "Mm Hmm. Like it. OK. Sure. (He gets to the Nada Surf cd). Nada. Nada going to listen to it."
I had listened to it a few times, so I defended my choice, "Hey! It's good! Just listen to it!"
You might remember Nada Surf from the end of the alternative craze in the 90s. They were supposed to be the next Weezer as their album was produced by Ric Ocasek, who produced Weezer's blue album. Also, they had an MTV-friendly video called, "Popular" that we definitely Weezer like. They seemed like a one-hit wonder. The CD was nothing special and I remember selling it. They fell of the face of the earth, or so it seemed, until they came back into prominence a few years ago.
Nada Surf's new CD is the follow-up to their sort of comeback CD called "Let Go". It was hailed my critics everywhere as the next greatest CD of that year it was released (too lazy to look, but I think it was 2003). I'm sure if you did a search for it right now on Amazon.com, you'd see plenty of 5 star reviews proclaiming it the greatest CD they've ever heard. I liked it. It wasn't so great. It was good. I liked plenty of songs on it, but it seemed to drag down when they'd hit a slow song. Just my opinion.
The newest Nada Surf CD suffers from the same kind of problem for me. I really like the uptempo songs, but I feel the slow songs drag it down.
The album starts with "Concrete Bed", a quick start song with a fast acoustic riff through it. The chorus proclaims that "To find someone you love, you gotta be someone you love." A simple enough message that you need to like yourself for others to like you. It's a nice song.
Then you hit, "Do It Again." It's kind of set up like a Pixies song in which the bass and drums hit first with some light electric guitar strumming. Things build by the bridge with the chorus of course being the selling point. Go figure, this song is about a relationship that seems to be about a couple lying around with nothing to do, so the guy begs his girl to "show me the keys" and "Do It Again". I'm sure you're seeing where this is headed. Maybe I missed something in that interpretation, but I think that's where it's going. It's a solid song.
Then we hit the single, "Always Love." This one tells you that "Always love. Hate will get you everytime." This one starts out quiet for the first 38 seconds and then kicks into high gear. It's a nice rocking song (for them it's rocking).
Next comes my favorite song, "What Is Your Secret." which seems to be about a failed relationship. Nada's singer proclaims, "I don't care about you anymore. The people got tired. Our movies don't play much anymore. The actress was fired." It's an interesting semi-rocking song about someone feeling mislead about a relationship.
So you have four really good songs to open the album, which is a problem. The rest of the album doesn't match up in my opinion. There are a couple of clunky slow songs that drag it down. And a really snappy corny song that Bill absolutely hates, "Blankest Year."
"Blankest Year" proclaims, "Ohh! The Hell with It! I'm gonna have a party!" Bill said that when he was listening to it, he was rolling his eyes. Then came the verse, "Ohh. Fuck It!" along with the background harmonizing of "Fuck It!" He said, "Oh no! They DIDN'T just harmonize "fuck it" did they?"
Bill said that he couldn't take anymore so he stopped listening.
I said, "Well I think it has a few good songs. The first four are really good."
Bill snorted, "That's great. I happen to like albums."
I snorted back like Bill, "I'm Bill. I only like albums. I don't like individual songs."
He got mad.
"Oh screw you! I didn't say that!"
All in all, it's a decent album. If I was grading it honestly, I'd give it a 3.5 stars. Seriously.
posted by Bob At Large @ 4:20 PM
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