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 Beneath The Eyrie - Review (soft spoiler)

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T O P I C    R E V I E W
Joey Joe Jo Jr. Chabadoo Posted - 08/11/2019 : 11:37:52
Ok, It got it. Don’t ask me how. As a member of the Brotherhood of the Unknown, I am not meant to share my secrets. Only my feelings.
For information, I only listened to the first episode of the podcast and that was enough for me. I always skip the preface when I read a book now. I may come back to it when I finish the book in case I feel the need.
So. I’ll try not to spoil to much. But I will a little. You are warned. You have the choice.
Do what you will NOW.

I’ll make a “live” review. That is to say, I’ll write while listening to the songs for the first time.
So, excuse my broken English and the fact that I’ll be frank and don’t blame the Messenger.

DON'T TRUST SPOILERS

Thank you and no hard feelings ;)


++++
35   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
hammerhands Posted - 09/13/2019 : 14:07:35
quote:
Originally posted by oddball

On a related note, I'll need to get a turntable to convert these into digital format as well. Any recommendations?

-oddball



There’s an old electronics repair store in this city run by some vintage guys that fix vintage stereo equipment. I bought an old Duel turntable from them.

I suspect you can find a place like that near you.



There are also a few hifi shop that take trades that have lots of nice used equipment. Those audiophiles have a sickness and are always upgrading to something newer or older.

I only have a 16bit/44.1khz recorder [Boss BR-600] and I may want to upgrade if I’m going to finally convert some of these albums. The nice thing is the Boss runs on batteries and I don’t have to have a computer on so I can get rid of a lot of noise. Maybe I will get an audio interface I can use with iOS, or a portable recorder. I would like recommendations on that.

My sister bought me a turntable that plugs into a computer with USB, has software to split the tracks. I will have to look at that. Very convenient, but I don’t know if I trust it. Only 44.1khz or 48khz, I think.
https://www.sony.com/electronics/audio-components/ps-lx300usb

[Look at this...https://www.sony.com/electronics/audio-components/ps-hx500]
hammerhands Posted - 09/13/2019 : 05:25:09
I had forgotten the word eyrie shows up at the start of Oona.

Who is Oona? A sound she makes? Oona O’Neill and/or Gala Dali?
tamefan Posted - 09/12/2019 : 11:11:01
right? I became used to HC over the years.. now, going back to it, in comparison to BTE, wow. it's rough. and I've got the vinyl mix of HC...
hammerhands Posted - 09/12/2019 : 10:37:27
quote:
Originally posted by tamefan

waveforms

https://imgur.com/a/b7UxbsG

also, these waveforms are the FLAC files. they sound significantly brighter than the MP3 files. and the channels are reversed.



I was just listening to IC then HC, Head Carrier is so compressed, so dull, just like those pics of Oona, etc.

tamefan Posted - 09/12/2019 : 10:20:52
waveforms

https://imgur.com/a/b7UxbsG

also, these waveforms are the FLAC files. they sound significantly brighter than the MP3 files. and the channels are reversed.
Bedbug Posted - 09/12/2019 : 08:51:57
quote:
Originally posted by tamefan

What are the odds at least 1 demo is better than Ready for Love?



Very good

I say that based on podcast episode 12 not on hearing RFL yet.
Bedbug Posted - 09/12/2019 : 06:58:14
The demos / b-sides sound great
picpic Posted - 09/12/2019 : 06:49:07
Those demos on the podcast sounds freaking great indeed.

___
"Service Unavailable"
oddball Posted - 09/12/2019 : 06:31:02
I couldn't agree more, hammerhands. We hear some really good quality demos at the end the 12th and final podcast. I hope such quality can be obtained in digital format.

On a related note, I'll need to get a turntable to convert these into digital format as well. Any recommendations?

-oddball
hammerhands Posted - 09/12/2019 : 04:55:51
If there’s anyone of influence reading this, it would be nice to get a lossless download code for the bonus LPs.

I’ll do my own needle drop, and I have some other albums I need to do that for, but it would be nice.
natenate101 Posted - 09/11/2019 : 19:11:52
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite

Ha no worries. I'll definitely digitize the tracks and get some advice where to put them if people are having trouble accessing them.



Thank you in advance!
Sprite Posted - 09/11/2019 : 09:37:02
Ha no worries. I'll definitely digitize the tracks and get some advice where to put them if people are having trouble accessing them.
Bedbug Posted - 09/11/2019 : 00:10:15
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite

quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug

Sprite, might I suggest you make a YouTube video of your new turntable playing these songs for the very first time and then link?


Hmmm that is an idea. But I am a pretty anonymous sort of guy. I promise to take a video at least.

Can I get arrested for putting something like that on YouTube?



Oh Sprite, I’m sorry to have put you in that position. I was half kidding.

Hold on to your anonymity my friend. The demos will surface elsewhere soon enough
picpic Posted - 09/10/2019 : 22:40:26
quote:
Originally posted by tamefan

What are the odds at least 1 demo is better than Ready for Love?


...and This is my Fate ;-)



___
"Service Unavailable"
picpic Posted - 09/10/2019 : 22:38:58
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite

Bad luck. I have a turntable arriving tomorrow and will be ripping the demos Friday night.


Great !

___
"Service Unavailable"
Sprite Posted - 09/10/2019 : 10:48:43
quote:
Originally posted by tamefan

What are the odds at least 1 demo is better than Ready for Love?



Well when I heard the intro to Chapel Hill on the podcast I was like, why is this not on the record...
Sprite Posted - 09/10/2019 : 10:47:23
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug

Sprite, might I suggest you make a YouTube video of your new turntable playing these songs for the very first time and then link?


Hmmm that is an idea. But I am a pretty anonymous sort of guy. I promise to take a video at least.

Can I get arrested for putting something like that on YouTube?
tamefan Posted - 09/10/2019 : 10:47:11
What are the odds at least 1 demo is better than Ready for Love?
Bedbug Posted - 09/10/2019 : 10:41:30
quote:
Originally posted by Sprite

Bad luck. I have a turntable arriving tomorrow and will be ripping the demos Friday night.



Sprite, might I suggest you make a YouTube video of your new turntable playing these songs for the very first time and then link?
Sprite Posted - 09/10/2019 : 10:34:01
Bad luck. I have a turntable arriving tomorrow and will be ripping the demos Friday night.
moonruler Posted - 09/10/2019 : 09:23:07
The deluxe version with Demo and 7" are sold out. Waited a day too long debating about the damn shipping costs. Ugh.

________________
“make…some…room”
tamefan Posted - 09/10/2019 : 09:18:06
At first, I thought Long Rider sounded like a TV commercial theme song or like a song they'd play during the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in 97... so don't lose hope
The Maharal Posted - 09/10/2019 : 09:05:56
Interesting to hear the comments on Silver Bullet. It's probably my least favourite on the album, bit boring and predictable musically and Frank is doing that 'voice' I kinda dislike. It's a bit like Silver Snail, just plods along and Joey can't save it.

Not sure I'll ever be able to get behind Long Rider, that "take it away now" line is disturbing, ugh.

Cain for me is a great opener, possibly the best opener of the past three albums and I'm a big fan of WGB and HC.

Would agree that Charles' songwriting is back on track (for the most part). Some lovely Golem-y type lyrics on Bird of Prey. Which tracks did Paz co-write or write besides Los Surfers Meurtos?
Bedbug Posted - 09/10/2019 : 08:56:09
We should try to list those somewhere in a thread
moonruler Posted - 09/10/2019 : 08:14:46
I have always enjoyed IC over HC, both have their moments, but IC just resonated with me more.

However, I still very much LOVE some of the tracks on HC. Plaster of Paris and All the Saints, and a few others.

Unfortunately for both albums, the songs that I originally did not like that much have not really grown on me. With IC, not a big deal as I liked it mostly, anyway.

Need to listen to HC again, it has been awhile.

Another thing I have noticed is there seem, to me anyway, to be a few slightly different versions of a lot the songs out there. More for IC than HC, maybe? I mean, CD is different than the single, which is different than the video. I could be imagining it...

________________
“make…some…room”
Bedbug Posted - 09/10/2019 : 07:55:45
Definitely seems IC is trending up and HC is trending down. Third time’s the charm apparently
tamefan Posted - 09/10/2019 : 07:54:32
Oh absolutely, HC was safe and oddly solipsistic. I doubt that Paz signed up to be a stand-in for Kim Deal. She's an artist unto her self and apparently that means bouncy bass lines, haunting harmonies, and epic backing vocals. Yes, please!

quote:
Originally posted by rivum
all of this. couldn't have said it better. and I would probably agree with that sequencing too!



Thanks! The OG albums have quick and dramatic transitions between styles. That's an effect this album is capable of achieving but it's let down by the sequencing. In particular, I really wasn't happy with Long Rider buried in the mid section. Moving it to track three also solves the problem of sequencing Kate after Graveyard, which was a mistake. Cain suffers from mid-tempoitis, a highly contagious affliction that plagues Pixies 2.0... so moving it anywhere but track one was important or else I would start skipping it (something that happened to me with Head Carrier the track).

Finally, I think that Silver Bullet's the most suitable album opener. The lyrics lay out the divorce conceit. I imagine the duel in this song is about a drunk fight with his ex-wife. Maybe it's the fatal fight, the silver bullet in their marriage. It introduces the recurring themes of futility, surrender, destruction, predestination (eschatology), depravity, and condemnation. It sets out recurring imagery: an old church, a poisoned drink, and notably of walking along "coral snow" which ties to the final two tracks, Daniel Boone and Death Horizon, songs about various forms of death, incl. ecological death. Daniel Boone alludes to Lord Howe reef. We can infer that the reef is dying from the rising temperatures mentioned in Death Horizon -- it's the coral "snow" from before (white coral is dead). Death Horizon is about getting drunk on a tropical beach (with his ex-wife?? or his bottle?? this song is full of question marks) and watching as the world ends:

quote:
And I can feel that the temperature's rising,
But what can ya do,
Cause that death horizon,
Gonna pull you right through.


(A more literal interpretation of Death Horizon is that the protagonist's temperature is rising because he's drunk and the song is a final restatement of the themes of powerlessness, the futility of trying to change one's fate, and total submission to the alcoholism that fuels what transpires in many of the tracks).

This record is fantastically written. Charles, you glorious son of a son of a son of a bastard.
sdon Posted - 09/10/2019 : 06:05:43
I now tend to rate IC higher than HC

HC is too safe, a bit bland with a couple stand-out songs, and overall I would say boring.

At least, IC tries, experiments, and often misses, but the peaks are higher
Most songs are too long, too repetitive, too slow, and Gil Norton could be a root cause. Especially when you hear the live, stripped versions of Greens and Blues or Silver Snail... and what they have become, fat and overproduced. But at the core, IC is a good album, whereas HC is compositionally flawed


I think BTE is way above HC, it has an identity, is consistent in its diversity, doesn't try to rock all the time, nor to sound too pop. It is compact, more mature, more classic, but with enough weirdness

IC 7
HC 5
BTE 8



and Paz is great


--
"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)"
"Fucking up my devotion!"
rivum Posted - 09/10/2019 : 03:47:19
quote:
Originally posted by tamefan

For me, Bird of Prey and Daniel Boone are instant classics.

This is the first 2.0 album where I really enjoy each of the 12 songs. Sure, it ain't no 15 track wunderkind. But it also ain't 8 great ones plus 4 so-so's. There are treats and treasures in every song, thanks to some playful percussion, Joey really bringing it, and eccentric songwriting :-)

8.5 out of 10 (where every 1.0 record is a 10/10, IC is a 6.5/10 and HC is a 7.5/10)

I resequenced the tracks and listen in this order:

quote:

SIDE A.
Silver Bullet
On Graveyard Hill
Long Rider
Bird of Prey
St. Nazaire
Los Surfers Muertos

SIDE B.
Catfish Kate
This Is My Fate
Mark of Cain
Ready for Love
Daniel Boone
Death Horizon





all of this. couldn't have said it better. and I would probably agree with that sequencing too!
tamefan Posted - 09/09/2019 : 21:36:42
For me, Bird of Prey and Daniel Boone are instant classics.

This is the first 2.0 album where I really enjoy each of the 12 songs. Sure, it ain't no 15 track wunderkind. But it also ain't 8 great ones plus 4 so-so's. There are treats and treasures in every song, thanks to some playful percussion, Joey really bringing it, and eccentric songwriting :-)

8.5 out of 10 (where every 1.0 record is a 10/10, IC is a 6.5/10 and HC is a 7.5/10)

I resequenced the tracks and listen in this order:

quote:

SIDE A.
Silver Bullet
On Graveyard Hill
Long Rider
Bird of Prey
St. Nazaire
Los Surfers Muertos

SIDE B.
Catfish Kate
This Is My Fate
Mark of Cain
Ready for Love
Daniel Boone
Death Horizon

billgoodman Posted - 09/09/2019 : 10:10:28
Some reviews have actually been good

---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
Stevio10 Posted - 09/09/2019 : 08:47:00
If picpic is praising the album and Dalgety it must good! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, looking forward to Friday too
Sprite Posted - 09/09/2019 : 07:44:30
Oh man picpic that remark has me so excited for Friday ;)
picpic Posted - 09/09/2019 : 06:34:15
Kudos to Dalgety (never thought I'll ever say that) for bringing ideas and variety to the songs -bridges, unexpected twists, etc-. Its a real evolution from the frequent verse/chorus/verse on the 2 previous albums. Great record.

___
"Service Unavailable"
sdon Posted - 09/08/2019 : 02:49:14
Surf in a Church, lol

Yes, it sounds more Western Surf meets Saloon Psychobilly
All the gothic monster witches thing is just a posture, but divorce themes are real

Long Rider is better produced than Toe and Tenement, and more uplifting



--
"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)"
"Fucking up my devotion!"

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