Christmas Time (Is Here Again) | Page 6 | Fab forum

Beatley: I got Love, Plastic Ono Band and Cloud 9, a T-Shirt with the cover of Hard Days Night on the front (didn't we have a conversation about those not existing? ), and the Living In The Material World book that I've been lusting for since forever. I also got a shedload of other books (inc. Doggett's Bowie, 1984, Kafkha On The Shore) and CDs (Cage The Elephant, Pala, Journal For Plague Lovers, The Suburbs, ()). My parents also tried to blackmail me into taking my phone with me everywhere by buying me a Blackberry, which was good of them.

mr. Sun king coming together said:

The Walrus said:

 I also got a shedload of other books (inc. Doggett's Bowie, 1984, Kafkha On The Shore) and CDs (Cage The Elephant, Pala, Journal For Plague Lovers, The Suburbs, ()). 

And, what's the verdict on AF's latest?

I'm not entirely familiar with it yet, though I've listened to it about four times. Definitely not as good as Funeral, but that's the sort of incredible album that comes along once a generation. On a similar plane to Journal For Plague Lovers.

Apologies for this infodumping:

The early tracks, in isolation, are fairly pedestrian. The version of Ready To Start that accompanies the video on YouTube is better because it has some energy. Rococo has a great hook, and there are some good lyrics (including foreshadowing of the themes that surface at the tail end of the album), but there isn't really enough energy.

I've known the track listing for a long time, and I imagined songs like "City With No Children" and "Suburban War" to be very different (I thought Suburban War would sound like a Pink Floyd song with helicopter sound effects and psychadelic screaming, for example). Don't think I can make a judgment on that middle block yet.

Month Of May is so energetic, it really contrasts with the earlier songs, and it kicks the album out of mediocrity. From then on the songs are generally better. Wasted Hours sounds much better immediately after Month Of May than in isolation because the casual strumming just works better after the high energy song. Deep Blue is fairly good. We Used To Wait is very good, particularly with the video that you can participate in on Google Chrome. Sprawl I (Flatland) then sucks loads of energy out of it again.

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) is brilliant, easily the best song on the album. I always turn the volume right up. I love the transition from the middle eight to the chorus ("can we ever get away from the sprawl, living in the sprawl…"), and the tune, the energy, the lyrics… basically everything about it.

The Suburbs (continued)- I read the lyrics to the song before hearing it, and they're one of the best pieces of poetry I have read in my life, but musically the song is really weak.

So yeah, not as good as Funeral, but one of the best albums of recent years. I'll wait and see if it is as good as Neon Bible, that will probably take several months to judge.