the good, the bad and the ugly

the good news is that, should i get entirely frustrated, i have options. kind of.

the bad news is that i think i'm losing out on some of the so-called perks of being a freelancer.

the ugly was ct on "real world" tonight. oh goodness ...

so today is october 7 - a lovely tuesday, which means new music hit the shelves of music stores across the country. why would this be of particular note? am i that excited about the new ludacris album? well, obviously. ;-) but there's also the album by that howie day guy ...

having given "stop all the world now" the ultimate test drive - literally, as i traveled down route 4 this evening - i can say that i am extremely impressed. i'm really digging it ... while i don't think any studio release will be able to capture the essence of howie's live performance, at least this does howie the justice that "australia" does not, much as that particular album will always hold a nostalgic place in my heart.

a few particular notes:

- howie told the avalon audience that "numbness of sound" was his favorite track off the album. while it's not one of my favorite new songs, i do agree that it's a great studio track - very simple, very brooding (as howie put it, "it's a total kill yourself song") and one of those tracks i'd love to listen to with big old school headphones on, much like how i like to listen to jeff buckley's cover of "lilac wine." the lyric "asleep on a shoulder that i never met" is gorgeous.

- collide = good in the sentimental "aw shucks" or "this is the song i play to get laid" manner. which naturally means that i love it. the line "even the wrong words seem to rhyme" sticks out as one i particularly enjoy.

- the album version of "sunday morning song" does not do the song justice. i'm glad i heard it live first, as i fell in love with it. if i'd heard the studio version first, it would have been forgotten almost immediately. it's too simple a song for such a basic treatment - and the harmonies, particularly on the "yeah"s, give it a tinge of WB-theme song quality.

- i'm still surprised by how much i love "you & a promise." for whatever reason, i was convinced that it would be one of my least favorites. i was wrong.

- "brace yourself." i loved it when i heard the mp3 after last summer's free boston show, i loved it at avalon and i love it on the album. i think it serves as the transitional song from older howie to the new with-band sound, a role many would think would be reserved for ...

- "she says," which is the howie constant. on the blue ep, on "australia" and on "satwn." i like aspects of this version (primarily the little flourishes he adds at points late in the song), but overall disapprove of the faster tempo. this track also strays into WB land. but i'm also biased, as i don't think i'll ever hear a better version of it than when i stood right in front of him while he belted it out at paradise in june 2001. great version of the song and the first time i heard the "one" outro.
and, no matter what he does to the song, whenever i hear those first chords, i smile. those chords have been a part of me for over three years now - it's almost instinctual to feel good when i hear them.

- one of my absolute favorite tracks is "end of our days." love it love it love it. howie + simple romantic lyrics + piano = bliss.

- i like the lyrics of "come lay down." i hate the studio track. it's as if he was trying to channel sting, dmb and thom yorke all at once. while i love each of the previously mentioned artists individually, howie can't take the bits and pieces of each he particularly likes and jam them all together. but he tried, creating this out-of-india, hip "hi i'm trying something new" voyage of sound that, in my opinion, just makes him sound strange.

- symphony backing on several of the songs = sehr sehr gut.

- it was neat to see who he thanked in the linear notes ... amazing to see how many names i recognized (shows i've spent too much time over the years following his career) and which names weren't mentioned (there was a vague alusion to, but no specific mention of jaime ... who, by the way, was at the avalon show, i was pleased to note. i always heard great things about him and, while i never spoke with him directly, always seemed like a mad cool bloke.). he also gets a gold star for specifically mentioning and thanking all of the reps. good to remember them.

i could not stop grinning as i listened to the album. partly because i've been looking forward to it for so long, partly because i think he did an amazing job. mostly because i'm happy to finally have a full-length studio album that shows what he can do. and because it's great to see him growing up and achieving the success he's worked so hard for - it makes me feel as if its possible for me to do the same.