[elle]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Third day of listening: It's a small wonder; the diversity of songs, the rich melodies, the impeccable idiosyncratic production, the guts to do something different in every frigging song, using repetition in lyrics with always a slight addition/change musically, the rythmtracks that are highly original and different from eachother, it's all incredible. And the thing just floats. I don't have a fave on this record yet. It's simply stunning as a whole.

I don't know what happened with the guy, but he just HAS to go on with his homerecordings, although you could also state that he coul retire after this achievement. It's that amazingly good.

so my first impressions in terms of favorite and a bit less favorite tracks:

• in our own time - perfect all around - imho the best one on the CD
• illumination and one take - love how these two came out, love it when he gets slightly political in a song like in one take (i think one take is almost as perfect as IOOT, but in a very different way) - will one take replace i'm so afraid in concerts? he has to do one take on the upcoming tour!
• rock away blind - ultimate LB, really hope he does this one on the tour too (maybe it can replace shut us down - sorry Gerald!)
• she smiled sweetly - still beautiful, still love it, but i actually thought that the way he pronounces the words on GoS version was just perfect - so i like the verses from the original version better, although i probably prefer the stripped down chorus of this one
• gone too far - i actually like this one, so OOTC-like, he can use that one together w/ another OOTC song in concert
  
• that's the way love goes - screams "it goes, it goes" are the only thing i like better than in the live version - live version was my favorite new song. since i don't know how to express this eloquently, for the lack of the better term i'm sorry to say but TWLG is too slowed down and pop-ified for my taste on the album when compared to live. i'm so happy the live version is also coming out soon!
  
• least favorite - stars are crazy.

such diversity of songs, and they all fit so well together!