SFBM Fan Reviews Options

[fearisnottheend]

I got up early and went to Wal-Mart to get my copy of SFBM and they didn't have it. I called later on while at work and they found "them" in the back. So i drove down the street on break and picked it up.

I'd only heard the 30 second clips of most of the album before today. I was pleasantly suprised that i liked several songs i didn't expect to like much like Home, WDWGFH, Get Ready.
Show and Sofia are just ok but i'm sure they will grow on me. Right now, Wings is my favorite. It makes me smile just like They Stood Up For Love. Night of Nights is awesome. I like the slower verses more than the chorus but the change makes the song interesting. The slower verse part has that magical feeling that Pillar of Davidson and Gas Head Goes West had for me. Love Shines chorus is awesome. Can't wait to play these songs on guitar.

Reading on-line reviews on this site and many others, i got the impression that this album would be terrible. Mostly negative reviews wanting the band to get back to being "angry".
Now, if it would get us another Lakini's Juice than i'm all for that. I've found that, growing up listening to Live and being just a few years younger than them..........i feel like as they've matured and gotten older....i have to. It seems like the music fits me. I'm really enjoying it so far.

Its way to early to tell where this album will rank overall but i am happy with it. It is so cool to go pick up a new Live disc and anxiously listen to each song. I was thinking as i listened to it...after this listen the song won't really ever sound exactly the same. You only get that one "first time listen". Awesome experience. And this is the only band that i get hyped up about.

Can't wait to see them in concert again.

[thefunkyredcaboose]

I got the album on leak a month or so ago and I have been listening to it a great deal. It is very easy to listen to, and a great summertime album. I really enjoy every song except The River, Wings, and Get Ready. What I like about this album is that it does not seemed forced, but rather feels like what the band set out to make. BoP felt like a "forced" rock album in many ways, but there is a lot of energy in these songs ever if it is energy of a softer variety. This makes the general experience of the album a lot more satisfying. Despite all this goodness, I have 3 very large criticisms of the album, and here they are:

1) The album title and artwork - Talk about misleading! If this mountain is black then I don't want to hear the "Songs from White Mountain" album. The darker cover art, which looks like it was made to draw back Throwing Copper era fans, is completely non-representative of the music on the CD. I am a stickler for the whole package of a CD, and this did not deliver.

2) The tracklisting - The album could have been made worlds better with a different arrangement of tracks. Love Shines is a much better lead-off song than the River, Get Ready should not be so close to the beginning of the album, and it really seems like they just shoved all the fast songs to the back of the CD. I realize that the band might not have had a lot of control over this as there was some confusion over the true tracklisting, but it certainly hampers the experience of listening to the album. There is no flow to it, and this leads to a lot of skipping around.

3) Night of Nights - Now before you hurl stones at me, hear me out. Night of Nights does not belong on this album at all, much like Like I Do on the last record. It stands as a reminder of a time when the band strived for honest, soulful lyrics (which they still do), and also aimed for musical innovation and skill. This one track makes the entire album before it, which is a good album in it's own right, seem very, very dull. I feel like they put all musical creativity into this track and in parts of All I Need. I really would like the album much more without this track, as it kicks much more ass than the rest of the record.

Those 3 criticisms are pretty large, but I really enjoy listening to the album. It is relaxing and fun in a way a Live album has never been, though V was close. Overrall I am not dissapointed in this release, as it is much better than BoP, but I would really like to see the Chads and Pat stretch their creative limits for the next record.

Overrall in the list of albums I would put it....

1. TDTH
2. TC
3. SS
4. V
5. MJ
6. SFBM
and a very large gap...
7. BoP

That doesn't make it look so good does it? But considering how much I love the 5 above it I guess it makes more sense. Well, that's all, thanks for reading.

Party on!

[LiveRoCkS77]

If there is an existing SFBM reviews thread that I missed feel free to move this there, Dan. I did not find one near the top. This can become the new thread if need be.

I got the album on leak a month or so ago and I have been listening to it a great deal. It is very easy to listen to, and a great summertime album. I really enjoy every song except The River, Wings, and Get Ready. What I like about this album is that it does not seemed forced, but rather feels like what the band set out to make. BoP felt like a "forced" rock album in many ways, but there is a lot of energy in these songs ever if it is energy of a softer variety. This makes the general experience of the album a lot more satisfying. Despite all this goodness, I have 3 very large criticisms of the album, and here they are:

1) The album title and artwork - Talk about misleading! If this mountain is black then I don't want to hear the "Songs from White Mountain" album. The darker cover art, which looks like it was made to draw back Throwing Copper era fans, is completely non-representative of the music on the CD. I am a stickler for the whole package of a CD, and this did not deliver.

2) The tracklisting - The album could have been made worlds better with a different arrangement of tracks. Love Shines is a much better lead-off song than the River, Get Ready should not be so close to the beginning of the album, and it really seems like they just shoved all the fast songs to the back of the CD. I realize that the band might not have had a lot of control over this as there was some confusion over the true tracklisting, but it certainly hampers the experience of listening to the album. There is no flow to it, and this leads to a lot of skipping around.

3) Night of Nights - Now before you hurl stones at me, hear me out. Night of Nights does not belong on this album at all, much like Like I Do on the last record. It stands as a reminder of a time when the band strived for honest, soulful lyrics (which they still do), and also aimed for musical innovation and skill. This one track makes the entire album before it, which is a good album in it's own right, seem very, very dull. I feel like they put all musical creativity into this track and in parts of All I Need. I really would like the album much more without this track, as it kicks much more ass than the rest of the record.

Those 3 criticisms are pretty large, but I really enjoy listening to the album. It is relaxing and fun in a way a Live album has never been, though V was close. Overrall I am not dissapointed in this release, as it is much better than BoP, but I would really like to see the Chads and Pat stretch their creative limits for the next record.

Overrall in the list of albums I would put it....

1. TDTH
2. TC
3. SS
4. V
5. MJ
6. SFBM
and a very large gap...
7. BoP

That doesn't make it look so good does it? But considering how much I love the 5 above it I guess it makes more sense. Well, that's all, thanks for reading.

Party on!

Actually didn't mind your post until I read that you put V ahead of MJ on your albums listing then I burst out laughing. How ANYBODY with an IQ over 60 could think that V is a better album is way beyond me.