It's only in your head you fell left out or looked down on...
Alright, I'm going to be busy later this afternoon, with going over to my folks' place in Plant City and so forth, but right now I'm relaxing and listening to music and reading. Of course, I feel the need to review such music as I listen to, which is to be expected I suppose.
Album Review: "Bleed American" - Jimmy Eat World
Bleed American - This is a peppy ironic song about patriotism with jaangly guitars and nearly incomprehensible lyrics.
A Praise Chorus - This is a self-affirmative song about owning one's life and not giving up on participation in society.
The Middle - The first pop single from this album, this is another song of affirmation for those who feel left out and looked down on others.
Your House - This is a song about a girl ripping the singer's heart right out. It's a pretty straightforward emo-ish sort of song, really.
Sweetness - The second pop single from this album, this is a really nice song about persistence in making life sweet. It's another one of those positive sort of songs that Jimmy Eat World seem to specialize in.
Hear You Me - This is a rather subdued and sad track about seeking to tell friends how much they mattered after it's too late to tell them ourselves. This is a really good song, though.
If You Don't, Don't - This is a song pleading for a girl to be honest about her feelings. It's a rather sensitive sort of mid-tempo rock song.
Get It Faster - This is a rather bitter song about cheating on a partner because she refuses to give physical affection. Ouch. Don't you think this will kill your nice guy rep, though?
Cautioners - This is a curiously titled and somewhat depressing song about cautioning someone to leave. It's a nice enough song, though rather puzzling.
The Authority Song - This is a rather curious song about seeking to avoid being obvious about courage, even the courage to bash a few DJ's for not playing music that people want to hear. Touche.
My Sundown - This is a subdued, almost atmospheric track about seeking to to prove one's worthiness to uncaring others.
Overall: As much as Jimmy Eat World abhors being called emo, emo is as emo sings. This album is a collection of songs about heartbreak, unpopularity, and self-affirmation in the face of difficulty. Of course, since Jimmy Eat World was emo before emo was cool, we can forgive them for their slight defensiveness in the matter. Still, this is a pretty good album in terms of my tastes, but probably seminal for those people who relish listening to such bands as Good Charlotte or Dashboard Confessional, who seem to have taken notes upon listening to this album. Imitation is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery.
Album Review: "Behind The Eyes" - Amy Grant
Nobody Home - This is a melancholy song about the fall of small towns and remembering a bygone age of Main Street USA, a nostalgic and somewhat bitter procress of reflecting on alienation from where we grew up. Amen and amen.
I Will Be Your Friend - The title fittingly describes this song, about loyal devotion to a friend even through the darkest and most trying of times. Such loyalty is rare, and admirable.
Like I Love You - The second single from this album, this is an excellent song that reflects on heartbreak and the fading away of love. Depending on who this song is written for, it is either an ironic look at a marriage that soon fell apart or an almost adulterous look at the marriage that took its place.
Takes A Little Time - The first single from this album, this is a song about the necessarily gradual way in which troubles between loved ones are solved, by a patient focus on the hard work necessary rather than mere talk.
Cry A River - This is a song about the sad and melancholy beginnings of the right love at the wrong time, and the frustrations that causes.
Turn This World Around - My favorite song from this album, this is a song of realistic appraisal of damaged lives and the defiant hope of recovery.
Curious Thing - This is an almost Cajun song about the curious and ironic nature of life (sudden wealth, unexpected responsibilities, and reversals from unpopularity to stardom), which fits well into my own feelings on the matter, as well as the general mood of the album as a whole.
Every Road - This is a melancholy and ultimately ironic light-jazz sort of song about how the value of the odd course of our lives in forcing us to make difficult choices, gives us opportunities to learn, and yet can lead us continually back to those we hold most dear.
Leave It All Behind - This song, a bit breezier than its content reveals, suggests a last-ditch effort to relax and resolve the problems of a relationship by taking a vacation to try to ease troubled minds.
Missing You - This is a sad folksy sort of song about missing a previous loved one, and reflects that stage after a relationship fails where one still wishes for a return to the way things were. For most people, this stage does not last terribly long. Others are less fortunate.
The Feeling I Had - This is another song that comments nostalgically on the fallen wreckage of Amy Grant's first marriage before finding the love of her second marriage.
Somewhere Down The Road - The album closes with the bittersweet hope that further along matters that cause pain and suffering would be eased, which ended up being the case. All in all, the album closes with a realistic appraisal of how life works.
Overall: This is by far my favorite Amy Grant album. Most of her albums suffer from a surfeit of sappy and blandly uplifting songs, but this album goes straight from the jugular with pointed and penetrating thoughts about the bittersweet nature of life, loyalty in times of trouble, and the feeling of something missing and lost in one's life. Amy Grant's usual cheery optimism is tempered by sadness and a grim and determined sense of realism. This is an album I can proudly consider among my favorites, even if the singer herself has considered this her suicidal period. Much depends on perspective, I gather.
Album Review: "Bleed American" - Jimmy Eat World
Bleed American - This is a peppy ironic song about patriotism with jaangly guitars and nearly incomprehensible lyrics.
A Praise Chorus - This is a self-affirmative song about owning one's life and not giving up on participation in society.
The Middle - The first pop single from this album, this is another song of affirmation for those who feel left out and looked down on others.
Your House - This is a song about a girl ripping the singer's heart right out. It's a pretty straightforward emo-ish sort of song, really.
Sweetness - The second pop single from this album, this is a really nice song about persistence in making life sweet. It's another one of those positive sort of songs that Jimmy Eat World seem to specialize in.
Hear You Me - This is a rather subdued and sad track about seeking to tell friends how much they mattered after it's too late to tell them ourselves. This is a really good song, though.
If You Don't, Don't - This is a song pleading for a girl to be honest about her feelings. It's a rather sensitive sort of mid-tempo rock song.
Get It Faster - This is a rather bitter song about cheating on a partner because she refuses to give physical affection. Ouch. Don't you think this will kill your nice guy rep, though?
Cautioners - This is a curiously titled and somewhat depressing song about cautioning someone to leave. It's a nice enough song, though rather puzzling.
The Authority Song - This is a rather curious song about seeking to avoid being obvious about courage, even the courage to bash a few DJ's for not playing music that people want to hear. Touche.
My Sundown - This is a subdued, almost atmospheric track about seeking to to prove one's worthiness to uncaring others.
Overall: As much as Jimmy Eat World abhors being called emo, emo is as emo sings. This album is a collection of songs about heartbreak, unpopularity, and self-affirmation in the face of difficulty. Of course, since Jimmy Eat World was emo before emo was cool, we can forgive them for their slight defensiveness in the matter. Still, this is a pretty good album in terms of my tastes, but probably seminal for those people who relish listening to such bands as Good Charlotte or Dashboard Confessional, who seem to have taken notes upon listening to this album. Imitation is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery.
Album Review: "Behind The Eyes" - Amy Grant
Nobody Home - This is a melancholy song about the fall of small towns and remembering a bygone age of Main Street USA, a nostalgic and somewhat bitter procress of reflecting on alienation from where we grew up. Amen and amen.
I Will Be Your Friend - The title fittingly describes this song, about loyal devotion to a friend even through the darkest and most trying of times. Such loyalty is rare, and admirable.
Like I Love You - The second single from this album, this is an excellent song that reflects on heartbreak and the fading away of love. Depending on who this song is written for, it is either an ironic look at a marriage that soon fell apart or an almost adulterous look at the marriage that took its place.
Takes A Little Time - The first single from this album, this is a song about the necessarily gradual way in which troubles between loved ones are solved, by a patient focus on the hard work necessary rather than mere talk.
Cry A River - This is a song about the sad and melancholy beginnings of the right love at the wrong time, and the frustrations that causes.
Turn This World Around - My favorite song from this album, this is a song of realistic appraisal of damaged lives and the defiant hope of recovery.
Curious Thing - This is an almost Cajun song about the curious and ironic nature of life (sudden wealth, unexpected responsibilities, and reversals from unpopularity to stardom), which fits well into my own feelings on the matter, as well as the general mood of the album as a whole.
Every Road - This is a melancholy and ultimately ironic light-jazz sort of song about how the value of the odd course of our lives in forcing us to make difficult choices, gives us opportunities to learn, and yet can lead us continually back to those we hold most dear.
Leave It All Behind - This song, a bit breezier than its content reveals, suggests a last-ditch effort to relax and resolve the problems of a relationship by taking a vacation to try to ease troubled minds.
Missing You - This is a sad folksy sort of song about missing a previous loved one, and reflects that stage after a relationship fails where one still wishes for a return to the way things were. For most people, this stage does not last terribly long. Others are less fortunate.
The Feeling I Had - This is another song that comments nostalgically on the fallen wreckage of Amy Grant's first marriage before finding the love of her second marriage.
Somewhere Down The Road - The album closes with the bittersweet hope that further along matters that cause pain and suffering would be eased, which ended up being the case. All in all, the album closes with a realistic appraisal of how life works.
Overall: This is by far my favorite Amy Grant album. Most of her albums suffer from a surfeit of sappy and blandly uplifting songs, but this album goes straight from the jugular with pointed and penetrating thoughts about the bittersweet nature of life, loyalty in times of trouble, and the feeling of something missing and lost in one's life. Amy Grant's usual cheery optimism is tempered by sadness and a grim and determined sense of realism. This is an album I can proudly consider among my favorites, even if the singer herself has considered this her suicidal period. Much depends on perspective, I gather.