How was the run?
I saw Heather and Raven walking this morning, but I changed my direction so I didn't have to say hello. My heart rate was too uncontrollably high and my anxiety was piqued for no reason. My right foot hurt a little bit because I tied my shoe too tight.
However, I did notice a new house with a yellow door; the Zillow listing is very cute, they did a good job.
How was the album?
I don't even think this album was a real presence in my house when I was growing up, but somehow I still know the entire song structure of Higher, including when the guitar solo starts and when he switches to harmonies on "to a place where blind men see" in the last chorus. There was a strong cultural osmosis happening in the early 2000s; every radio station was playing the same stuff.
All in all, this is actually not as bad as I thought. It's a really smooth listen for a hard-rock album. I'm also impressed that they put their two singles at #8 and #9 on this album. I had to make it through more than half the album to hear a song I knew.
Also – and I can't quite put this into words – but I think the guitars sound too in tune. Too clean, no grit, not sleaze. Maybe that’s a symptom of the christian rock, but I feel like they could have had more staying power if they made these songs sexier.
With that said, I can’t give this a score over 4/10. My punk rock cred strictly prohibits it.
Anything interesting?
- There is the world’s most embarrassing hard-rock breakdown on Say I (somewhere around
3:00) that I think is supposed to come off as menacing, but maybe I don’t understand what “Say I” means. - There’s a version of With Arms Wide Open with a string arrangement that is kind of fun and was a nice way to cool down.
- Beautiful sounds remarkably similar to a System of a Down b-side, and it's mind-boggling to think that both bands existed at the same time.
- Listening to this makes me realize I gotta listen to a Pearl Jam record; I've never listened to them and I guess they sounded kinda similar.
- The christian themes are really preoccupied with getting into heaven, rather than living a good life. Seems like they were worried they wouldn’t get a ticket.
- This cover art is the best Windows XP could offer.