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| From | Miles Goosens <outdoorminer@mindspring.com> |
| Subject | Re: Scott Miller (was RE: Superdrag coda coda, 2003 Top 20 |
| Date | Mon, 29 Dec 2003 15:32:24 -0600 |
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At 03:07 PM 12/29/2003 -0600, Michael Bennett wrote:
>Miles --
>
>When did this come out? I wasn't aware they had a new album out. How do
>you like it compared to the last one?
It's been out since June. Anyway, as you can see by its placement on my 2003 list (#12) versus where I had its predecessor in 2001 (#1), it's not as good as THUS ALWAYS TO TYRANTS but far from a disappointment. And I don't mean to damn it with faint praise -- songs like "The Way," "I've Got a Plan," "Ciderville Saturday Night" (*finally* on a CD!), and the revised full-band "Amtrak Crescent" are tremendous, and even a second-tier song like "Raised By the Graves," despite revisiting familiar themes (tradition, parents, taking on adult responsibilities) in a somewhat slighter way than before, manages to say something new musically by harnessing the lyrics to an incredibly catchy organ-'n'-guitar riff. And having seen Scott live many times during the stretch between the 1st and 2nd album, I'm really impressed by how he overcame the "oh shit, now I gotta come up with a *second* whole album by myself!" problem and delivered some very good stuff to put with the great stuff.
Sure, UPSIDE/DOWNSIDE would have been stronger if he'd saved the best ARE YOU WITH ME?-only material for this album, but hey, it's only the difference between four stars and five. If you liked the V-Roys and the first SM&tC album, there's no reason not to own this one too.
later,
Miles
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