Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

Doubling down on the 3/5 again, but this one is a more sincere 3/5 since I do think this is a better song than the previous day's offering. Something about his packaging/delivery/whatever you want to call it just doesn't seem to work for me. Maybe if I was in *just* the right mood and it caught me *just* so or something I'd connect, but he's just not landing with me.

 

It's not an issue on my pressing - it's pretty solid sounding. My pressing of it was bought in the UK too (I think in Rough Trade in London a year or two after it came out). Yours might just be a duff/inconsistent pressing from GZ in Czech. (I could say "search the forum for issues with GZ" - but eh, don't go down that rabbit hole). I'm not going to comment on their quality, but my experience is that most of my records from that plant require a good clean before they sound good to me.

 

I like The Way It Was Before loads more than yesterday's song. The musical arrangement is really nice, the changes really add something special to the rhythm that ties the whole thing together. It reminds be a bit of ca 1967 Donovan or something from early 1970s Top 40, but remade for the 2010s.

Once again, the time for this sort of think in my life is far in the rearview mirror, but I can't deny that it's very good. Neil did a great job producing this, I also like it the more I listen to it.

3.9/8

 

The Way it Was Before: Yes, better than yesterday’s. This one has the sweet Neil-esque hook that I recognize. Probably won’t seek it out tho. 2.5/5

 

"The Way It was before" is a better song than yesterday's but I just can't get past the cheesy keyboards and the poor double-tracked vocal (which seems to be genuinely double-tracked, Beatles-style, rather than artificially created). I don't see myself ver returning to this song.


2.5/5


apologies for any typos. It's three months since my fall, and I'nm still unable to see what I'm typing here. Apologies as well for not liking everyone's posts. I do have the computer read all of them to me, and I do genuinely appreciate all of them, even those that reach different conclusions from mine. It's just too hard and time-consuming to proceed post by post and to try to find the like button for each post.

 

There is no need to ever apologize for not “liking” posts!

I’m so sorry to hear that your vision has still not recovered.

 

@jcr64 no need to apologize! I'm also sorry to read that your vision hasn't recovered. I do hope that you are adapting as best you can. I know a little about this because my husband quite suddenly lost most of the vision in his left eye during the pandemic. No known root cause in his case. He's adapting but it's been tough (since most of his work is on a computer - it now takes much longer). So sending lots of sympathy but more importantly best wishes and a healthy dose of hope!

 

@jcr64 , please allow me to join in on the chorus of "no need to apologize", we're just glad to have you back on the thread sharing your opinions!

It takes a true Finnatic to battle through what you're going through in order to discuss with us on a regular basis again.

Take good care of yourself and get better!!

- Steve

 

This one's more "Harper" than yesterday's, that's for sure. That mixed with a bit of Mylo-Xyloto era Coldplay. It's a pretty good track, I'd say. Maybe lacks a middle 8 or something to change up the repetition, which kind of wears on me by the (abrupt) end. Still, it's a pretty nice, beachy, carefree sounding track.

Also, take care @jcr64. Hope you get better as soon as possible.

3.4/5

 

Our votes for "The Way It Was Before":

1-0
2-0
3-6
4-4
5-0
Average: 3.29

 

To me The Way It Was Before feels like a verse that is in desperate need of a tempo changing chorus.

It meanders along amiably enough, but never excites.

2.5/5.

 

Today's song is "Shallow Breathing", written by Neil Finn and Jesse Sheehan; produced by Neil Finn. Performed by Jesse Sheehan.

 

A psychedelic interlude, which is kind of unexpected.

I like this kind of nonsense.
3/5

 

Shallow Breathing

Well that’s 1:28 of my life I’ll never get back.

This track is unlistenable noise to me.

1/5

 

This sounds a bit like an updated, electronic excerpt of something that could've been taken from Talk Talk's album Laughing Stock. The difference, though, is that album has artistic vision; this kind of feels like excess noodling in the studio at the end of the day for fun. It's not dreadful, but I agree with @brownie61 in that it's kind of just nonsensical noise.

This also kind of reminds me a bit of Elroy's interlude "Frogs" on his 2019 album (also 1:28 in length, interestingly), but that interlude is really good. It's what all interludes should sound like for the most part. We'll obviously get to that at a later date...

2/5

 

"Shallow Breathing" is a brief interlude with a rather nightmare-ish feel to it. The sombre organ sounds ominous alongside the trumpet which sounds as if someone is practising some new scale while also trying to play along with the real notes. This is not much of a song but it works very well at setting the atmosphere for the closing song (which is excellent but I guess we'll discuss that one tomorrow).
2,8/5

 

This does sound a lot like Neil was just having a fiddle in the studio for half an hour, but I find it fairly likeable in spite of that.

I wouldn't listen to an entire album like this, but it works as a short interlude.

3/5.

 

Shallow Breathing

Perhaps I need to listen to this more to really 'get it'. But, I've listened to it twice and haven't. It's good to be experimental, but sometimes experiments don't work. I feel this is one of those cases. It's interesting, but I don't find it enjoyable. Perhaps listening to the whole album would put it in context, but I don't feel like putting more work into it.

2.5/5

 

Certainly no need to apologize! Glad to have you back at the forum. Your posts are always very interesting to read. Take care!

 

Ditto from me.

 

I’m in total agreement with you - except I love the choir!

And, like you, I can never listen to this song just once. It has to be at least 3 times in each sitting. That part after the bridge, where the main riff is vamped on until the song’s end - I could listen to that forever…

 

Shallow Breathing - Hmm, maybe I need context for this as @StefanWq suggests. I'm all for musical interludes - I like them a lot on albums as little connectors - but this one really does sound a little like how a concert band sounds when tuning...

I can't rate it without context.

 

Shallow Breathing: whaa? I do enjoy an occasional trumpet solo but in an actual song.

 

I've listened to the three JS songs posted so far. I won't be listening to them again. Not my idea of fun, but each to their own

 

"Nonsensical noise" is about right (h/t @drewrclv9). I can't help comparing it to another horn-based interlude, "Disney's a Snow Cone," on Michael Penn's March. That one is also a mood-setter more than anything else, but it's structured; it's clearly going somewhere (even if it's far from compelling), where this one just seems aimless.

1/5