Catch Without Arms

[Lara]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

To be more clear, when I say gaps I mean things like production quality, lack of instrumentals, and "experimentation."

i guess i don't care as much about those then...besides production quality.

[Sittingsideways]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

i guess i don't care as much about those then...besides production quality.

To me, thats the dredg i know. Not poppy straightforward rock songs like Catch without Arms, Bug Eyes, and over half of that whole album.

The way i look at it, Dredg spoiled me with the greatest album of my life time in el cielo. Then they followed it up with CWOA and it was so freakin different that it was good for what it was. But totally in the shadows of El Cielo for me.

[Lara]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

maybe it's because i listened to CWA before El Cielo...And am much more attached to CWA.

[Sittingsideways]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

maybe it's because i listened to CWA before El Cielo...And am much more attached to CWA.

My Gf as well. She still prefers El Cielo, but she got into the band during catch without arms.

[dsv]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

"CWA" > "CWOA"

[Ars Sycro]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

CW/OA > CWA

[Sittingsideways]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

"CWA" > "CWOA"

You know whats funny, until after i wrote that a couple of times, I looked back at previous posts and i was like "why am i writing it that way?". Doesn't even make sense.

[Corroded Halo]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

I will say that Jamais Vu is maybe my favorite dredg song. Although, when I first heard the album version I was definitely disappointed.

And how could you not be? It pretty much got neutered in the studio, just like all the other songs from Coquette.

It's been six years, and I still feel nauseous when I compare the demos to the album versions of all those songs.

Jamais Vu was on track to be one of my top 3 favorite songs of all time, by any band, when I heard it live. As it stands on the album... it's merely "good."

To me, thats the dredg i know. Not poppy straightforward rock songs like Catch without Arms, Bug Eyes, and over half of that whole album.

The way i look at it, Dredg spoiled me with the greatest album of my life time in el cielo. Then they followed it up with CWOA and it was so freakin different that it was good for what it was. But totally in the shadows of El Cielo for me.

This is one thing that's always confused me; the idea that CWOA was somehow a 180° turn from EC. I maintain that the only reason people feel that way is because the production was so much more watered-down and lacking in subtlety/layers/care.

When I first heard songs like "Jamais Vu," "Planting Seeds," and even "Tanbark" a year before the album was released, nothing about them struck me as extremely deviant from the formula used on EC. A bit different? Sure. But nothing unexpected at all. I felt like they represented a smooth, natural, and exciting incremental progression from stuff like "It Only Took a Day" or "18 People." I think if those two songs had been recorded by Terry Date, they'd have fit just as well on CWOA as anything else, and vice-versa.

CWOA -> PPD seemed like a much bigger leap, stylistically, than EC -> CWOA. And obviously, I need not even mention the most recent leap.

[Frank Nit]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

I would say Gavin's vocals took a huge turn between El Cielo and Catch Without Arms.

[Corroded Halo]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

I would say Gavin's vocals took a huge turn between El Cielo and Catch Without Arms.

Very true. I've always attributed this mainly to Terry Date and the production, but maybe that's not fair.

[Sittingsideways]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

And how could you not be? It pretty much got neutered in the studio, just like all the other songs from Coquette.

It's been six years, and I still feel nauseous when I compare the demos to the album versions of all those songs.

Jamais Vu was on track to be one of my top 3 favorite songs of all time, by any band, when I heard it live. As it stands on the album... it's merely "good."


This is one thing that's always confused me; the idea that CWOA was somehow a 180° turn from EC. I maintain that the only reason people feel that way is because the production was so much more watered-down and lacking in subtlety/layers/care.

When I first heard songs like "Jamais Vu," "Planting Seeds," and even "Tanbark" a year before the album was released, nothing about them struck me as extremely deviant from the formula used on EC. A bit different? Sure. But nothing unexpected at all. I felt like they represented a smooth, natural, and exciting incremental progression from stuff like "It Only Took a Day" or "18 People." I think if those two songs had been recorded by Terry Date, they'd have fit just as well on CWOA as anything else, and vice-versa.

CWOA -> PPD seemed like a much bigger leap, stylistically, than EC -> CWOA. And obviously, I need not even mention the most recent leap.

Well now that you bring that up i retract my statement just a lil. Those songs you have mentioned are my favorites on the album... along with Hungover. But songs like Bug Eyes, Catch Without Arms (especially), Not that Simple, Sang Real, and Spitshine are all songs that i thought were complete 180's from el cielo. Honestly if all those songs come up on random on my ipod i'll skip them. Even the live versions of some of those on the fillmore disc i'll skip... especially Not that Simple. BLEH!

[Lara]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

i prefer Gavin's vocals on Catch...

[amitface]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

I feel like Gavin's vocals have gotten better with each release, excluding this one. They haven't gotten worse for this album, but I feel like the new songs don't showcase his talent the way Pariah did.

Best to worst:
El Cielo, CWA, Pariah, Chuckles, Leitmotif.

[Sittingsideways]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

I feel like Gavin's vocals have gotten better with each release, excluding this one. They haven't gotten worse for this album, but I feel like the new songs don't showcase his talent the way Pariah did.

Best to worst:
El Cielo, CWA, Pariah, Chuckles, Leitmotif.

I would say that his vocal talent has gotten lots better. But his lyrics have not. I actually prefer his lyrics in this one to CWA.

I would say overall vocal talent
1.El Cielo
2.Pariah
3.Chuckles
4.CWA
5.Leitmotif

[Corroded Halo]

Re: Album Discussion: Catch Without Arms

The vocals are probably what bother me most about the production on this record; so soulless and digitized-sounding. It seriously sounds like they were digitally edited to take out some of the soulful low-end, because his live voice didn't really change noticeably to me during this time period (and still sounds more like El Cielo even today, IMO).

Go back and listen to the verses on "Whoa Is Me"... those are the vocals that drew me to this band in the first place, and it was definitely hard for me to let that go.

I have to strain to imagine how anyone could prefer the CWOA vocals over El Cielo, but to each his own.

El Cielo > Leitmotif > CWOA > Pariah >> Chuckles
---

Well now that you bring that up i retract my statement just a lil. Those songs you have mentioned are my favorites on the album... along with Hungover. But songs like Bug Eyes, Catch Without Arms (especially), Not that Simple, Sang Real, and Spitshine are all songs that i thought were complete 180's from el cielo. Honestly if all those songs come up on random on my ipod i'll skip them. Even the live versions of some of those on the fillmore disc i'll skip... especially Not that Simple. BLEH!

Bug Eyes is one of the songs I feel got particularly assaulted once they hit the studio. It was right up there with Jamais Vu as one of the most anticipated live songs for me. The original version was substantially slower and more epic and desperate-sounding.... I especially remember the early live version's "I've wasted all this time..." giving me chills. The album version just sounds so nonchalant and mass-marketed, by comparison.

Sang Real and Zebraskin were admittedly huge departures from their previous work, but I liked the Coquette versions a lot. Understandable that others might not. Not That Simple is pretty much filler, but I like the melody enough that I don't share the hatred some have for it.