Second-Guess the Critic: Round 5

[murlough23]

Time for Round 5 to commence. Here's what we have to contend with this week:

bdg: Kainos, Alive (Clips here)
bloop: Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible
Brenden: Derek Webb, I See Things Upside Down
Danny: Lifehouse, Lifehouse
Josh: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey
murlough: John Reuben, Professional Rapper
worldofcm: Ashley Cleveland, Men and Angels Say

Random side note: Danny's choice marks the first time two different critics have done the same album for this game.

[murlough23]

I'll weigh in early this time... at least for some of these...

bdg: 2 stars
bloop: 4 stars
Brenden: 3 stars
Danny: 2 stars
Josh: 5 stars
worldofcm: 4 stars

[Josh]

bdg: 2
bloop: 5
Brenden: 4
Danny: 3
murlough: 3
worldofcm: 4

[enemy anemone]

I'm going back to four stars from everyone.  

[danny316]

Not sure what happened to Danny, but if he wants to review something, I'll give him a grace period of 1 day to let me know.

I'm an idiot, I can't believe I forgot. Sorry about that, I'll do Lifehouse's new one.

Would worldcom be willing to pub something from his album? For some reason i've been having a hard time getting clips for it to load. Besides, i wanted to hear that one too.  

[Wildcatblue7]

actually, edit.  Give a 5 to worldofcm, a 5 for Josh, a 4 for bloop, a 3 for murlough and Brenden, and 2s for bdg and danny.  

[dgp11776]

bdg: Kainos, Alive
2 stars
bloop: Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible
5 stars
Brenden: Derek Webb, I See Things Upside Down
4 stars
Josh: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey
5 stars
murlough: John Reuben, Professional Rapper
4 stars
worldofcm: Ashley Cleveland, Men and Angels Say
5 stars
danny316: Lifehouse, Lifehouse
3 stars

[murlough23]

Would worldcom be willing to pub something from his album? For some reason i've been having a hard time getting clips for it to load. Besides, i wanted to hear that one too.

Allmusic crashed my browser several times while I was trying to listen to clips from that album, but with some persistence, I was able to get through. Maybe see if christianbook.com or musichristian.com has clips for it. I know it's been out for a few months.

[bdg13disciple]

Allmusic crashed my browser several times while I was trying to listen to clips from that album, but with some persistence, I was able to get through. Maybe see if christianbook.com or musichristian.com has clips for it. I know it's been out for a few months.

player for Men and Angels Sing


peace... love... bdg...

[eatahouse]

4 Stars to all, except 3 to murlough, 5 to worldofcm and 2 to danny.

[worldofcm]

bdg: Kainos, Alive (Clips here) - 2 stars
bloop: Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible - 4 stars
Brenden: Derek Webb, I See Things Upside Down - 5 stars
Danny: Lifehouse, Lifehouse - 3 stars
Josh: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey - 5 stars
murlough: John Reuben, Professional Rapper - 4 stars

[Brenden]

bdg: 3
bloop: 3
Danny: 2 stars
Josh: 5
worldofcm: 4
Murlough: 4

[beautifulmess]

bdg: 3 stars
bloop: 4 stars
Brenden: 4 stars
Danny: 2 stars
Josh: 5 stars
murlough: 3 stars
worldofcm: 5 stars

 

[cbluejays]

bdg - 2
bloop - 3
Brenden - 5
Danny - 3
Josh - 5
murlough - 3
worldofcm - 5

[bdg13disciple]

bloop: Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible - 4
Brenden: Derek Webb, I See Things Upside Down - 4
Danny: Lifehouse, Lifehouse - 4
Josh: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey - 4
murlough: John Reuben, Professional Rapper - 3
worldofcm: Ashley Cleveland, Men and Angels Say - 5

peace... love... bdg...
 

[bloop]

bdg: Kainos, Alive 3 stars
Brenden: Derek Webb, I See Things Upside Down 4 stars
Danny: Lifehouse, Lifehouse 3 stars
Josh: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey 4 stars
murlough: John Reuben, Professional Rapper 4 stars
worldofcm: Ashley Cleveland, Men and Angels Say 4 stars

[danny316]

Random side note: Danny's choice marks the first time two different critics have done the same album for this game.

Really? Hmm. I hadn't noticed. It'll be interesting to see if we agree or not.

Oddly enough, the more I think about this, the more people I think will rate their albums with 4 stars. I'll take what Schil's having, please, but with a side of fries.

4 stars for everything.

[murlough23]

I guess I might as well weigh in. Others, feel free to do so if you're still up, or as soon as you can in the morning otherwise.

I'm giving Professional Rapper 4 stars. It might be 4.5 rounded down; I'm undecided, so maybe I'll call it 4.25. Whatever. The point is that this guy has almost continuously entertained me for three albums straight. Hindsight was a bit of a slip, but he's back in fine form here with a nice array of sonic palettes and another great arsenal of rhymes. I know to some, Reuben sounds whack or too white-boy, or whatever, but you know what, I don't care. The fact is that he's good with his metaphors and he knows how to tie it together with a killer hook, and usually without making a song exist solely for the purpose of bumping to the beat - even the just-for-fun party songs have a little more to them than that. So yeah, great job. Possibly Reuben's best album so far (we'll see when The Boy Vs. the Cynic releases later this year).

[danny316]

I'm giving Professional Rapper 4 stars.

Yes! I had a feeling you'd like that one, what with the deeper songs, the songs that "rawk" a bit, and the variety in the songs compared to his previous stuff.

I had a really hard time deciding on Lifehouse. It's kind of funny, for years we've been saying that Lifehouse is more than just some dull alt-rock band, and that they do great softer songs and spiritual songs too - and now they try to do an album that's very soft and very spiritual (in the vaguest sense of the word) and it just lacks the punch that their other albums had, both lyrically and musically. It's not that the songs aren't diverse, or that they're bad or anything, but they just don't do anything exciting. It's hard to do this, but I'm going to have to go with just two stars on this one. Phooey, I expected more from them. I kept thinking maybe Murlough was wrong, and it just needed time to grow on me....but no, this really is just a two-star album.

I miss being a Lifehouse fanboy, it was fun while it lasted.  

[bloop]

The Holy Bible gets 5 stars.  Ecclesiastes would merit such a score in itself, even if the lyrics are a bit Poe-faced.  Check out the killer rhymes in Psalms.  David is my dawg.  Fantastic!

Oh, ok, yeah, I'm supposed to address the album.  It would round up to a 5 (A- seems apt).  The music is rather strong, but I'm not seeing all the fuss about how weird it was.  Maybe I'm not listening in 1994 and having trouble casting it in that context.  I think the lyrics are a minor slipup, with entirely too much "you Americans aren't lefty enough for us British", so I'd imagine that being a little distracting to a lot of people here, but I'm not one to put political differences between me and an artist.  It's a very strong record, likely truer to the spirit of punk music than anything else today aside from Fugazi and maybe the latest Green Day record, even if it isn't the genre classic it's often made out to be.

[Brenden]

I give ISTUD 4 stars. I was dissapointed in it, actually. Several times it seems like the song is just beyond Derek's range. T-Shirts and Nothing is Ever Enough are two notable instances. I have trouble listening to T-Shirts because on the chorus Derek's voice can be irritating. The music of the album is also harder for me to enjoy, as it tries my patience at times. But on a good note, Derek's lyrics are excellent, and songs like I Repent, Ballad in Plain Red, and I Want a Broken Heart are excellent songs.

[dgp11776]

I'm giving Professional Rapper 4 stars. It might be 4.5 rounded down; I'm undecided, so maybe I'll call it 4.25.

I really need to check this album out.  I've only heard good things about it, even from some of the hip-hop junkies.

[Josh]

Tender Prey is a classic Nick Cave album, full of classic Nick Cave moments. It, as much as any of his albums, is responsible for the whole Nick Cave persona that we've come to know and sometimes love over the years.

Unfortunately, not all the songs are classics; some are rather dull, and, by the end of the album, Nick Cave's morbid, gothic court jester persona becomes wearying. Still, "The Mercy Seat" is as powerful as anything he's ever done, and there are enough solid moments on the disc for me to give it a respectable 4 stars.

[bdg13disciple]

Kainos is annoying...

it's funny, when i first started to see the votes pouring in for a 2 i agreed...
then i put the CD back in and the first song, "Selfish Me" actually struck me as really cool...
and i thought, there's gonna be a lot of low scores on my rating this week...
but the rest of the CD is just lacking...
so, i landed on a 2-2.5 which equates to a 2 stars rating for this game...

i kept expecting them to sing "I'm Just a Girl"...


peace... love... bdg...  

[worldofcm]

Do you guys think I hand that many 5 stars?  Sheesh.  

Ashley Cleveland is just plain amazing, and so is Men & Angels Say.  Problem is, it's not totally fantastic.  "Come Ye Sinners" and "Surely Goodness and Mercy" kick off things right, but her rendition of "Nothing But the Blood" grates on my nerves - it's a little too rock 'n roll for that kind of song.  It's very stripped down and very nice, but some of these songs need a little more production.  I would fall at 4 1/2 but on the lower side.  4 stars for me.

[dgp11776]

Do you guys think I hand that many 5 stars?  Sheesh.  
 

It seemed like one you would give 5 to me.  I never can really figure you out.  You give 4th Avenue Jones an A+, and I gave it an A.  So I'm okay there.  But then, you give Out of Eden a B+, and I would probably list that in the mid C-range (yes, I have heard it - my wife has it thanks to Josh).  Finally, you give House of Heroes a C, and I gave that an A-.  

[murlough23]

Just to let everyone know, I'm home sick today, so while I have plenty of time to score this round and start the next one, I want to wait until I'm coherent enough to do it. I think all the critics' responses are in, so hang in there and I'll give you all your scores a little later on.

[dgp11776]

Just to let everyone know, I'm home sick today,

Say no more:





No, onto the scores, dangit!  Just kidding - hope you get better.

[murlough23]

^ Heh. Thanks, I guess.

OK, Round Six has commenced.

NP: "To the Workers of the Rockford Valley Region...", Sujfan Stevens