Anberlin - Cities

[murlough23]

I decided that this album needs its own thread because several of us have listened to it and I've heard scattered impressions, but not really any overall opinions of how much people like the album as a whole.

Here's my review, which I finished writing tonight after procrastinating for like half a month.

http://www.epinions.com/content_333891538564

I'd like to read your thoughts now.

[Brenden]

I actually thought Godspeed was a clear standout when I listened to the album. Since hearing the song for the first time (back in December) I can't stop listening to it.

I really liked how it serves as an answer to Billy Joel's Only The Good Die Young, which is all about convincing a girl to abandon her morals and have sex with him because "the good die young". The other song I can think of that talks about the good dying young is more, "it seems the good die young", because of good people who died young.

[murlough23]

I actually thought Godspeed was a clear standout when I listened to the album. Since hearing the song for the first time (back in December) I can't stop listening to it.

It's a good song and it's becoming one of my favorites. I can't say anything bad about it. But I still don't like it as much as favorites from past albums.

Given time, more of these songs may grow on me to the point where they start overtaking old favorites. It just hasn't happened yet.

[ewok20t3]

I absolutely love this album. I think it's by far their best album yet. The lyrics are better. The melody is better. The musicianship is better. It's a lock to be one of my favorite albums of 2007.

[ajyouthguy]

i've only listened to this about a time and a half or so through, but i'm wondering why i've never really given them much of a listen before.

[murlough23]

I absolutely love this album. I think it's by far their best album yet. The lyrics are better. The melody is better. The musicianship is better. It's a lock to be one of my favorite albums of 2007.

Thus far, despite my hesitance to give it the full five stars, it's my favorite album of 2007. Something else will probably come along and beat it, but I hear so few "A" albums in a year that "B+" albums like this one tend to hang on to a slot in my Top 10.

And it could slide up to "A-" status. We'll see.

NP: "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song", The Flaming Lips

[ewok20t3]

Sorry to bring up this dusty old topic, but I just wanted to talk about what this album means to me after 4 years since it's release.

When this album first came out I was blown away. I loved literally everything about it. The production was great. The melodies were addicting. "Inevitable" and "(*fin)" were chill-fests for me. The uptempo tacks were solid and catchy. It seemed to be able to go hand-in-hand with many of the things I was thinking about at that time.

Fast forward four years later. I think it sounds over-produced. I find that I don't even give a thought to the uptempo songs when they come on. The melodies are so familiar to me that they don't seem catchy anymore. I usually skip "Inevitable", "(*fin)", and "The Unwinding Cable Care" in hopes that when I do decide to listen to them that they'll still sound beautiful to me.

I'm not sure if I wore this album out or what, but hopefully I'll get to the point where I can truly enjoy this album again. Has anyone else had a change of opinion on this album at all?

[bloop]

I probably haven't listened to it in years, and it hasn't make the post-crisis iPod yet. I'm not sure that constitutes a change of opinion on it, though. Too many classics taking up all of my time!

Even though it sounds like you just OD'ed on this album, we could probably have an entire thread on "albums we were wrong about".  

[ewok20t3]

Even though it sounds like you just OD'ed on this album

You're probably right. This is the first album I can remember ever having this much of a change of heart towards, but it probably is one of the 5 or 10 albums I've listened to the most.

[murlough23]

I still love it and think it's Anberlin's best work. But beyond the lifecycle of when an album is "new" to me, I don't tend to listen to it a ton, so that keeps the "classics" fresh in my mind.

[bloop]

I don't know that it stands up well next to classic albums - the durability, songwriting and/or ambition in which those albums excel are a cut above - but it's still an enjoyable slab of pop/rock energy and heartfelt balladry, and I can't really fault it much.

[ewok20t3]

I still love it and think it's Anberlin's best work.

I still think that, too. I consider it one of my favorite albums ever.

Over the last five or six years the albums that I've listened to the most are probably The Everglow (Mae), Waking Giants (Life In Your Way), The Things We've Grown To Love (All The Day Holiday), and Cities. Cities is the only one that I have these kinds feelings towards.

I've been purposely avoiding listening to it much for a year or so. I'll continue with that and hopefully down the road I'll fall in love with it again.

[murlough23]

I don't know that it stands up well next to classic albums - the durability, songwriting and/or ambition in which those albums excel are a cut above - but it's still an enjoyable slab of pop/rock energy and heartfelt balladry, and I can't really fault it much.

You do realize I put quotes around that word for a reason. I simply mean something that's been around long enough for it to still be considered a favorite of mine even though it's "old". 2007 isn't very old, objectively speaking, but given the rate at which I consume music and how forgettable and disposable some of it can seem a few years later, I've found that 3-4 years is a reasonable test of time.

[bloop]

I don't always know what people mean when they call something a classic, let alone a "classic".

[murlough23]

I don't always know what people mean when they call something a classic, let alone a "classic".

Probably best not to assume it's the same thing you would mean, I guess.

[bloop]

I think a lot of people just use it to mean "personal favorite", with or without the quotes, and that's not really the way I think of it.

[murlough23]

I think a lot of people just use it to mean "personal favorite", with or without the quotes, and that's not really the way I think of it.

That was more or less how I was using it. The quotes were a failed attempt on my part to head off a bunny-trail discussion about the exact thing you replied about.

[bloop]

Well, regardless, it hasn't changed. It's still a good album.

[murlough23]

Well, regardless, it hasn't changed. It's still a good album.

I'm glad we agree; I just wish we could have avoided the nitpicking over word usage.