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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 5, 2021 14:53:52 GMT -5
Maybe this is old news to you guys, but I hadn't seen a peach version of the vinyl before today. Just ordered it from Rough Trade. Is there any final confirmation on the nubmer of versions/different colors? www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-hold-steady/open-door-policyDoes anyone know the catalog number of the blue version? From what I can tell from Rough Trade, the peach one has an "IND" suffix. The black on is straight up. And on norwegian sites, I find a version with "X" as suffix. I guess that's the blue one? Just went through a handful of US sites that are selling the vinyl. The only place I can find the blue one is the THS website (and that might only be selling in the US). All I can see on Rough Trade is the peach vinyl, the black vinyl, and the CD. This is the first time I've seen the peach version too and it's not even on the THS site, as far as I can tell. I think the blue might just be available there, yeah. Even with different catalog numbers, a guy I know here in Norway have confirmed that the 54885LPX version also is the peach one. So for collectors, it might be wise to get the blue one straight from the band. The two others versions will probably be pretty widely available.
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bigontheinside
Midnight Hauler
If you don't know the words, don't sing along
Posts: 1,478
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Post by bigontheinside on Jan 6, 2021 9:03:28 GMT -5
anyone else daydreaming about how we'll have a whole new THS album in 1 month and 2 weeks and it kinda maybe feels like it's gonna be the best one since SP aaaah yuuup. keep hoping for another single. though part of me, especially after having half of Thrashing in advance, wants as much of it as possible to be new on release day. Yeah, since I've heard a few of the songs live I just want the album now. But if a new song drops, I won't be able to hold back
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Post by doctoracula on Jan 6, 2021 10:07:00 GMT -5
anyone else daydreaming about how we'll have a whole new THS album in 1 month and 2 weeks and it kinda maybe feels like it's gonna be the best one since SP aaaah yuuup. keep hoping for another single. though part of me, especially after having half of Thrashing in advance, wants as much of it as possible to be new on release day. I’m in the same boat. I haven’t even listened to the single. I want it all to be a surprise when I get the record
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Post by doctoracula on Jan 6, 2021 10:07:59 GMT -5
I ended up ordering the peach from Rough Trade. It’s way cheaper than the blue from the band and sometimes it comes down to $$$ over collectibility for me.
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Post by tableinthecorner on Jan 8, 2021 0:15:00 GMT -5
1) I just went back and transcribed Heavy Covenant (see below); the line below is a bit distorted and it's possible I got it wrong, but in the same vein as "She makes it really clear that she's a way different person than the person that I knew in the past" there's It seems like everybody is a couple different people in this one life [Heavy Covenant] After listening to the recorded version a couple times I'm pretty sure that line is, "It seems a single body is a couple different people in this one life." I actually like that a lot more; I think it fits the Here Goes narrative better.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 8, 2021 3:56:16 GMT -5
With Heavy Covenant out, I think I'm starting to get a grasp of how this album will sound. We got Family Farm, who sounds like Hold Steady v.2.0 rocking out, at Brooklyn Bowl we got Spices, who felt like a pretty drony and big slow burner. And now we get the midtempo version, and it just sounds so damn sweet, warm and fleshed out. Lots of interesting musical twist who is worked together seamlessly. It sounds slick, but breathy, stacked but organic. It could be the band, but to me it seems like Josh Kaufman is working wonders with this stuff.
It's just a sense of this material being very well balanced and thought through, musically. Heavy Convenant isn't a BIG song to me, but it has this extremely nice quality of just SOUNDING so damn good. Should work perfect near the end of the album.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 8, 2021 4:06:52 GMT -5
Sleeper city on the power play In the garden with a day to spare And if you know the perfect words to say You can get it almost anywhere This is a a pretty obvious nod to Star 18, right? "Once you get good, you can get it wherever you are". And I bet "sleeper city" is connected to "sloppy city" as well. Oh, and "power play" vs "upper deck". I'm not fully sure about the connotations for these terms, but I know power play from hockey. And I guess "upper deck" can be worked into a sport world too, if not only through Upper Deck, the producer of hockey trading cards. It also seems to mirror the entire sport theme from Barely Breathing, Curves And Nerves, I Hope... and Our Whole Lives.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 8, 2021 7:07:26 GMT -5
Wow, it really sounds good!! Can't wait for this album. After listening to the recorded version a couple times I'm pretty sure that line is, "It seems a single body is a couple different people in this one life." I actually like that a lot more; I think it fits the Here Goes narrative better. Yep. A few lines changed a bit, and this might have been one of them, but the meaning is if anything more definitively along those lines. One I could hear better in the studio version that I quite liked was Seeing stories in the scorch marks hearing bass lines in the buzzing of the lights The only one I still couldn't hear clearly was this, if anyone else can pick it out: In the taxi to the airport I was hoping for a [] around town Staring at the skyline, right back at my phone to find a friend Sleeper city on the power play In the garden with a day to spare And if you know the perfect words to say You can get it almost anywhere This is a a pretty obvious nod to Star 18, right? "Once you get good, you can get it wherever you are". And I bet "sleeper city" is connected to "sloppy city" as well. Oh, and "power play" vs "upper deck". I'm not fully sure about the connotations for these terms, but I know power play from hockey. And I guess "upper deck" can be worked into a sport world too, if not only through Upper Deck, the producer of hockey trading cards. It also seems to mirror the entire sport theme from Barely Breathing, Curves And Nerves, I Hope... and Our Whole Lives. Good ear! I don't know what it means either; there's a lot to think about here, and the way it's written (what is "it"?) is super elusive. But you're right, these three blocks are all obviously related: Once you get good you can get it wherever you are. Sloppy city in the upper deck [Star18] Sleeper city on the power play In the garden with a day to spare And if you know the perfect words to say You can get it almost anywhere [HCovenant] Sleeper city on the under play You can get it almost anywhere If you know the perfect words to say [HCovenant] I don't even know if "sleeper city" and "under play" have a standalone meaning --- they don't mean anything to me offhand. But there are a bunch of symmetries built in here: Sloppy city in the upper deck Sleeper city on the under play Not just upper/under, but "she only takes the pick-me- uppers/to counteract all the put-me-to- sleepers" [SM]. No idea what else to do with it now. But you hit on something good here.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 8, 2021 7:21:24 GMT -5
I don't get that "under play/"underplay" either. The latter is a real word, as in to play something down, but doesn't make any real sense in the line as whole. I tried to check wheter if it's a established term for the opposite of power play - as in the team playing with a player less. In norwegian we would use the simple term "undertall", but I don't think "under play" can be used in the same sense.
If we run with the hockey theme, the "garden" in "In the garden with a day to spare" could be "The Garden" with capital G, as in Madison Square Garden. I don't know if it's a very likely reading, but they certainly do play hockey there.
There's not a lot of other sports metaphors in this song, but hockey arenas at least have a scoreboard you can point up towards. And talking about songs with the mention of score/scoreboard, a little coincidence occured to me. The crowd in Curves & Nerves is described going "wild", which is the name of the NHL team from St. Paul. They were established in 1997, played their first NHL match in 2000, and was the first NHL team from Minnesota since Minnesota North Stars moved to... Dallas. It doesn't really change anything, but it's possible to add another layer to that North Dallas Foursome.
Besides, there's of course plenty of potential ways to connect "ice hockey" to "ice". And "power play" to being outnubmered.
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Post by tableinthecorner on Jan 8, 2021 9:05:57 GMT -5
If we run with the hockey theme, the "garden" in "In the garden with a day to spare" could be "The Garden" with capital G, as in Madison Square Garden. I don't know if it's a very likely reading, but they certainly do play hockey there. I really like the hockey interpretation. It allows for a lot of depth. When I first heard "in the garden with a day to spare" I thought of "In the gardens all the trees were strung with speakers" from The Last Time That She Talked to Me. I can't think of any other Hold Steady lyrics that mention a garden off the top of my head, so I'd like to think they're related somehow. Of course there's also the Biblical interpretation of The Garden of Eden, which can never be counted out when it comes to Craig's writing. It might be worth noting that an extremely surface-level search of St. Catherine's Hospital (of Family Farm) yielded me with three results: one in Chicago, one in Garden City, Kansas, and a St. Catherine's West Rehabilitation Hospital in Hialeah Gardens, Florida. However, there's a St. Catherine University in St. Paul as well, and it's fairly likely that Craig was referencing St. Catherine of Siena rather than a specific hospital. Plus, a lot of these lines make me think of the THS California saga. The fact that two St. Catherine hospitals can be connected to places with "garden" in the name, though, is an interesting coincidence, in my opinion.
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Post by tableinthecorner on Jan 8, 2021 9:50:27 GMT -5
The only one I still couldn't hear clearly was this, if anyone else can pick it out: In the taxi to the airport I was hoping for a [] around town Staring at the skyline, right back at my phone to find a friend I'm not totally sure what the missing word is, but I'm fairly confident that the last word is "ten" rather than "town." The way I've been hearing it is "I was hoping for Tucson around ten." That makes sense to me, but I'm not sold on Tucson- the emphasis on the first syllable throws me off.
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Post by mja271 on Jan 8, 2021 10:46:56 GMT -5
Really liking Heavy Covenant. I feel like this album is going to be great.
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Post by skepticatfirst on Jan 8, 2021 11:38:19 GMT -5
I'm not totally sure what the missing word is, but I'm fairly confident that the last word is "ten" rather than "town." The way I've been hearing it is "I was hoping for Tucson around ten." That makes sense to me, but I'm not sold on Tucson- the emphasis on the first syllable throws me off. You're right about 'ten,' thanks! Could it be In a taxi to the airport I was hopin for [] startin around ten ? I can't catch that first syllable either.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 8, 2021 16:59:23 GMT -5
I'm not totally sure what the missing word is, but I'm fairly confident that the last word is "ten" rather than "town." The way I've been hearing it is "I was hoping for Tucson around ten." That makes sense to me, but I'm not sold on Tucson- the emphasis on the first syllable throws me off. You're right about 'ten,' thanks! Could it be In a taxi to the airport I was hopin for [] startin around ten ? I can't catch that first syllable either. The closest I get is "too stoned around ten", but it doesn't really make any sense. Or some verb before "...on around ten". But hearing the live version from Brooklyn Bowl, I tend to agree with "Tuscon". It sort of make sense too. He's in the taxi to the airport, thinking about when he will be back home (who easily could be Tuscon), then he's staring at the skyline and pick up the phone "to fiend a friend". Third edit: This page has a full lyric up, and they have "Tuscon" - www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/holdsteady/heavycovenant.html
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2021 20:56:43 GMT -5
The album cover looks like it’s from a dolewave album, with the BWS (Beer Wine & Spirits, an Australian booze store chain)
(Dolewave - lo-fi Australian jangle pop about Australia and poverty. Think Courtney Barnett )
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Post by kayfaberaven on Jan 15, 2021 11:37:02 GMT -5
With Family Farm and Heavy Covenant, it's clear that this album is going to be awesome. Indeed, listening to these songs, along with the songs from TTTP, it seems to me that it's now impossible for THS to record a song that is at least "pretty good", and it's difficult for them to record a song that isn't at least "really good". On stage, Craig likes to say that this 6 piece version of THS is the best version ever. Couple that with the liberal use of The Horn Steady and, now, the production by Josh Kaufman, and everything is just so...near to perfection at every turn. There are parts of these new songs where it seems like they're right up to the edge of being too much (in addition to the standard-issue vocals and rhythm section, the guitar parts slither around one another, there seems to be multiple layers of keys at times, the horns, backing vocals...), but they never cross the line. I cannot wait to hear the whole album from front to back.
I also had a few thoughts about Craig's lyrics these days. It seems that he's understandably not interested in directly revisiting the Holly/Charlemagne story, but I think he's very aware of the world in which THS songs occur (as compared to, say, his solo work). He also seems to be more than willing to throw in a few Easter eggs for listeners looking for them, like the religious stuff, "hornet" and "lamp post" on Family Farm or "frontage road" or "It seems a single body is a couple different people in this one life" or "forty bucks" in Heavy Covenant.
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john k
Midnight Hauler
Posts: 2,035
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Post by john k on Jan 16, 2021 12:32:52 GMT -5
8/10 in the latest Uncut
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 18, 2021 7:54:15 GMT -5
These two new songs are sooo damn good. They sound so inspired, so well produced and well balanced, and have this energy who is hard to describe in words. I was a big fan of Thrashing Through The Passion as well, but in hindsight they were a bit either/or: Well written, but a little lack of energy in the performance, or powerful musically, but a little mediocre melodically. This is not a dig at those songs, really. It felt like a genuine comeback, and also a step in another and more mature direction. But it's easy to believe what the band have been saying about Open Door Policy: That it's intended as an album-album, a full and coherent work of art. The subtle details in Heavy Covenant fits perfect with the steady groove, and Craig sounds intense and present. And Family Farm has that perfect mix of joy and glitter and confetti, and the very bittersweet understream.
Again, hats of to Josh Kaufman for creating this quite slick, but spacious, detailed and clean sound. But also to the band, who musically seems like they're still improving. I think they have grown as a live outfit, just over the past two or three years. At first it felt machine like (in a very good way, but also with a little bit of the raucous and rawness from the 00s gone), but now they've kept adding new parts and twists, beautiful interplay between Tad and Steve, Steve and Franz, and it's more exciting than ever. Now, this sounds like it's been translated to the studio as well. I like Denver Haircut or You Did Good Kid, but they sound a little one-dimensional compared with Heavy Covenant.
Can't wait to hear the rest of the album now.
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 26, 2021 9:21:41 GMT -5
I'm hearing Spices will be released this Friday. Stay tuned!
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Post by tableinthecorner on Jan 26, 2021 10:01:56 GMT -5
I'm hearing Spices will be released this Friday. Stay tuned! Probably my favorite of the ODP songs they played at Massive Nights. Can't wait!
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Post by spacefuzz on Jan 27, 2021 4:09:42 GMT -5
I'm hearing Spices will be released this Friday. Stay tuned! Probably my favorite of the ODP songs they played at Massive Nights. Can't wait! Awesome! The new songs/sound of the album really is something. No wonder with TK raiding the EQD shelf.
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john k
Midnight Hauler
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Post by john k on Jan 29, 2021 2:08:29 GMT -5
I'm hearing Spices will be released this Friday. Stay tuned! Really like this. Best of the new tunes
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Post by muzzleofbees on Jan 29, 2021 3:27:10 GMT -5
I'm a slightly bit underwhelmed by this. Live it had this really heavy groove, it felt like Hold Steady trying to emulate Queens Of The Stone Age. I think some of the intensity is lost in the studio version. But it sounds really good, I just miss a change of pace or some heaviness, when they're allready walking down that road. A very good album track, but a little surprised it's released as a "single".
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charlie
Sniffling Indie Kid
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Post by charlie on Jan 29, 2021 7:56:15 GMT -5
It was my favorite of the new tunes from Massive Nights, but I think I like the studio version of Family Farm more. The weird, bendy guitars were more prominent live -- as they tend to be, I guess.
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bigontheinside
Midnight Hauler
If you don't know the words, don't sing along
Posts: 1,478
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Post by bigontheinside on Jan 29, 2021 8:40:25 GMT -5
It lives up to the live version for me! I love how it doesn't really sound like anything the band has done before on a purely musical front. No fancy production tricks, it's the band doing what they do best, but in a slightly new direction. It would be expected for a band to rely on old tricks at this point in their career, so it's cool to see them trying new things and still knocking it out of the park. My hype for ODP grows ever more powerful with each passing day
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