My dad was diagnosed with MM about 10 years or so ago. Back then the prognosis was that about 1/3 of the people with it go pretty quick, 1/3 struggle for a bit before it takes them, and 1/3 do OK for a handful of years, but eventually.... As it turns out, he ended up being put on a drug that had him in remission for quite a while, and even though he passed away a few years ago, it wasn't really the myeloma that was the cause of his death (didn't help, but he had some other ailments that did more damage). Point is, in the short time between his diagnosis and death, they made big strides, and it sounds like they're pretty optimistic with Charles, which a great silver lining to otherwise terrible news.
They put on one of the three greatest shows I've ever seen at Schuba's in Chicago in 2009. Only time I've seen a legit, real encore. As in, the house lights came on, the music came up, and people wouldn't leave, so they came on stage and played a few more songs. Hope Charles gets back out there and does it again soon.
Looking forward to this album. Their earlier stuff has seemed kind of hit and miss to me, but all of the songs I've heard from this one seem pretty good.
God damn I hope SFA are playing an aftershow in addition to the festival set. It's been like six or seven years since they've been here. Cannot way to see them again. Broken Social Scene will be pretty sweet as well.
Everyone's going to agree for the most part on Blueberry Boat, but I'm surprised that I'm Going Away is so low. That's probably my next favorite album. For a FF album, I find it very accessible and stands up to repeated listens. Charmaine Champagne is probably in my top five FF songs. Though I suppose some people gravitate towards FF precisely because most of their albums are not easy listens.
I like, not love, Widow City, but the the Duplexes-Automatic-Guru triumvirate is as good as the Fiery Furnaces get, in my opinion. I saw them about five or six years ago when their show consisted of a solid hour of music, with absolutely no breaks. Essentially an hour long medley of about 20-25 different songs, with perfectly executed time and key signature changes. It was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen. The encore was Duplexes-Automatic-Guru, and was simply awesome. After the show, Eleanor was at the merch table within about a minute or two of the last note, and the couple times I've spoken with her she's always been really cool and down to earth.
I thought Brendan Canning's album was great as well. Honestly, if this list included those, People Under the Stairs would be on top for me. Kevin Drew sings half the lyrics on that song, so I'm not really sure what the difference is.
The Blue Root is really underrated. They rarely played it, and I hardly ever hear someone mention it when talking about the Walkmen. Emma Get Me a Lemon is in that category as well.
The correct answer is "I Lost You". But I'm with you, the Rat is pretty tough to beat, especially if you've seen them do it live.
Oh, and Spoon's best is Black Like Me.
They shared a lot of members. Matt played a bit with Fools Gold, but where Foreign Born were basically Matt Popieluch, Lewis Pesacov and others, Fool's Gold are (were?) Luke Top, Lewis Pesacov and others. Sal Placencia is in both bands, etc. There's a lot of cross over.
I loved Foreign Born. When Pitchfork did their "best albums since Pitchfork started" thing, both of theirs were in my top 20. Totally underrated. I was hoping they were just taking some time working on other things, but I talked to Matt Popieluch at a show that Big Search (his recent band) played and he said they were basically done, which was a huge bummer. I think Lewis Pesacov started producing (Happy Hollows), and between that and Fool's Gold, just no time.
The first half of On the Wing Now and really all of Person to Person are really great. I'll never get tired of those albums. That said, I really like Fool's Gold as well.
After going 10 straight years I was considering skipping this year, especially since I'm getting married a few weeks later. Looks like I'm back in. Easily their best lineup since 2010.
Hey, that's right about where I was standing. Calling it a medley is a little generous. It sounded like they just kind of played each song to the point where it didn't know how it went anymore, almost liked they worked them up before the encore. That might sound like a criticism, but it's not. It came off like a really cool off the cuff tribute, and everyone loved it.
Only band I've ever seen give a legitimate encore. As in, they played the planned encore(s), they left the stage, the lights came on, about a 1/3 of the crowd left, and they only came back to play songs because the 2/3 that remained were aching for it. Really nice guys too from the times I've met them. Can't wait for this album.
Back of the envelope....
9. Dark Days/Light Years
8. Mwng
7. Love Kraft (though it has arguably my favorite SFA song).
6. Hey Venus!
5. Fuzzy Logic
4. Radiator
3. Phantom Power
2. Rings Around the World
1. Guerrilla
Not a bad list. Blue and Slide Away are probably my favorite Verve songs. I probably would have found a place on this list for So It Goes as well. Really love the guitar part about half way through that song.
Saw the Longpigs open for Echo and the Bunnymen in San Diego around 1997, and they were pretty good. Really like that first album.
Echobelly has been a long time favorite of mine. I always loved Sonya's vocal style, and I actually think People Are Expensive may have been their best album. Bums me out that I never got a chance to see them live.
Seven? I count nine. Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Guerrilla, Mwng, Rings, Phantom Power, Love Kraft, Hey Venus!, and Dark Days/Light Years. Unless you don't consider Mwng a real album and didn't care for the last one, which is defensible.
Are they really Brit-Pop? I kind of figured they were of a different era. Though I'd disagree that none of their albums are perfect. I think Rings Around the World is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Guerrilla is phenomenal as well, and they did some really great stuff when they started working with Sean O'Hagan (Frequency has probably my favorite string section ever). Really awesome live band as well.
They're in a completely different class than any of the bands on this list (except maybe Supergrass).
I wonder what the reactions are from people who go to see them at big arenas expecting to hear songs like this and the last album when they bust out Do The Rump or something like that. It doesn't even sound like the same band. I mean, every band evolves, but this is a pretty stark contrast.
I'll miss you guys. Thanks for the memories.
Also, that's pretty cool that KCC would do a video especially for us. Good on you, KCC. I'm particularly thrilled that she referred to all of us as "Videogum Writers" when all this time I had only thought of myself as a mere occasional commenter.
Sometimes someting sucks so much that you can't really do anything except acknowledge that it sucks. Like, you can't even determine the degree to which it sucks because there's not really a degree that could convey the suckitude. This is one such something. :(
Yowza. I'm going snowshoeing next weekend for the first time in my life and I hope my experience is not the same as yours. We will definitely be taking naps afterward.
We had a border collie that used to do this. Once when my parent were at dinner and I was shooting hoops in the backyard, she pushed the chair out from under the table so that she could jump up on to the table and eat a cheesecake.
Another time, when we left on vacation, we get trashcans with locking lids and put bricks on top so the dogs wouldn't get into the trash. The dogs dug a hole under the trash cans so that they would tip over, thereby knocking off the bricks, at which point they somehow got the lids off and got into the trash. Though in that case, I'm pretty sure the cockapoo was the brains and the border collie was just the muscle.
Ice balls. A small bit of water freezes, and the waves add layer upon layer of ice until they get big and eventually get pushed to the shore, so I've read.
I don't think we get them on our side. I've read about these being over up near Traverse City (I'm there a lot to play golf in the summer). The video says Glen Arbor, so it looks like it's in that part of Michigan.
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