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JumpingKentFlash
It's good, but too long
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Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
I like the fact that he put all the cards on the table, in this day and age it is so easy to make playlists of your favorite cuts and program out the tunes you don't like that he's bound to make more people happy with 15 tracks. Unless you are listening to this exclusively on vinyl, it's a non issue really. If Keith liked the tunes well enough to include them, that's good enough for me.
Want a ten song CEH record? You can make one in about 2 minutes.
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JumpingKentFlash
It's good, but too long
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JumpingKentFlash
Took my review off Facebook and put it here.
A lot of people (In truth around 6 or 7) has been asking me what I think of Crosseyed Heart. So here's my review:
I've had the album for a few weeks. It was sent to me by a good friend, who I'm not sure wants his name out here. It was secretly recorded at the listening party that was held some time ago. Now that I've heard it on Spotify I can sum up my thoughts about it.
Well, where to start? I like it a lot. Let that be known to begin with. That said, I think that there's a few that could be left off. It's a long one. Way too long in fact. It suffers from the same problems as SW, VL, B2B to an extent, and ABB, and it ultimately subtracts from the overall experience. 15 tracks is too much. It's almost a double album. I don't know why this is a problem for this album, and the aforementioned Stones albums, but it just is. The Stones did Steel Wheels in 1989, and didn't do another records for 5 years. Between Bridges To Babylon and A Bigger Bang it was 8 years. If they do another one next year, like Keith has been touting, it's been 11 years since the last one (In the case of Crosseyed Heart it's 23 years since Main Offender). I don't know why they, and Keith with this album, feel the need to fill it out so much. It may be because the CD medium holds more space than an LP, or it might be because they take too long between each new studio release, which then makes them want to give the fans more bang for their buck. I don't know the reason, but to make near double albums all the time is a mistake. It simply doesn't hold up.
Crosseyed Heart has a lot of good tracks. Love Overdue is great. So is Heartstopper and Crosseyed Heart (The track). I could've told you this before it was released, but Keith is at his best when he goes outside his own bubble. It's a good album, but it should have been cut down to 10 or 11 tracks. One thing Keith, and The Stones for that matter, have forgotten is that quality is more important than quality. Make 20 tracks. Pick the 10 best ones and let them wrestle each other for a while. Then you'll find the best order. Get a street artist to do your cover and you have an album.
I like the album. I like it. It's good, but too long.
That's about the length of the album and that's my main gripe. The actual playing on the album is very good. Ok, maybe it can be a bit too much to hear Steve Jordan do his loose rock drumming for this long, but he holds up well. Keith is very sharp and focused in THAT very Keefy way, which is always a pleasure to hear. The lyrics is a bit more up and down. There's some stunning ones and some by-the-numbers ones. Overall on the good side.
This album is on the good side too, but I expected it to be more or less what it turned out to be (Call me old fashioned, but I need a few more surprises).
It's probably still too early to say, but it's not as good as Talk Is Cheap, but better than Main Offender.
All that said, he doesn't owe anything to anybody and he can do whatever he damn well pleases. I just wish that..... You know..... He could have made it shorter.
Sincerely
A big fan of Keef.
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open-gQuote
JumpingKentFlash
It's good, but too long
I wouldn`t mind if it was 24h long.
your review ...from facebuck though, yeah that's kinda long.
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Turner68Quote
JumpingKentFlash
Took my review off Facebook and put it here.
A lot of people (In truth around 6 or 7) has been asking me what I think of Crosseyed Heart. So here's my review:
I've had the album for a few weeks. It was sent to me by a good friend, who I'm not sure wants his name out here. It was secretly recorded at the listening party that was held some time ago. Now that I've heard it on Spotify I can sum up my thoughts about it.
Well, where to start? I like it a lot. Let that be known to begin with. That said, I think that there's a few that could be left off. It's a long one. Way too long in fact. It suffers from the same problems as SW, VL, B2B to an extent, and ABB, and it ultimately subtracts from the overall experience. 15 tracks is too much. It's almost a double album. I don't know why this is a problem for this album, and the aforementioned Stones albums, but it just is. The Stones did Steel Wheels in 1989, and didn't do another records for 5 years. Between Bridges To Babylon and A Bigger Bang it was 8 years. If they do another one next year, like Keith has been touting, it's been 11 years since the last one (In the case of Crosseyed Heart it's 23 years since Main Offender). I don't know why they, and Keith with this album, feel the need to fill it out so much. It may be because the CD medium holds more space than an LP, or it might be because they take too long between each new studio release, which then makes them want to give the fans more bang for their buck. I don't know the reason, but to make near double albums all the time is a mistake. It simply doesn't hold up.
Crosseyed Heart has a lot of good tracks. Love Overdue is great. So is Heartstopper and Crosseyed Heart (The track). I could've told you this before it was released, but Keith is at his best when he goes outside his own bubble. It's a good album, but it should have been cut down to 10 or 11 tracks. One thing Keith, and The Stones for that matter, have forgotten is that quality is more important than quality. Make 20 tracks. Pick the 10 best ones and let them wrestle each other for a while. Then you'll find the best order. Get a street artist to do your cover and you have an album.
I like the album. I like it. It's good, but too long.
That's about the length of the album and that's my main gripe. The actual playing on the album is very good. Ok, maybe it can be a bit too much to hear Steve Jordan do his loose rock drumming for this long, but he holds up well. Keith is very sharp and focused in THAT very Keefy way, which is always a pleasure to hear. The lyrics is a bit more up and down. There's some stunning ones and some by-the-numbers ones. Overall on the good side.
This album is on the good side too, but I expected it to be more or less what it turned out to be (Call me old fashioned, but I need a few more surprises).
It's probably still too early to say, but it's not as good as Talk Is Cheap, but better than Main Offender.
All that said, he doesn't owe anything to anybody and he can do whatever he damn well pleases. I just wish that..... You know..... He could have made it shorter.
Sincerely
A big fan of Keef.
is there a shorter version of this review?
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Hound Dog
TDive25,
I agree completely! Vinyl just changes the listening experience. I recently got Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon on vinyl and the same thing! Awesome album, I wouldn't change a thing, I didn't want it to end when listening to it the first few spins.
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Turner68Quote
Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
I like the fact that he put all the cards on the table, in this day and age it is so easy to make playlists of your favorite cuts and program out the tunes you don't like that he's bound to make more people happy with 15 tracks. Unless you are listening to this exclusively on vinyl, it's a non issue really. If Keith liked the tunes well enough to include them, that's good enough for me.
Want a ten song CEH record? You can make one in about 2 minutes.
I agree. It used to be you were limited in the number of tracks you could fit on a slab of vinyl. These days, why not include the other 2-3 tracks you'd finished up?
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72hotrocks
THe lyrics throughout this record are pretty bad. Such tired 'moon,June,spoon' rhymes and 'She's so (good,bad,nice,nasty take your pick).
Most of the songs feel like sketches and ideas,not fully constructed songs.
Why oh why is there 6 minutes of Goodnight Irene??
Lover's Plea is embarrassingly bad,I had to force myself not to turn it of.Just a crap song.
This record took 20 years to make?Wow,you would think there would be some good songs on it.
This is the work of a man with nothing to prove and nothing left to say and no one to tell him,'maybe we should work on that a little."
Well made and competent and not overly 'Bad',just not really that good.
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toomuchforme
Keith met Lee Perry ?
a video of the recording would be great.
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Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
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alimenteQuote
Turner68Quote
Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
I like the fact that he put all the cards on the table, in this day and age it is so easy to make playlists of your favorite cuts and program out the tunes you don't like that he's bound to make more people happy with 15 tracks. Unless you are listening to this exclusively on vinyl, it's a non issue really. If Keith liked the tunes well enough to include them, that's good enough for me.
Want a ten song CEH record? You can make one in about 2 minutes.
I agree. It used to be you were limited in the number of tracks you could fit on a slab of vinyl. These days, why not include the other 2-3 tracks you'd finished up?
Because it can "damage" the first (and possibly lasting) impression of an album in case you have too many similar sounding and/or weaker songs on it which is usually the case with albums above the 40 minute-limit from the good 'ole vinyl days. You risk that even the better tracks get buried or "lost" in a seemingly endless stream of music. Double albums that don't overstay their welcome are pretty rare - Exile, Blonde On Blonde, London Calling, Physical Graffitti spring to mind...
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RossQuote
72hotrocks
THe lyrics throughout this record are pretty bad. Such tired 'moon,June,spoon' rhymes and 'She's so (good,bad,nice,nasty take your pick).
Most of the songs feel like sketches and ideas,not fully constructed songs.
Why oh why is there 6 minutes of Goodnight Irene??
Lover's Plea is embarrassingly bad,I had to force myself not to turn it of.Just a crap song.
This record took 20 years to make?Wow,you would think there would be some good songs on it.
This is the work of a man with nothing to prove and nothing left to say and no one to tell him,'maybe we should work on that a little."
Well made and competent and not overly 'Bad',just not really that good.
And now we all have your (minority) opinion.
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alimenteQuote
Turner68Quote
Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
I like the fact that he put all the cards on the table, in this day and age it is so easy to make playlists of your favorite cuts and program out the tunes you don't like that he's bound to make more people happy with 15 tracks. Unless you are listening to this exclusively on vinyl, it's a non issue really. If Keith liked the tunes well enough to include them, that's good enough for me.
Want a ten song CEH record? You can make one in about 2 minutes.
I agree. It used to be you were limited in the number of tracks you could fit on a slab of vinyl. These days, why not include the other 2-3 tracks you'd finished up?
Because it can "damage" the first (and possibly lasting) impression of an album in case you have too many similar sounding and/or weaker songs on it which is usually the case with albums above the 40 minute-limit from the good 'ole vinyl days. You risk that even the better tracks get buried or "lost" in a seemingly endless stream of music. Double albums that don't overstay their welcome are pretty rare - Exile, Blonde On Blonde, London Calling, Physical Graffitti spring to mind...
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NaturalustQuote
alimenteQuote
Turner68Quote
Naturalust
I understand the too long sentiments but....considering this is probably the last record we'll ever get from Keith, I'm OK that he put a goodly number of songs on it. It's pretty clear that some of the ones some people don't like are favorites for other people.
I like the fact that he put all the cards on the table, in this day and age it is so easy to make playlists of your favorite cuts and program out the tunes you don't like that he's bound to make more people happy with 15 tracks. Unless you are listening to this exclusively on vinyl, it's a non issue really. If Keith liked the tunes well enough to include them, that's good enough for me.
Want a ten song CEH record? You can make one in about 2 minutes.
I agree. It used to be you were limited in the number of tracks you could fit on a slab of vinyl. These days, why not include the other 2-3 tracks you'd finished up?
Because it can "damage" the first (and possibly lasting) impression of an album in case you have too many similar sounding and/or weaker songs on it which is usually the case with albums above the 40 minute-limit from the good 'ole vinyl days. You risk that even the better tracks get buried or "lost" in a seemingly endless stream of music. Double albums that don't overstay their welcome are pretty rare - Exile, Blonde On Blonde, London Calling, Physical Graffitti spring to mind...
Hmm. That's a good point I never really thought about it in those terms. First impressions are indeed important, I certainly understand what you are saying. But...I'd never let a weak song (or three) get in the way of a truly great one. The cream is always going to rise to the top, especially since everyone is always searching for a single tune that really moves them, one that you can play repeatedly and it continues to hit hard every time.
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JumpingKentFlash
The time it took you to press the quote button, then writing that sentence, then post it..... You'd have been at least 1/3 through it. Just read it if it has any interest.
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72hotrocks
THe lyrics throughout this record are pretty bad. Such tired 'moon,June,spoon' rhymes and 'She's so (good,bad,nice,nasty take your pick).
Most of the songs feel like sketches and ideas,not fully constructed songs.
Why oh why is there 6 minutes of Goodnight Irene??
Lover's Plea is embarrassingly bad,I had to force myself not to turn it of.Just a crap song.
This record took 20 years to make?Wow,you would think there would be some good songs on it.
This is the work of a man with nothing to prove and nothing left to say and no one to tell him,'maybe we should work on that a little."
Well made and competent and not overly 'Bad',just not really that good.