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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

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keithsman
Yes it's a strong ballad, i love the honesty of the lyrics, bitter sweet bordering on unhealthy obsession, we've all been there at some point in a relationship and Keith has blown me away with this track,
Just A Gift is also a stand out track for me, a song of longing and what might have been or could be.
Crosseyed Heart just gets better each time i go back to it , the mark of a great album. It disappointed some because it's not what they expected from Keith, so now they go back to it and hear that it's actually better than what they expected.
Please one more solo album from Keith, CH was too good to leave it at that, Keith still has all his creative abilities within him.

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

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Hairball
Wonder if there's a chance for a 5th anniversary box set release of Crosseyd Heart w/demos, bonus tracks, extended versions, etc. etc. etc.
I recall jokingly hoping for this not longer after the official standard release back in 2015, but with no new Stones album in sight, now I'm about to start begging and pleading for it.
Keith's solo version of One More Shot might be a nice place to start, and would be perfect for Record Store Day.

So if you're reading this Keith - PLEASE HELP US THROUGH THE DROUGHT OF NO NEW MATERIAL!!!!

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Swayed1967

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

I desperately wanted to like CH but it really sounds like a spent old man rearranging old riffs/melodies. Like with Suspicious – it’s not bad, it starts to draw me in - even though Keith can hardly sing anymore (if you can even call that singing – more like a guy on a respirator straining to make himself heard) – but then there’s a refrain that sounds exactly like ‘This Place Is Empty’ – exactly – and I wanna puke.

Illusion is the gem IMO but only because Norah breaks her back on it.

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matxil

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Swayed1967

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

I desperately wanted to like CH but it really sounds like a spent old man rearranging old riffs/melodies. Like with Suspicious – it’s not bad, it starts to draw me in - even though Keith can hardly sing anymore (if you can even call that singing – more like a guy on a respirator straining to make himself heard) – but then there’s a refrain that sounds exactly like ‘This Place Is Empty’ – exactly – and I wanna puke.

Illusion is the gem IMO but only because Norah breaks her back on it.

Ironically enough, I don't think your description is that far off, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing (although I do think that he actually sings better than in the 80s and 90s and I don't really see the connection with This Place is Empty either (a song I don't like at all)).

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Bliss
I thought Keith's voice was beautiful on Suspicious - strong, tender...even sexy.

And the lyrics just knocked me out - reflecting love but also extreme anger, addiction to pain.

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matxil

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Swayed1967

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

I desperately wanted to like CH but it really sounds like a spent old man rearranging old riffs/melodies. Like with Suspicious – it’s not bad, it starts to draw me in - even though Keith can hardly sing anymore (if you can even call that singing – more like a guy on a respirator straining to make himself heard) – but then there’s a refrain that sounds exactly like ‘This Place Is Empty’ – exactly – and I wanna puke.

Illusion is the gem IMO but only because Norah breaks her back on it.

Ironically enough, I don't think your description is that far off, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing (although I do think that he actually sings better than in the 80s and 90s and I don't really see the connection with This Place is Empty either (a song I don't like at all)).
He's no longer the guy who wrote to-the-point rockers like Satisfaction, JJF or Tumbling Dice. What he does more is creating loose, seemingly ad-libbed, atmosphere, based on licks, spaces, and an interchange of his own singing and some backing vocals. It's more jazzy than pop, more impressionist than getting straight to the point. Rolling Stones - as opposed to the Beatles - never really had a lot of sing-along popsongs, but Keith goes even farther away from that. You cannot really sing Suspicious or Illusion, while doing the dishes or waiting for the bus. But you can just sit back and enjoy the mosaic. If you want songs, listen to the Big Four (or Six). If you want something else, CH is a good album (apart from Blues In the Morning, which breaks the spell for me), with Suspicious and Illusion as the highlights.
But I am rambling..., sorry.

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Swayed1967

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Bliss
I thought Keith's voice was beautiful on Suspicious - strong, tender...even sexy.

And the lyrics just knocked me out - reflecting love but also extreme anger, addiction to pain.

Same themes already explored and more powerfully expressed in 'All About You' when Keith could still sing and before he started recycling his own songs. (Seriously, parts of the melody line in Suspicious are note for note taken from TPIE. I can't believe that isn't obvious to most people.)

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Swayed1967

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matxil

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Swayed1967

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

I desperately wanted to like CH but it really sounds like a spent old man rearranging old riffs/melodies. Like with Suspicious – it’s not bad, it starts to draw me in - even though Keith can hardly sing anymore (if you can even call that singing – more like a guy on a respirator straining to make himself heard) – but then there’s a refrain that sounds exactly like ‘This Place Is Empty’ – exactly – and I wanna puke.

Illusion is the gem IMO but only because Norah breaks her back on it.

Ironically enough, I don't think your description is that far off, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing (although I do think that he actually sings better than in the 80s and 90s and I don't really see the connection with This Place is Empty either (a song I don't like at all)).

You don’t, huh? Well I browsed the old 2015 CH thread to see if anybody did see a connection between those songs and more than a few people did, including, um, a poster by the name of matxil.

I agree with everything else you said about mosaics and atmoshpere though...personally it doesn't appeal to me that much. Every second song he's written for the past 25 years has been 'Thief in the Night' Part XX.

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matxil

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Swayed1967

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matxil

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Swayed1967

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matxil
"Suspicious" and "Illusion" are the absolute highlights of the album.

I desperately wanted to like CH but it really sounds like a spent old man rearranging old riffs/melodies. Like with Suspicious – it’s not bad, it starts to draw me in - even though Keith can hardly sing anymore (if you can even call that singing – more like a guy on a respirator straining to make himself heard) – but then there’s a refrain that sounds exactly like ‘This Place Is Empty’ – exactly – and I wanna puke.

Illusion is the gem IMO but only because Norah breaks her back on it.

Ironically enough, I don't think your description is that far off, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing (although I do think that he actually sings better than in the 80s and 90s and I don't really see the connection with This Place is Empty either (a song I don't like at all)).

You don’t, huh? Well I browsed the old 2015 CH thread to see if anybody did see a connection between those songs and more than a few people did, including, um, a poster by the name of matxil.

I agree with everything else you said about mosaics and atmoshpere though...personally it doesn't appeal to me that much. Every second song he's written for the past 25 years has been 'Thief in the Night' Part XX.

Ah, okay , in that case, I stand slightly corrected
I am not going to look it up, but I believe you on your word (although I really don't remember it). I thought This Place is Empty is awful when I heard it, but I haven't listened to it since it came out (nor to anything else of that terrible album) so maybe there is a connection but I forgot. And I certainly am not going to listen to TPIE now, because I really don't feel like it.
I still think that Suspicious is great though.

I also think Soul Survivor is great and Must Be Hell terrible, so for that matter similarity between songs does not mean I'd feel the same way about them.

Still, thanks for pointing out my gaffe. One tends to say things sometimes too fast without thinking it through.

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Swayed1967

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Bliss
I thought Keith's voice was beautiful on Suspicious - strong, tender...even sexy.

And the lyrics just knocked me out - reflecting love but also extreme anger, addiction to pain.

Same themes already explored and more powerfully expressed in 'All About You' when Keith could still sing and before he started recycling his own songs. (Seriously, parts of the melody line in Suspicious are note for note taken from TPIE. I can't believe that isn't obvious to most people.)

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DandelionPowderman

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Swayed1967

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Bliss
I thought Keith's voice was beautiful on Suspicious - strong, tender...even sexy.

And the lyrics just knocked me out - reflecting love but also extreme anger, addiction to pain.

Same themes already explored and more powerfully expressed in 'All About You' when Keith could still sing and before he started recycling his own songs. (Seriously, parts of the melody line in Suspicious are note for note taken from TPIE. I can't believe that isn't obvious to most people.)

I can't hear that at all.

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DandelionPowderman
Their function might be somewhat similar, but the notes are, well, different? Unless I compare the wrong parts here?