ah i gotcha, ill keep an open mind ;)

will jam tomorrow

Album Rating: 4.5

Ha, I'd like to think that out of all the twenty or so Eitzel affiliated releases there'd be something you'd enjoy - just get the feeling this probably wouldn't be it. Hopefully you enjoy at least something here.

Jamming this with a hungover, "Nothing and Everything" is a blessing.

Album Rating: 3.0

"It's kind of hard to explain/justify but I think that deep down the problem for me is that Eitzel doesn't really sound natural in these settings. So while I appreciate a lot of what's going on both musically and in the songwriting I feel like on a lot of tracks there's a sort of disconnect. This could be because as you said Eitzel initially planned for these songs to be mostly stripped back and that ultimately that is just the natural setting for them.



I have nothing against big production/the "full band" sound combined with a singer/songwriter sensibility in general but to my ears it just didn't all come together convincingly in this case."



Kind of agree. Has some nice moments tho.

Album Rating: 4.5

Dewinged that's the perfect time to spin some Eitzel, esp the debut '60 Watt Silver Lining'



Ed I'm intrigued trying to think if some of the users who've rated this a 3 would dig another of his solo albums more, considering there's so many of them:



- Songs of Love Live: early all acoustic live performance, Eitzel singing through tears on some songs as was pretty typical of him back then.

- 60 Watt Silver Lining: light jazz/lounge music feel, real barfly vibe

- West: Peter Buck on guitar, glossy acoustic rock that yup, sounds like R.E.M

- Caught in a Trap: don't know it, meant to be dark

- Invisible Man: successful integration of electronic influence, really varied

- Music for Courage: covers album, all about the voice, pretty good

- Ugly American: AMC covers released with a Greek backing band, really weird

- Candy Ass: odd mix of acoustic and vocal free laptop ambient, kinda poor imo

- Klamath: consistent tone, laptop acoustic rock, bit of a comeback

- Don't Be a Stranger: almost a typical Eitzel release if there's such a thing, solid

- Ferryman: his best produced and most consistent album, with guitar solos and all that

Album Rating: 4.5

Certainly anyone saying 'I don't think this is stripped down enough' should be aware all his previous albums are pretty much varying degrees of stripped down compared to this. Songs of Love obviously the most (some of its live spoken word, can't get more stripped down than that!)



Candy Ass and Klamath sound like they cost a hundred dollars to record

Caught in a trap sounds like my cup of tea. Anyway I really enjoyed Eitzel the singer songwriter, the stripped down songs were blissful and they will keep me coming back to this. The rest needs some more digestion but pretty good first impression.

Album Rating: 3.0

Doof among those West sounds most appealing to me but then again I know that's one of your lowest rated Eitzel albums :-/

How do you rate Eitzel solo compared to AMC at this point Doof?

Album Rating: 4.5

I guess in the review I was saying that they should really be seen as closer together in quality than they are - and I guess I hold them about even now this has been released.



Top 10 albums would be:

1. California (AMC) [4.8/5]

2. Ferryman (Eitzel) [4.8/5]

3. United Kingdom (AMC) [4.7/5]

4. Songs of Love (Eitzel...sort of, mostly AMC songs) [4.6/5]

5. 60 Watt Silver (Eitzel) [4/5]

6. Golden Age (AMC) [3.9/5]

7. Invisible Man (Eitzel) [3.8/5]

8. Everclear (AMC) [3.6/5]

9. Mercury (AMC) [3.5/5]

10. Don't Be a Stranger (Eitzel) [3.4/5]



I guess the AMC stuff just about edges out the solo stuff. I listen to the solo stuff more - maybe because it's more varied? I also have an Eitzel playlist that mixes all his stuff and honestly a lot of the time the difference isn't all that noticeable (I mean this album and latter day AMC like 'The Golden Age' is pretty close in style at times).

Album Rating: 4.5

Boney - 'West' is strange, it's technically ok but for some reason also totally underwhelming. There are three or four great songs on there...overall it sounds a lot like an REM album between 'Monster' and 'Up', a middle hitter at best

Album Rating: 3.0

Hmmm I may try Songs of Love or The Golden Age then since United Kingdom is pretty hard to find I understand?

Is Songs of Love original songs or is it and idealized tracklist culled from his previous albums?

Album Rating: 4.5

'United Kingdom' is an 'individual song search' on youtube job. All the songs are on there though.



'Songs of Love' is the one for you next as that's just Eitzel and a guitar being his miserable socially awkward self on stage.



'Golden Age' is a tiny bit similar to this so I'm not sure, similarly glossy production...'Everclear' is the biggest selling one so that seems an obvious pick, it won Eitzel 'Rolling Stone's song writer of the year in 1991.



If you want a more stripped down version of this then there's this album's predecessor 'Don't Be a Stranger' which I reviewed here. Mark had just had a heart attack and a song like 'We All Have to Find Our Own Way Out' is devastating. 'The Bill is Due' sounds like Nick Drake. If you don't think the treatment of the songs works here the song quality is near identical on there it's just stripped back with unfussy minimal production. The production on this elevates the experience from a 3.5 to a 5 for me so maybe it'll work in reverse for you and the low key nature of that one will lift your rating from a 3 to a 4.5?



It's tough, huge discography. If you want the most political one check 'Love Songs for Patriots'...I could continue lol

Album Rating: 3.0

Sounds like Songs of Love it is.

I may try to locate the United Kingdom stuff too to see if it shares some of the California magic.

Album Rating: 4.5

United Kingdom is half an album that's better than 'California' but really it's a promotional mini album and it can't quite reach the same stature as 'California' due to that



Part of me really wishes 'Let it Go' was a cover of that accursed Frozen song given the full Eitzel treatment

Album Rating: 4.5

When you look at me...I look awaaaaaAAAAAAAY



Greatest chorus of all time



5

Album Rating: 4.5

'So many carpenters carving little boxes in the fading glory USA...why are the righteous so eager for war?....God's a good way to get stupid, it really brings out the blood...the soundtrack to everything I see is played by those hacks from the Titanic'



Yo, America's sinking, good night, good night, last one awake switch out the light.



5

America's sinking indeed and with it the whole world doof

Album Rating: 4.5

Quite possibly

Dont worry man. We will always have Sput.

Album Rating: 4.5

I wish the end of Mr. Humphries wasn't cut off.