lajakesdad wrote:A friend gave me Separation Sunday when it came out and I instantly loved it.
I wrote a good friend on a bad day and told him I'd gone from Life's Rich Pageant to Exile on Main Street and I still needed help and what could he recommend. He said either Separation Sunday or Decoration Day. I had already heard Decoration Day but didn't have a copy of my own, so I took my lunch hour off to buy a copy of Separation Sunday. By the time I got back to the office, I'd heard maybe the first four songs and for the next few weeks that was my default listening.
lajakesdad wrote:I then listened to other albums and it all seemed the same to me. A one trick pony.
I wouldn't say all the same, but I'd say more the same than not, and this is a band on which that will not wear well. Lyrically, so many of the themes stay the same. I like that they're self-consciously literary but again, how will that wear over time? On the other hand, I could say the same bad stuff about Jethro Tull in the seventies, but I'd sure pay good money for another album that sounded like Benefit or Stand Up or Aqualung.
The one big difference on the new tour, which I saw here in Little Rock just after DBT in Memphis, was the lack of Franz Nicolay, the keyboard player, and I think that's going to hurt them, too. Their catalog is full of songs which highlight his playing. I enjoyed the show, but it wasn't as good as the times I've seen them with Nicolay. It's hard but great to play full-out rock with keyboards and get the right sound, on disc or on stage. That's something THS had and now doesn't.
Does this sound like a fan? Well, I am. I'll almost certainly go see them whenever they're in town. I'm a lot less likely to make travel plans just to see them play.