TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Just now grabbing it... will get back to you.

If their previous work is anything to go by, this should be an album of the year contender.

its possible, I dont know.

Nevermind.

I like it alot. I was a fan of their first album. The last one, not-so-much (I know I'm in the minority there). This one hits me where it counts. I dig.

I'm with you on this.

I feel like this album they kinda got back to their roots a bit, this album has more of an "OK Calculator" feel or "Young Liars" which are my 2 fav things they have put out. so i'm really happy with this album.

Yeah, by first album I meant Young Liars. I forgot about OK Calculator.

Only half way through, but I'm loving it. Return to Cookie Mountain grew on me, but it definitely wasn't as good as their earlier stuff imo. Reminds me a lot of Prince for some reason.

Let me preface this by stating, I'm a huge TVOTR fan. Loved Young Liars and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, and really loved Return to Cookie Mountain for it's earth shattering tracks (I Was a Lover in particular blew my ear drums apart). This album...not so much.

Here's the deal with TVOTR...in the past, the loser tracks have just been inaccessible. But they were always interesting failures, ones that they often worked into winners on their tours. But here, there are probably 3-4 tracks that go beyond that into irritating. Family Tree sounds like Coldplay imitating Brian Eno. Golden Age is just plain shit to me. Shout Me Out starts out promising before devolving into a horribly derivative techno beat Oakenfold will have a field day with and a guitar solo that is just plain godawful. In fact, the guitar work all over the album just feels underwhelming to me, like they're in desperate need of hiring someone with serious chops (something Bowie and Reed figured out fast).

Lastly, there's not one single track that absolutely pulls me in, no single on an album that doesn't really flow very well. Now I'll reserve total judgment on that front until I listen to real deal, but so far, I'm fairly underwhelmed. It's an interesting listen, great production as usual, interesting lyrics and top notch vocals. But it's just weak imo. The dark edge they had before is gone, and it's like the spirit of Peter Gabriel's taken over pussifying them a bit, something I did not at all expect after the obvious influence NIN had in their live shows last tour.

I don't mean to sound harsh. I like the album. It's just I hold these guys to a higher standard, and this one just doesn't cut it for me. I think it will gain them a broader audience, but I don't think it's as good as their previous releases (not including OK Calculator).

This is great stuff.
The girl who I'm going with to Voodoo has been talking about skipping out on Firday to see a show here in town, but after listening to this I don't know about that...hopefully she'll want to go see them that day.
Gonna have to let her listen and hopefully her opinion will change.

Saw them when they toured for Cookie Mountain, and it was a pretty great show other than Wolf Like Me.

I guess I am also in the minority saying that I like Cookie Mountain better. I need to give this one a bunch more listens and I really like the album, but when I first heard Cookie Mountain I got shivers going down my spine. "I was a lover" needed to be played at max volume every time I heard it.

I don't get that feeling on any songs on the new one right away. I am hoping that I will find more to like in the nuances of the record though. Definitely think that it will be a top album of 2008, but when I first heard Cookie Mountain, I knew it was the best thing that I heard in 2006.

Still, I am really looking forward to seeing them in Atlanta in October. And I think that the new songs could be even better in a live atmosphere.

TVOTR live only takes a backseat to Radiohead and nobody else. They are setting themselves up for a run at the all time top with these first three.

Upon further review, the album is growing on me as the lyrics come to the forefront, which are perhaps the strongest yet by these guys. "Shout Me Out" is still the worst song I've ever heard these guys put out though. Highlights for the album for me are: "Halfway Home", "Crying", "Stork and Owl" and "Love Dog"

Yeah, I listened to Cookie Mountain last night, and I'd probably go with that one too. Not to take anything away from Dear Science of course.