Thoughts	Home About Projects
Friday, April 06, 2007  *REVIEW* "Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire This album bothered me the first 3 times I listened to it and I couldn't quite put my finger on what irked me so much about it until the fourth listen when I decided to pull up lyrics for the songs and read them as I listened. It was then that I detected a distinct sense of...negativity...towards Christians, the Bible, and God in the lyrics to significant number of the songs. Did I sense bitterness? Perhaps. Resentment? Probably. Anger? I don't know...but whatever it is...the album is saturated with it. Lyrics on the title track are a prime example of what I noticed: "A vial of hope and a vial of pain, in the light they both looked the same. Poured them out on into the world on every boy and every girl. It's in the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible. Not much chance for survival if the Neon Bible is right." An even more blatant expression of anti-Christian sentiment can be found in the track "Intervention": "Working for the Church while your life falls apart (your life will fall apart). Singin' hallelujah with the fear in your heart (the fear is in your heart). Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home." Am I reading too much into the lyrics? I don't know...they seem pretty obvious to me. The thing is...I tend to give artists a free pass on this a lot of times. I feel that many churches don't teach Christianity as they should and as a result a lot of people get a completely wrong picture of Christ. Still, I can't help but be unsettled by this album, as it's just loaded with this sentiment and I can't relate to it. Surprisingly, I was able to enjoy a number of tracks based on the merit of their instrumentation alone. And although I don't agree with Arcade Fire's agenda, I try to view the album as a snapshot of someone's thoughts and feelings captured in music and judge it on its musicality as well as its message. Based on its music, I'd probably give "Neon Bible" 4 stars. Based on its lyrics, I'd give 3 stars or less. Therefore, I give this album 3.5 stars out of 5. Colin didn't review it as I didn't think it was appropriate for him to. ;) P.S. Sorry this review is so short, but honestly, this album is a drain on me. I don't think I'll listen to it for a long time. Labels: Arcade Fire, Neon Bible, review 8:49 AM | Post a Comment Saturday, February 03, 2007  Quickie Review of 'See the Morning' by Chris Tomlin Since I don't have much time for a thorough review, here are a few quick thoughts on "See the Morning" by Chris Tomlin: The album is solid and has several standout tracks (I like "Everlasting God", "Rejoice", and "Glorious"), although the effort seems a tad derivative and I certainly recognize a bit of repetition in chord progressions and patterns. Still, I didn't expect anything ground-breaking or innovative; I merely expected saccharin anthems of praise and adoration to Christ, and "See the Morning" delivers adequately. On a related note, I've decided to let Colin hear what I'm reviewing whenever appropriate. Since he can't yet speak, his reaction will be marked with a "Thumbs up" or "Thumbs down" With that said, I give "See the Morning" 3.5 stars out of 5, and Colin gives it a "Thumbs up". Labels: Chris Tomlin, Colin, review 3:05 PM | Good for people to know. Posted by  Lassie | 11/09/2008 3:51 PM    Post a Comment Friday, December 01, 2006  Sennheiser HD 595 Headphones: First impression I received my Sennheiser HD 595 headphones this past Tuesday and could hardly wait to try them on. Here are my thoughts on them so far... They are very comfortable, though they are quite large and bulky...certainly not something I can just toss into my laptop bag, but I didn't expect them to be....I guess I just never realized how big they'd be. The sound is superb. I can tell why the 595s received such good reviews. I was really concerned about the sound "leakage" that is bound to occur with open-back headphones. True to their design, these cans do leak sound, and had I a less gracious office-mate, this may have become a real issue; however, Damar has been quite understanding and even claims he doesn't hear the sound leaking from my headphones (even though I know they do leak and he's probably just trying to be nice). The 595s are still not broken in, so I am confident the sound quality will continue to improve over the coming hours (I've read the bass takes some time to come into its own). Overall, though, I'm pleased with the purchase. Thanks honey! Labels: review 1:53 PM | Merry Christmas! Posted by  Kristen | 12/02/2006 12:03 AM    Post a Comment Sunday, June 12, 2005  *REVIEW* - "Riot On An Empty Street" by "Kings Of Convenience" Hailing from Norway, Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend Øye really caught me off guard with this album. I'd never heard anything about "Kings of Convenience", so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I surely didn't expect such a pleasant surprise. Their warm, harmonious voices layered over acoustic guitars and keyboard haunt this album much in the same way that Simon and Garfunkel's did on "Bookends", though Boe and Oye seem to take a more minimalistic approach in their gentle folk odes. My favorite song on this album is "Homesick", the first track. It's a song about having nowhere to belong...nowhere to call home. "So I'll lose some sales, and my boss won't be happy, but there's only one thing on my mind: searching boxes underneath the counter, on the chance that on a tape I'll find a song for someone who needs somewhere to long for." The whole album gives you that feeling of longing for somewhere or someone. The songs are of nostalgia and sometimes disappointment, but never regret. Overall, "Riot on An Empty Street" is a strong album with several gems for those who take the time to relax and enjoy a walk down memory lane. I give it 4 stars out of 5. About my rating system: My preferred system is more complex than this, but I've gotten some feedback from friends already and I've realized it may be overkill, so I've decided to simplify it. Here's the breakdown. 1 star = Horrible 2 stars = Bad 3 stars = Fair 4 stars = Good 5 stars = Excellent Labels: Kings of Convenience, review, Riot On An Empty Street 11:02 AM | Post a Comment	In My Ear Phillips, Craig & Dean Lincoln Brewster Frightened Rabbit The Appleseed Cast My Lala.com Forecast Profile: Romonster Archives May 2004 December 2004 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 March 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 September 2007 November 2007 February 2008 October 2008 November 2008 March 2009 June 2009 October 2009