Phobiac and I just spent the last day listening to the album and are pretty floored by the sheer awesomeness of it. Awesome in the Grand Canyon/teeth found buried in tumor sense, not in the Jeff Spicoli sense.

We had high expectations that were met and exceeded five minutes in. So many things leap out--

The production is top-notch. The songs that benefit from Abraham's expertise most are, in my opinion, A is For Action and Philosophofee. The former is a real stunner, packed with energy and layered like a fatty dessert. It will be hard to match the force of the song in future live shows after the audience has heard this album version.

Philosophofee (goodbye, "Everybody Fucks," we hardly knew ye) is hyperpopped up and ready for the airwaves. The melodic progression in this one has always been its charm for me, and this slick version amplifies that feature. Polished and impressive.

The new tune, "What Are We Made From" will have to grow on me. It has a definite Pink Floyd feel to it, and I've never been a huge fan of theirs. The one thing I like is the Beatlesque beginning, which reminds me a lot of Eleanor Rigby for some reason. Conspiracy theorists will love the middle section of the song, which is packed with barely-there whispers and jibberish...or is it a message to drive to Devil's Tower and wait for the guests to arrive? Who knows. This one is totally different from anything else on the album and I can't wait to hear everyone's response to the song.

Scream is arguably the most beautiful thing on the record. The lyrics, to start, are great: "Nailed the door shut to keep you blind, nailed the door shut for peace of mind." Plus the elusive acoustic piano part reveals itself at the end of the song...it's quite prominent and light-years away from Oli's usual synth work.

There's plenty more to say about this, but I'm going to shut it for now and see if anyone else has similar feelings about the album when it comes out. The songs were great before they were recorded, but here the highs are higher and the lows, lower. I found myself thinking over and over again that, if I were listening to some of this music for the first time, I would be totally blown away by the originality of it all. There is nothing else like it out there right now.

Should be fun to read the reviews when they start to come in!

I'll add my two cents...

Fast Dynomite. I used to like the old demo version (slow Dynomite) so much more, but the faster paced album version now rules supreme. Having heard it 10 to 12 time at the video shoot may have had an effect on why I like it so much. The demo is still classic, but very slow in pace comparitively.

It’s interesting to hear a produced version of Song#1 after only hearing it live; short and sweet.

Alive stays very true to the original demo roots. Not over produced and there are some added new lyrics...

Quote:

Wake up wake up this is haven on earth...ohh yeah I give you my only love Wake up wake up nothing could be worse...ohh yeah I give you my only love

Scream is beautiful as described by draconian; hauntingly so.

A Is for Action keeps climbing up the ranks of my personal favorites. I remember when I first heard this at Spaceland back in October of 2002. What has changed since then....

Quote:

Hanging on Hanging on till the old man bangs the gong We don’t care if we are wrong or right All we want to do is fight Who care if we're wrong or right Who cares when we can just fight

This plus other new lyrics really bring out some added energy that brings this one forward.

Let's Talk Turkey...very much alike the demo and in all it Bowie-esq and Major Tom to Ground Control glory; set to be a hit.

What Are We Made From...I love it, but I'm much more of a Rodger Waters, Pink Floyd and Robert Fripp (yeah something King Criminson-esq to me in this one) fan than draconian.

Quote:

Good Night The day is done And death awaits Rest your head in wavy sun (silence) Come take my hand And sing along The (king of blue) This endless song His face worn through But worn with pride He saved us all with his hot suicide

Alex's voice is very much highlighted and this is another one that is hauntingly beautiful and will draw many into the lyrics.

Leo's Waltz? What Are We Made From has that same eerie silence as Leo's Waltz, but never brakes into that mad panic. We'll just have to wait and see if Leo's Waltz really is the hidden track as mentioned at the last Viper Room show.

I’m still very surprised that Black Money, Loaded Love, Love Is a Boom-Box or Chip off the Block didn’t make the cut.

I'm surprised too! Love is a Boombox, Loaded Love, and Black Money are all in my top 5! LIAB is easily my #1 of all time. Oh well, at least I have plenty more awesome songs to look forward too.

Dave

Give me a listen someone, anybody!

Peace
Mark

Seriously..We're not the "privledged" ones like Drac and Phob though..They work hard to get the Robot word out, so they get the benefits.. Dammitalltohell..:P:D

Well it comes out September 16th, so the promo copies might be out before that, at radio stations and the like. And who knows, we might be able to get the vinyl earlier, as well.

Speaking of, is anyone else dealing with hardtofindrecords.com? They seriously messed up my EP order over there. Like, in multiple ways, multiple times.

I'm telling you..I got my EP from ebay and the guy was super quick with it..I've had it for a day or two now..Ebay is the way to go..But I also checked on amazon and they now have it in stock as well..I don't know..Might be worth cancelling your order..

The order is actually for some of the vinyl copies...I got the CD off of Amazon a couple of days ago. Really dig the bright red color on the CD!

Is the EP in stores?

Particularly, any stores in LA I should drop by?

Drac, agreed..The cd is pretty sweet..

Cap'n, I would call Amoeba..Ima Robot is going to do a show there, so I would hope they would stock thier merchandise!

Oh righty, I forgot about Amoeba... I blocked it from memory after Drac told me the in-store was two days after I leave!

I checked out Amoeba's website, but they don't have a search feature on there. You might just call 'em up.

As far as the Dynomite single goes, we might be falling into a bunch of them pretty soon--so of course we have a crazy giveaway idea that might result in a lot of .netters getting free copies!

Thanks for hooking me up with some kool bagdes, stickers !!!

Haven't been on the board lately, but I'm glad to see its all going well for the 'bot!

Peace
Mark:duh:

[Edited on 8-1-2003 by draconian]

hey mark check your U2Us