Burn Burn, thoughts?

Matt. · Post by **Matt.** » 7/21/2009, 10:50 pm

Cold feet.

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 7/21/2009, 10:51 pm

Waiting to Exist wrote: OLP is two different bands to me now: OLP, who are easily a top-three band for me; and new OLP, who make enjoyable music and whose concerts I'll totally see (but mainly for their covers of that other OLP's stuff).

.....

(it's not a "mocking" nod it's the real agreeing-with type)

Waiting to Exist · Post by **Waiting to Exist** » 7/21/2009, 11:03 pm

Oh yeah, and I like Time Bomb, though I shouldn't, because it reminds me a bit of the god-awful Better Than Here. And the Right Stuff is better than expected, but I am okay with the decision to leave both off the album.

EDIT: OH JUST ONE MORE THING. I like the line, "A stranger dies and no one gives a fuck." Raine needs to swear more. It's shallow, I know, but OLP never swears these days, and sometimes an f-bomb is necessary.

ivewaited · Post by **ivewaited** » 7/22/2009, 3:32 am

Waiting to Exist wrote:I liked Gravity more.

Which isn't so terrible a statement, because I don't despise Gravity. Anyway, on first five listens or so, this beats Healthy, but not Gravity. Most of the songs have great moments--AYD's bridge, Dreamland's prechorus ("I wanna feel it agaaaaiiiin), Never Get Over You's prechorus ("I burn, burn burn BUUUURN" man I love that bit)--but besides those moments, I feel like a lot of the songs are mediocre. Fine tunes, I'll be queuing the CD up in my car often enough, but nothing that, for example, I'll skip to when I know that I only have four minutes to listen.

Exceptions to this are Escape Artist, which I really do adore. Just about everything in that song is perfect. I know it's not about Mike, but Raine has always been the, "Let the listener decide the meaning" type of guy, so fuck that, it's about Mike. Makes it that much more beautiful. End Is Where We Begin is disappointing compared to the 30-second clip we got--it just never really goes anywhere from those amazing first few seconds we got, at least not for me--but on the whole a fine song. I share most of the board's opinion on Monkey Brains, good rock, nice to hear OLP with the energy again. Paper Moon, again, very cool. I liked Signs of Life a good amount, but I was a huge fan of Raine's solo stuff, so maybe that makes sense.

Let's see, what else... Refuge. I don't really get the band's love for this song. I enjoyed the lyric about the human condition (can't recall the exact line now) but on the whole... eh. Listenable, not horrifying by any means. But eh. Same with Never Get Over You, a listenable song but--great moment above excepted--nothing spectacular for me. White Flags... I dunno. I mean, I love the energy and message, but the music itself is just so... dull. Nothing unique about it for me.

I think the album art really shines, though. For one, LYRICS. I was genuinely fucking pissed when HIPT didn't have a lyrics booklet. What a lame thing not to put in there. But I loved that not only were the lyrics there again, but they were HANDWRITTEN! My God. I feel like a lot of this album (Monkey Brains, both song and title; handwritten lyrics; olp.net) was done with the fans in mind, and I definitely appreciate the effort they put in to appease us. The music doesn't quite get there, but as I told Random Sarah, OLP is two different bands to me now: OLP, who are easily a top-three band for me; and new OLP, who make enjoyable music and whose concerts I'll totally see (but mainly for their covers of that other OLP's stuff).

So now I go away, and I bid you all goodnight.

i think i might like gravity better too. gravity is such a great mainstream rock record. you cannot deny, compare it to like DAVID COOK!!! or someone else. i don't know.

SpiritualJunkie · Post by **SpiritualJunkie** » 7/22/2009, 5:25 am

I'd put Gravity ahead of Burn Burn as well. Emotion was just seeping out of Raine's voice in that record and all the songs were unique.

Half the songs on Burn Burn are just blah...AYD has a good bridge, "Dreamland" has a sweet ending, "Monkey Brains" is just weird, but I appreciate the fact that the band is trying to experiment more, "The End is Where it Begins" starts off with a great verse that makes you wanna hear the rest of the song but totally drops the ball with its generic, forgettable chorus, and "Never Get Over You" suffers from the same fate. "White Flags" is probably worse than AYD...I can't even remember what it sounds like and I've listened to it quite a bit now. "The Right Stuff" should have replaced any one of the above tracks (except for "Monkey Brains"...despite its lack of flow, I still dig it).

The four remaining songs, I really like. "Escape Artist" sounds like a track off of Happiness...but not quite. It has that whispery, atmospheric feel and Raine's voice is a bit higher than usual. Same with "Refuge," although I was getting a U2 vibe when I first heard it. I love how Raine sings "I see signs all..signs all,,,signs all around..." and the quick drumming just stands out. "Signs of Life" has a light, laidback quality to it. I'm not sure if folk-rock is the right word for this, but it sounds different from all the other tracks on the record-more barebones. "Paper Moon" has the same carefree quality to it...great way to end the record.

The instrumentals alone, though make Burn Burn a better record than Healthy in Paranoid Times. For the first time in a while, you can actually differentiate between the different instruments.

m2 · Post by m2 » 7/22/2009, 8:02 am

I still can't decide. It's Burn burn and Gravity tied.

And I'm pretty much 100% positive that were never gonna get that great raw record again. To ever get something that is even close to there old days would be bizarre and almost impossible sadly. So I'm just gonna stop hoping and enjoy the music.

Trustworthy · Post by **Trustworthy** » 7/22/2009, 10:46 am

you are all wrong the order is this

sm
bb
happiness
clumsy
naveed
gravity
healthy

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named · Post by **He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named** » 7/22/2009, 11:41 am

Trustworthy wrote:you are all wrong the order is this

sm
bb
happiness
clumsy
naveed
gravity
healthy

I don't know if OLP has a legitimately bad song on any of their first four albums.

Burn, Burn has two: White Flags is awful and All You Did is their worst song ever.

And I still can't tell the difference between The End Is... and Never Get Over You.

Random Name · Post by **Random Name** » 7/22/2009, 11:58 am

Waiting to Exist wrote:but as I told Random Sarah, OLP is two different bands to me now: OLP, who are easily a top-three band for me; and new OLP, who make enjoyable music and whose concerts I'll totally see (but mainly for their covers of that other OLP's stuff).

I just came here to said that you said this to me!!! but you already dropped my name! ^5.
Also, the idea that New OLP does "covers" of Old OLP is fantastic.

Waiting to Exist wrote:I liked Gravity more.
Which isn't so terrible a statement, because I don't despise Gravity.

YES. This.
I said this to Saman earlier and she was like "omg wtf?!" but Gravity was a more well rounded album. It had a cohesive sound and I still think it was pretty solid.

m2 · Post by m2 » 7/22/2009, 11:59 am

the End and NGOY? Really, i don't think they sound alike at all.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named · Post by **He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named** » 7/22/2009, 1:53 pm

M2 wrote:the End and NGOY? Really, i don't think they sound alike at all.

It was more a comment on how utterly generic and banal the songs are, not in specific sounds/melodies, etc.

m2 · Post by m2 » 7/22/2009, 1:53 pm

oh, gotcha

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 7/22/2009, 4:33 pm

This is my list after listening for a long enough while... I'm not ready to list among other OLP albums yet but I'm kinda thinking tied with Gravity, like others have said.

1. Escape Artist
2. Paper Moon
3. The Right Stuff
4. Monkey Brains
5. Never Get Over You (for the bridge)
6. Dreamland
7. Time Bomb (the guitar @ the beginning owns)
8. Refuge
9. The End Is Where We Begin
10. Signs of Life
11. White Flags
12. All You Did

neoncrossing · Post by **neoncrossing** » 7/22/2009, 4:39 pm

i cant believe white flags is getting no love...its definitely top 3 on the record for me

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 7/22/2009, 4:55 pm

neoncrossing wrote:i cant believe white flags is getting no love...its definitely top 3 on the record for me

Hmm I dunno, just doesn't stick out for me at all. Predictable and an unexciting chorus.

Tattooed Angels · Post by **Tattooed Angels** » 7/22/2009, 4:57 pm

Trustworthy wrote:you are all wrong the order is this
sm
bb
happiness
clumsy
naveed
gravity
healthy

My order would be

SM but BB just might knock it off or be tied.
Naveed
Healthy
Clumsy
gravity
Happiness

He Who Must NOt Be Named. OLP having bad songs is up to each individual. There are songs off every cd which I think are horrid or can not bear to listen to..

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 7/22/2009, 5:02 pm

Tattooed Angels wrote:
Trustworthy wrote:you are all wrong the order is this
sm
bb
happiness
clumsy
naveed
gravity
healthy

My order would be

SM but BB just might knock it off or be tied.
Naveed
Healthy
Clumsy
gravity
Happiness

He Who Must NOt Be Named. OLP having bad songs is up to each individual. There are songs off every cd which I think are horrid or can not bear to listen to..

To each his/her own I guess... but the thing about BB is that it has quite a few formulaic songs in it, songs that you could expect from any other band, and Raine's voice just feels dead in some of these songs. The first four albums have NONE of this, at all. It's okay if you dislike a song from those albums, but it was still at least unique and Raine's voice was emotionally vested in the song. Do you mind me asking, which songs from the first 4 albums do you not like?

Tattooed Angels · Post by **Tattooed Angels** » 7/22/2009, 5:20 pm

BB is the 7th studio cd so it would be the first 6..

I will only tell the top 3 songs I dislike.

Automatic Flowers
Neon Crossing
One Man Army

there are others and there is one or two songs off this cd I do not like..

what you say about the cd is your opinion..People may agree. People may disagree. Does not make anyone of us better or more right then the next.

AnnieDreams · Post by **AnnieDreams** » 7/22/2009, 5:21 pm

I'm counting on this record to grow on me. It already is and I've only listened to it twice.
But does anybody else feel that Raine isn't putting the effort into his singing that he could be? On the studio-videos a couple of times he's downright flat. It makes me sad. I used to tell my friends I wish I could steal Raine's voice, now I feel like I should be giving him pointers. It just doesn't seem that he's concentrating on his sound at all.

Dreamland makes me feel happy. And Refuge. I think. I like OLP.

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 7/22/2009, 5:23 pm

That's my point - I almost feel like I could be singing their stuff better than he can now. Before I used to think he had the best voice in the world. That's a HUUUGE factor in my appreciation of their music.