2005keepers - 2
keeper avg - .181
Opener "Bastard"**** observes "why you gotta act like you know when you don't know - it's okay if you don't know everything". I know who I think of when this lyric comes around, but I fear the more I turn into an old white guy the more it applies to me, and I wonder if Ben has the same worry. Anyway it takes a while to finish out what with all the piano tinkling and all, and "You To Thank" has no shortage either. "Jesusland"*****, on the other hand relies more on an expansive lyric scope, set to a steady country-ish groove, similar to "Mess" on the Reinhold Messner (with his old band). It's a travelogue of contradiction in a certain region of this country and the best thing on this collection. The intro of "Landed" is memorable if tinkle-y, but after that the tracks merely range from ballads to power-ballads. Without the young-man angst of the 90's and the humor and energy of Rockin' The Suburbs it comes off as just more Randy Newman. "Give Judy My Notice" delivers competent Belle and Sebastian pop writing, but where lines like "Judy I won't be your bitch anymore" sounded hilariously incongruous on Whatever And Ever Amen, they're starting to sound forced. The coda of closer "Prison Food" finally adds some color, revisiting the dark moods of Reinhold Messner, but there's not much in between to remember except for the subtle differences among a collection of mostly ballads.
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