Recovering the Satellites

catapult

angels of the silences

daylight fading

i'm not sleeping

goodnight elisabeth

children in bloom

have you seen me lately?

miller's angels

another horsedreamer's blues

recovering the satellites

monkey

mercury

a long december

walkaways

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children in bloom
"where's the fairground this year?"

I had high expectations for this song. I thought that the title of pretty cool, and the start was pretty promising. Instead, I got this weird off beat song, so loud that it drove me crazy. As you can tell, my first impression of this song wasn’t a very good one.

Although, it is not one of my favorites, I have learned to appreciate its good points. Initially, it’s off-timed beat in the verses was a little hard to get used to, but well, right now, it’s a big reason why I like the song. The off beat just makes it more interesting to listen to. And the beat sets up the guitar "punches" of Mr. Vickrey very nicely. The way this song is constructed is very powerful, layer upon layer of noise, but at the same time, it’s a very "clean" noise, not saturated with so much distortion.

Once again though, the true "savior" of this song is the smart contrast between the chorus and verse. The verses struck me as very chaotic, not necessarily anger, but just unleashed passion, thoughts being flung here and there. There isn’t much flow in the way the words are said, but I think that was intentional. The chorus is quite opposite, the guitar takes a back seat to the predominant and flowing bass sound, and the result is a tight and "put together" sound, which almost "erases" the chaos brought about in the verses. The only exception is Mr. Duritz’s singing which remains sort of confused and uncomposed throughout the chorus, like he’s left rambling, looking for his words.

Many people pointed out this song as the album’s worst song, I even heard someone call it "bad Pearl Jam" and another, "simply bad". Well, I think it’s pretty bold. I always admired the Crows for their artistry, although I hope that this isn’t a taste of where their sound will be going in the future, I think it was an effective form of expression. This is the Crows letting loose. I believe the song is about creating an atmosphere that would jar our senses, leave us lost and confused, and well, I think they accomplish this very well, at the risk of losing popularity for the song. But the beauty of it is that this is a song where it’s obvious that each member is giving more than 100% to, I would have loved to see this one while it was being recorded. Better yet, I would have loved to see this one live.

 

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