New Music Corner #169 - Anathema, The Babys

[Scott]

It's that time again, more new music.  And this week I've got two brand spankin' new ones.  First up is the atmospheric band Anathema.  This is a band fellow bottom feeder, Niels, posted sometime ago and I got hooked.  This is mood music, so if your in that good time party rock and roll, tons of geetar solo, and distorted riff mood, skip down to the next album and then come back to this band once you've settled down and want to sit back and take it all in...

Playlist: http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/avcsdi9n

1. The Lost Song Part 1
2. The Lost Song Part 2
3. The Lost Song Part 3
4. Anathema
5. Distant Saellites

Next up is a band that should need no introduction.  But for Jon's sake I will.  Its the long awaited return of the "no-longer-fronted-by-John Waite" band, The Baby's.  The self funded, written, produced, and marketed release is titled "I'll Have Some Of That".  Probably an album for Baby's fans as the casual fan will not hear the history and nuances that make this a pretty cool album.  but what the heck, lets throw it out here and see what happens!

6. Every Side Of You
7. Sunrise & Goodbyes
8. These Days
9. Uncivil War
10. Its a Gas

[RJhog (Admin)]

That album cover for The Babys is an immediate front-runner for Worst Album Cover of the year.  Not that I'm trying to be negative.

[Scott]

Sadly, I have to agree with you...  I guess considering the budget they worked with it make sense.

[RJhog (Admin)]

It's kinda similar to Deep Purple's cover for Now What?!

[Jon]

Anathema--Thumbs Down

This is extremely boring. The songs sound the same, the male lead singer isn't that good throughout most of these songs, but the female singer is ok. It's music to fall asleep to. It's perfect elevator music. It's making me very sleepy right now and I've pounded back four bottles of 5 Hour Energy. Thankfully I'm not driving, I'd be lying in a creek somewhere, passed out as the frogs try to figure out what the noise is coming from the wreckage. Guess they ran out of song titles with the fourth song here? It actually DOES have a nice buildup, but it ultimately fails because it's been done before. Ooooooh.....a drum machine. How quaint. The last song sounds like something from the 80's that should have remained in the 80's. I would rather watch that video of those people slapping each other. Yes, this song DOES make me want to cry. Cry because this is time I will never get back. I could have churned some butter. Yawn. YAWN. jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

Huh?

Oh. Sorry. I passed out and my head landed on the "j" key. 

They should have remained a death metal band. That would have been much more interesting than this.       

[Scott]

really?  I cant believe this!  I thought you'd absolutely HATE IT!  And you don't, its just boring?  Chalk that up as a win for me!!!

[Jon]

Take what you can get, I suppose.

[Jon]

The Babys--Thumbs in the middle

The songs here are really good. But why would thumbs be in the middle, you might be asking.It's the production, man! The production on this is very, very bad. Everything sounds muffled, especially the drums. I really wasn't expecting much from this, it does sound like something that would fit in nicely in the late 70's. But that damn production is bad. Still, it's a much better listen than Anathema.

[Niels (Mod)]

ANATHEMA - Thumbs up

I was expecting no less than a masterpiece, this time around, but it isn't. But it's still very good, and it's one of those albums, that grews on you, just like latest two Anathema-albums. If it was me, I would probably have posted "Starring At The Sun", since it's one of my favorites. I think, that the female singer is good, but the male singer is a bit better, especially on "Starring...". The album is not as good, as I had expected, but it's good, and I will definitely check their next album out. Funny, I don't think this kind of music is boring at all, whereas a Metallica-album, can bore the hell out of me, especially the ones released after "..and Justice For All". Just an example, I've got lots of them.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Anathema:

1. This song is not bad.  I can see where Jon get's the "music you can fall asleep to" vibe.  But there's a bit more to it than that.  The overall feel I get is something from the 80's.  Sort of a rocked up Spandau Ballet feel.  This may be the first time Spandau Ballet has ever been mentioned on CRB.  Anyway, I like this track somewhat.  

2. The female vocalist is quite good (I don't think the male is bad though).  But this intensifies the drowsiness.

3. Three five minute plus songs that they couldn't give a proper title to?  Hmmm.  Yep, any momentum built by the first track has been totally destroyed.

4. This track is a bit better because it has some emotion in it.  But I'm still sleepy. 

5.  More of the same.

This just isn't for me.  

[RJhog (Admin)]

The Babys:

I don't think the production is a bad as Jon makes it out to be.  I'm not saying it's great, but it's okay with me.  This is definitely better than Anathema.  Uncivil War is fantastic.  The vocalist isn't bad, but of course, he's not Waite.  I would love to hear Uncivil War with Waite on vocals.  That is a lost hit of the late 70's or early 80's for sure.  I love how it ends, "you know this song's about you, don't you?"  That's awesome.

I didn't think this would be any good, but it's better than I thought.  It's back on my radar.