Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan (August 25th, 2023) Album • Page 13

I don't think there's anything really bad on here either but weak tracks do detract from a whole.

 

At first I was going to agree that the feature songs are the weaker tracks on this album, but then when I actually looked at it, the features are batting .500 for me - "Hey Driver" & "Holy Roller" are definitely two of the weaker tracks, but I absolutely love both "I Remember Everything" & "Spotless".

 

“Holy Roller” is fucking gorgeous. Love that song.

 

I'll take "Holy Roller" over "Spotless" for sure.

 

I’d probably rank the features:

Holy Roller
I Remember Everything
Hey Driver
Spotless

I think Zach’s voice works best with Sierra’s and clashes most with the Lumineers guy.

 

hey driver is a great song but would be better without the feature, I remember everything is easily the weakest song on here

 

I don't know what it is about "Spotless" but it absolutely won me over even though I was predisposed to not liking it at all. Generally speaking, I don't really care for features that much ever, and I haven't felt the need to go back and listen to The Lumineers even once, to put it delicately, but I enjoy everything about that song.

 

The Lumineers rule. And I believe Zach has said that The Lumineers are his favorite band.

 

Really nothing against The Lumineers, I just don’t think they sound very good together.

 

Holy Roller is a great song

 

i feel like the last one had like three lanes of songs, of which i liked two of them, and he went down the other lol. there needed to be more something in the orange or happy instead and less sober side of sorry and 68 fastback. east side of sorrow and el dorado are the only two that really scratch that itch for me.

 

I actually agree with you. But I think “Spotless” and “Holy Roller” would be immediate cuts for me if I was sequencing the record myself. I think “Hey Driver” is solid but feels like a future skip for me after a week or so with the record (can’t wait to hear it live though). “I Remember Everything” is really good, but traditional duets are kind of like the music equivalent of biopics to me. They’re generally really conventional, trading verses but sometimes they transcend that, even if it’s rare (the Maggie Rogers feature on “Dawns” is light years better than any of the ones that are on the record imo, she should be his go to). My other two average cuts are “Tourniquet” and “Tradesman”. I have a 11-12 song cut of this record in my head that is superior imo.

 

Don’t write off The War and Treaty based on that (awesome) feature. One of the best albums this year and phenomenal live.

 

I honestly think "Jake's Piano - Long Island" is in the running for his best song ever. Not quite ready yet to make that call officially, but it is absolutely up there for me. It's in my Top 5 no doubt. "El Dorado" isn't very far behind it either.

I guess on this new album, when I think about the songs that really knocked me out of my chair and made me say holy shit, the features don't jump to mind for me. The Kacey Musgraves one is great though.

 

Ya’ll are making me want to spend more time with “Holy Roller”.

 

His floor is so high, so I’m nitpicking, this is gonna be in my top 5 probably pretty easily this year.

but the 5-6 best songs here are next level, already some of my favorite country songs in recent memory. Jake’s Piano is definitely one of them, unreal song.

 

Ah man I love “‘68 Fastback”

 

Yeah I know part of it is how new the song is so it would be a little premature for me to say that already, but the song is absolutely incredible.

"Oklahoma City" off AH is another one for me personally that I don't hear other people mention all that much.

 

Huh, not actually sure which lanes you're talking about based on those songs? I feel like all those tracks are pretty different! I personally wish there were a few more full-band rockers here, actually along the lines of "Sober Side of Sorry," and maybe a few more down-the-middle country songs like "The Outskirts" or "Younger Years."

 

68 Fastback rules and Orange is one of his weaker songs, imo. I heard that before I got into him and kinda wrote him off. It was tracks like Flying or Crying and 68 Fastback that made me enjoy him.

 

I love Something in the Orange now, but I had a very similar experience. Not the song I would show someone if I wanted them to get into Zach Bryan. I’m grown into it as his sound has filled in around me, but the one that truly hooked me was “Dawns”.

 

I love a lot of his songs but "Something in the Orange" is still my clear favourite and that was the first one I checked out. "68 Fastback" and "Sober Side of Sorry" are definitely in the bottom handful of songs for me on AH.

 

"Sober Side of Sorry" was the first one that really stood out to me on that (overwhelming) initial listen. Great hook and a really fun, loose arrangement from the band. Probably still top five on that record for me, along with "The Outskirts," "Younger Years," "Late July," and "Corinthians."

 

I like "Something in the Orange," but I'm surprised that was the single/hit. Definitely not the standout, IMO.

 

"Something in the Orange" is one of the best songs out of all 34 of them on that album!