Frank Turner - Be More Kind (May 4, 2018) Album • Page 14

"Common Ground" and "The Lifeboat" are the best songs here imo

 

I love The Lifeboat, but Common Ground is actually my least favorite so far. Be More Kind and 1933 are probably my two favorites overall, but I have no self control so I’ve already listened to them both a ton.

 

as a long-time Frank Turner fan i am super surprised at how lacking this album is ... it feels like a watered-down version of the album i would have expected from him at this point in his career. went into it really expecting to enjoy the new songs, but it falls very flat. as an aside, i thought the release cycle was completely bizarre, like there was no overarching strategy. by the time the album came out there were like six songs streaming on iTunes.

i would rank his albums in this order at this point in his career:


1 - England Keep My Bones
2 - Positive Songs for Negative
3 - Love Ire & Song
4 - Poetry of the Deed
5 - Tape Deck Heart
6 - Be More Kind
7 - Sleep Is for the Week

 

I would maybe swap 2 and 3 but otherwise this is probably my ranking as well

 

People that have Tape Deck Heart near the bottom fascinate me !!!

 

EKMB, PS4NP, LI&S, and TDH are all pretty even for me and switch order depending on my mood. I think this will probably end up as the solid 5 for me with POTD and SIFTW at the bottom. I like this album. I like his entire discography, but this is definitely a step down from that top tier. Hopefully it’ll grow with time.

 

I was able to get into most of SIFTW despite its obviously flaws, but I at least felt that had momentum and energy to it. I mean a song like Father’s Day or Worst Things Happen At Sea are emotional and passionate...which is truly lacking on Be More Kind. I don’t get any emotional reaction from anything here.

Which sucks. Frank is literally right behind Brian Fallon for me. I truly admire this man.

 

Mad how little most of you think of SIFTW.

 

I like SIFTW. It’s just my least favorite album by my favorite artist. It’s too early to definitively say where BMK will truly fall for me, but I definitely like it more than the majority of this thread seems to.

 

"Worse Things Happen At Sea" alone makes that album way better than this one. It's still probably 5th for me just because he got better as time went on.

 

I love Sleep is for the Week so much. I only like two FT albums from front to back and that’s one of them.

 

SIFTW is a worse version of LI&S, doing his little slice of English life thing, angry and happy at the same time. It's got flaws that he'd sort out with the later albums, but for a first effort I think it's a very good debut album. Probably my third favourite ish.

 

EKMB is much more him doing his English thing but he is English so all of it is his English thing.

SIFTW for me is such a deeply personal album from him. It's more the him I love - emotional, passionate (on subjects such as politics) and simple. I'm a big big fan of Frank and his guitar. I prefer him solo nowadays to full band but full band is still great.

 

Finally made it through my first listen here. Love Frank, but definitely think he could have revisited a lot of the lyrics. I’ll also reiterate the low energy bit. Stand out songs for me would probably be Don’t Worry and Little Changes.

And just because I’m feeling chaotic evil today, here’s an album ranking:

1) EKMB
2) TDH
3) LI&S
4) PotD
5) PS4NP
6) Siftw
7) BMK

BUT THE BEST RELEASE OF ALL IS BUDDIES

 

Review is up! Frank Turner - Be More Kind • chorus.fm

1. Positive Songs For Negative People
2. Love Ire & Song
3. England Keep My Bones
4. Tape Deck Heart
5. Be More Kind
6. Sleep is For the Week
7. Poetry of the Deed

 

1. England Keep My Bones (10)
2. Love, Ire & Song (10)
3. Tape Deck Heart (9)
4. Positive Songs For Negative People (9)
5. Sleep Is For The Week (7.5)
6. Be More Kind (7)
7. Poetry of the Deed (6)

 

1. Love, Ire & Song (9.5)
2. Positive Songs for Negative People (8.5)
3. England Keep My Bones (8)
4. Tape Deck Heart (8)
5. Sleep Is For The Week (7.5)
6. Poetry of the Deed (7)
7. Be More Kind (4.5)

 

I might be an outlier here as England Keep My Bones is probably my least favourite album of his. I only ever return to two songs on the album which are Eulogy and Redemption.

 

"I Am Disappeared" though..

 

Peggy Sang The Blues, I Still Believe, I Am Disappeared, If Ever I Stray and Redemption are all top tier Frank songs.

And the B sides are all magnificent.

 

I really like Going Nowhere on this song but the chorus lyrics sort of confuse me.

 

"I'll be there/in there like swimwear."

 

Is that a phrase or something? Or am I being dense?

 

It’s a real weird line to me.

 

Never heard of it but there you are.