Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Upside Down Flowers (November 11, 2018) Album • Page 13

I find that I enjoy this album more when I have it playing in the background while doing something else, rather than give it my full attention. Not sure why that is.

 

The first two were released on Vanguard and this one was released on Fantasy Records... so that very well may have contributed to it not receiving the same attention (though I am surprised that would be the case of signing with a label if that wasn't part of the consideration/assistance). It's possible that he might have just felt that money was better spent later when gearing up for tour as it isn't necessarily an album full of songs you might hear on the radio. I feel like "Ohio" was his 'toe in the water' to see how it would go - fantastic song - but it didn't get the same love as Fire Escape or Cecilia did as lead singles

 

This album is very good.

 

Anybody else notice that the crash at 3:04 going into the last chorus of "Careless" is slightly late? First time I heard it it really threw me off.. but I feel like it may have been left that way intentionally haha. I have no idea. Definitely interesting..

 

I think this album has some really great songs ("Teenage Rockstars," "Ohio," "Monday Flowers," "Penelope," "House in the Trees") but also some mediocre ones (almost everything else). I also get a distinct feeling that this is a swan song, er album, just with the retrospective lyrics and kind of sentimentality going on throughout. Even the album cover suggests a kind of retirement to me.

 

No way he hangs it up.

 

Never noticed it before, just listened and it still doesn't really sound off to me. Maybe a tiny bit. Knowing Butch he probably wanted to retain the live energy of some imperfection in the performance.

 

Haha see but the thing is, the crash comes just slightly after the kick.. where as a real drummer would’ve almost certainly hit them both at the same exact time. Which is why it led me to believe that it was a quirky little purposeful thing or it was a sample that wasn’t perfectly on the grid and got left that way.

Either way, it’s so minuscule but I can’t help picking up on these things haha. Literally only milliseconds off but jumped out at me

 

I would be shocked if the drums were sampled. Especially on a song/album like this, pretty sure they're real drums all the way. But anything is possible!

 

Mark Stepro played the drums.

(Very, very good, mostly studio, drummer that’s played on a lot of albums you’re gonna recognize.)

 

Oh yeah real drums for sure, but there’s definitely overlapped parts and programmed/electronic fx stuff in some spots too

 

Really digging this album. House in the Trees, Blue Vacation, Monday Flowers and Penelope are brilliant.

 

I think you’re way off on the retirement stuff. I don’t think there’s any reason to expect that, and I don’t think these songs really hint at it any more than something like “Maps for the Getaway” or “Birthday Song” did. There’s also no reason for him to retire this moniker, because it’s a solo project where Jack’s Mannequin is a band.

 

Theory with nothing to back it up: the vocal effects are there all album on purpose (though I don’t think they really are?) because the album is all nostalgic and old memories and memories are often hazy.


I doubt that’s why he did it, but.

 

Yeah. I mean I don’t know if that was a conscious connection made by them or not, but it definitely adds to the nostalgic value in my opinion. Love it.

 

Yeah I mean I can't predict if/when he's retiring, it's just the vibe I got, it's an album that sounds like something one makes late in their career. He's always reflected on his career in songs I guess, like "Synesthesia," so I'll concede on that, but this album seems to have prioritized those themes. Even on "Paper Rain" you get this, an old gambler trying to make one last score.

And there's something about that album cover that I can't shake, I look at that and think he's satisfied, comfortable. Looking into the past. But what's next? Where's the future? I don't hear that on this album. It's like, literally, "Goodnight, Rock n Roll."

I also don't think of Wilderness or Jack's being different that way, solo vs. band, I think it's more as if he wanted to embrace a mainstream radio sound with Wilderness, though this album feels more Jack to me, so idk. I can't point to Jack and Wilderness and say one feels more personal then the other lyrically.

 

"Goodnight, Rock n Roll" is a song about rockstars dying, so I don't really think there's any hidden message there. He wanted to close out the Jack's chapter because he associated it with when he got sick and didn't relate to it anymore.

As for the album cover, I wouldn't read too much into that. If anything, we might see him cut back on touring in the near future as his daughter gets older. But he's been touring A LOT the last few years, so even scaling back on that front wouldn't mean we'd stop seeing him. I don't know, I've never gotten any sense from him that he planned to "hang it up" anytime soon. This is his job, and he's still relatively young.

 

For the record, I don't want Andrew to retire lol

 

There was an interview before the album came out where he wants to try different things after this album cycle. Writing for other artists, shows/movies, etc. I of course can't find it now. So we might not get a new album for some time, but I don't think this will be the last AMITW one.
But I think Craig is probably correct in saying he's going to cut back on touring in the future.

 

Lol he’s not retiring. And he’s said it himself a million times.

 

This FINALLY clicked with me over the weekend.

 

I posted this elsewhere, but I figured a lot of you would get a kick out of it... this story was told by Justin from Motion City Soundtrack at his solo show last night

Justin was talking about an old roadie/merch guy that would tour with Jack's Mannequin and a few other bands that MCS toured with around that time, he was apparently very intense and crazy. Anyway, one time he jumped up on the merch table and yelled LETS GET FUCKED UP AND DIE which is of course where that song title came from, BUT the cooler thing is that the same merch dude inspired another song... apparently he was smoking out a trailer one day and they were passing by and opened the trailer, worried it was on fire. When the smoke cleared, he was sitting there counting money and yelled out "Fuck yeah we can live like this!!" which then became a Jack's Mannequin lyric in "Holday From Real."

 

Finally got a chance to dig into the album and while I enjoy it, I think someone on here said it best when Ohio came out: if you play it at a faster speed it gives the song much more life. Feel like that plays true for a few of the songs.

Here's Ohio:

Teenage Rockstars:

Set to 1.25 speed and curious what your thoughts are.

 

I never condone the speeding up of songs on YouTube, it never makes anything sound "better." Yeah I might enjoy the songs a bit more if it was performed a bit more upbeat, but speeding up YouTube doesn't replicate that at all