Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - Routine Maintenance (May 10, 2019) Album • Page 8

I liked this but haven't really come back to it at all

 

This album is really one of the best of the year. Yeah, he doesn't always sing to the music or rhyme neatly, but he manages to make it so personal, you have to remind yourself it is fiction. The story is wonderful and the mix of horns makes the sound unique. The only skippable track is Bloodied Up, but if you are immersed in the story, it works. The last two songs are deeply introspective and sad but optimistic at the same time. Very catchy songs on the record too, and really good lyrics that stick with you. I love the stream of consciousness storytelling in song. It reminds me of Jack Kerouac if he made songs instead of novels.

 

The last three tracks on this record form a little run that is just fucking perfect. So good.

 

Posting in case anyone is interested but starting to part with my massive record collection. This week I'm trying to sell off my Aaron West and The Wonder Years discog, got some rare ones in there. Listing here if anyone is interested.

 

Rosa & Reseda is, like, ALMOST a great song. It needs one more chorus and a different ending line. It sounds so awkward...

Rosa's moving in with her boyfriend
I'm going to drive up somewhere new
When I desperately needed a friend
Rosa was a friend


“Rosa, I had you” would have rhymed and sounded so much better lol

edit: the chorus could rhyme better too. “She waits tables on the weekdays, picks up any shift she can.” “Weekends” working with “can” seems like a no brainer.

 

lmao that last line always bothered the hell out of me too. "almost a great song" sums a lot of this album for me, though

 

Actually went back to this record yesterday and it’s still incredibly underwhelming for me. Very disappointed.

 

Man, I didn't know this was a popular opinion. I absolutely love that song. Maybe it's a bit sad of me, but that last line always hits me so hard and I've definitely gotten a year in my eye listening to it. I don't know, maybe as a song with the structure and things you're right, but for me it's just perfect. The emotion of knowing what Aaron has been through, how he's been let down by everyone in his life, yet he stumbles upon a roommate and forms a meaningful relationship for the first time in months/years. The last line, even if it doesn't rhyme, it just really hits hard for me.

 

Completely agree. Honestly, I think the line rhyming would take a lot of emotional weight out of the line. By the end of the song, and going into the next song, Aaron seems pretty much out of energy and a bit down (kind of a bittersweet reminiscing), as though that last line is all he can get out before tearing up. I've always thought it was perfect. And I really still love this entire album, not really sure why so many aren't into it

 

Yeah I love this album. And also no offense cause you're entitled to your opinion but I'm not going to sit here and try to tell one of my favorite lyricists that he should change what he wants to write just because it doesn't rhyme. Not everything has to rhyme.

 

I think the choice of weekdays vs. weekends was intentional--the weekend shifts can be profitable, but the weekday shifts signify she's doing anything she can to make a few bucks. I also like the last line without the rhyming--he's just stating that he had Rosa as a friend with no strings attached. There was no love interest, he didn't need anything from her--just her friendship. I think Rosa & Reseda is an incredible song and I wouldn't change anything about the lyrics. Might be the AOTY for me.

 

Shit, this is way better than I expected

 

They just posted the live version of Runnin’ Toward the Light and I felt it was exceptionally great.

 

I did not give this album the time it deserved. Stuck it on randomly just now whilst working and it's really, really growing on me.

 

Live album is out now!

 

Live album is fantastic

 

As some (or maybe most) of you are aware, in the early days of quarantine, I wrote and recorded songs for strangers under my own name. I’d get to know them and try to write something that captured their lives and I’m gonna tell you more about that later, but as we’re approaching Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share this one with you because I got really attached to the story—two people who fell in love, first in the summer on train bridge, and then in the winter in an abandoned schoolhouse and finally at a place of their own with their daughter. It’s called “When I Face into the Wind.”

 

Sorry to bump this thread.

but my friend has Covid and I’ve been exposed. Anyone want two free tickets to the Aaron West show tonight in Boston? It says 18+, but we’re just looking for a good home so they don’t go to waste

edit: seemingly claimed

 

This tour was really great. Awesome setlist, horn section, the band is the tightest they've ever been. If you're comfortable going to shows right now and like these records, don't miss it.

 

Went last night and it was my 3rd AW20 show since 2015 and only the first time it was full band. Great 1.5 hour set

 

Went to the Boston show last night. Easily one of my favorite nights in a while. They sounded absolutely incredible and every member seemed to having the absolute best time. Dan's got one hell of a lineup.

 

I love both records and all the other AW songs. I hope the band doesn't come to an end after the third installment/end of the trilogy.

 

Really looking forward to the new record. I've kind of landed in a weird place with Routine Maintenance where I love the songs but think the mix is pretty bad, especially compared to the live album and the Bittersweet EP (still my favorite thing in the Aaron West catalogue).