Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions (May 15, 2020) Album • Page 10

I feel like his vocals are stronger on his last 4 albums than his earlier stuff. Maybe due in part to him getting sober? Idk. I love when he really belts like on “Overseas.” He has this edge to his voice that’s really appealing to me. For as amazing a songwriter he is, I think he’s also a great singer, which doesn’t get talked about as much.

Giving this another spin right now. The bass work in some of these songs is top-tier; “What’ve I Done” and “Overseas” come to mind. I totally agree with what others have said in here - the band is featured prominently and totally delivers. “What’ve I Done” will be great live. The whole album is awesome and makes me want to listen to nothing but Jason for the next few weeks. I have a feeling the couple songs I don’t like quite as much will continue to grow on me.

 

“What’ve I Done to Help” is for sure my least favorite. Funny enough I really like it now....I just find it interminable. When I listened to it as part of the full album I thought “man, I actually dig this one way more than I remember...oh, there’s still three full minutes left...”

 

Agreed, re: The Nashville Sound not aging as well as a lot of his other records. I'm not sure what it is, because I was absolutely over the moon for that record at the time. It just feels tied to a more specific moment (early days of the Trump presidency) than the records that preceded it. My favorite songs on there ("Vampires," "Tupelo," "Something to Love") have aged beautifully though.

Surprised you don't dig "St. Peter's Autograph," though. I think that song is such a powerfully disarming depiction of what it's like to watch your partner go through grief that you don't share. (It's also Jason's favorite song on the record.)

 

doing a discog run today, and i have spent so much time listening to Nashville Sound and Southeastern that it's been so long since I played Something More... and holy hell what an album it is.

 

Letting you go just brought me to tears. Godammit

 

I do like it plenty and wouldn't be surprised if it grows on me, but it's the only song on the album that doesn't fully capture my attention. I dunno, I think in a weird way I'd like it more if he hadn't been so explicit in interviews about what the song's about, I like a bit of ambiguity I guess haha

 

fyi for anyone not on the twitter machine

 

Gotcha. I don’t really mind knowing what a song was written about, personally.

 

Fair enough.

Totally unrelated but while I have your attention, if you haven't listened to that Waxahatchee record from a few months ago I think it would be super up your alley. Probably my favorite thing so far from this year besides this album.

 

waxahatchee album is gorgeous

 

I have not, but noted!

Have you listened to the Katie Pruitt album that came out in February? That's my favorite record of the year.

 

Not yet but last night I went back through the country thread to see what I'd missed from the months I was busy with school, and that was one of the ones I added to my running 2020 playlist on Spotify that's my way of keeping track of new releases. So will be checking it out very soon. edit: actually I think I added the Pruitt album because of a review I saw not that thread, but regardless it's on my radar.

 

pretty easily my AOTY still

 

It's such an emotional wrecking ball of a record. I think you'll really enjoy it.

If Isbell couldn't pass her, I don't think anything is this year.

 

I've now listened to this a handful of times all the way through. This is a hell of an album. I think musically this is my favorite sounding record of his ever, and it is probably my favorite thing he has done since Southeastern. I definitely like "What've I Done To Help" a lot more than most people. I think its a solid opener, the band absolutely kills it on the song and it really gets stuck in my head. I think "Running With Our Eyes Closed" is probably my least favorite song on here, and it is still a hell of a song. I think maybe it just gets outshined a little bit for me by the two holy shit moments of "Overseas" and "River" on either side of it, because it contains some seriously amazing guitar work and it has a great groove. I never had any issues with "Be Afraid" but it plays even stronger for me in the context of the whole album. I know other people have already said this but it really feels like the rest of the band steps up and really cuts loose on this album in a way that I only ever really felt like Amanda Shires did before, on record.

Dave Cobb really knocks the production out of the park on this album as well. It sounds fucking GLORIOUS. I admit I was a little disappointed when I heard Jason Isbell would be working with Dave Cobb again for this album, as I was afraid of him getting into sort of a creative rut, and also I had never been blown away by Dave Cobb's production on the more electric guitar driven, 'rock' type songs for lack of a better descriptor. But I was dead wrong. The production on this album is absolutely perfect. That wasn't meant as a dig on Dave Cobb who I think is an extremely talented producer and one who I would absolutely kill for some artists or bands to work with, like The Avett Brothers for example.

 

I agree with almost all of this (like "Running" more than you do). I was lukewarm on "What've I Done" at first but I really think it works well as an opener and it's just such a groove once it really starts firing on all cylinders. Gonna slap live.

 

Even as I was typing about it I was feeling like I wasn't giving "Running" enough credit, because it really is a cool song. There are no weak songs here, not even close.

 

Whenever he's able to do a Ryman residency again he should do that thing like Wilco did in the late 2000s where he plays every song in his catalog over like a week or whatever

 

And on that note, think I'm gonna do a full solo discog listen-through

 

not enough love for that self-titled band record.

saw Isbell open for Son Volt at First Avenue just days after news dropped he was "out" of DBT.
they played a blazing set of songs from Sirens Of The Ditch and BLEW MY MIND that night. love ever since.

 

did this including the new one and all I know for certain is that the best songs on this album are at least as good as the best songs on any of his others. comparisons are kind of meaningless; each record from Here We Rest on (which was when I really bought in on his solo career after not following him much in the first few years after he left DBT) has impacted me in a different way and this one is already doing the same.

we talk a lot about his songwriting ability, and for good reason a lot of that focuses on the lyrical content. he's truly one of the best writers of his generation that have chosen the medium of songs to express themselves. but every time we get a new set of songs from him one of the things that ends up impressing me the most is his ear for melody. a couple sung melodies on this record just stop me in my tracks every time I hear them--the first time he reaches up for "are you still taking notes" on only children, the second verse of "be afraid" and fucking all of "river" are examples--and then that guitar lick on "overseas" will not leave my head this week.

 

However, my partner pointed out that "Letting You Go" sounds so much like Prine's "Christmas in Prison" and damn I cannot un-hear that now haha

 

Overseas is really an all-timer. Instant classic.

 

Woke up today with "Running With Our Eyes Closed" stuck in my head, the lyrics and the guitar lines. And I had that one pegged as my least favorite on my first dozen listens. This album is incredible.

There are a handful of times on here where the lyrics stopped me dead in my tracks. Many of them have already been mentioned by other people, but I haven't really heard "It Gets Easier" mentioned yet. So many lyrics from this song hit so hard all while the song stays a really catchy upbeat track. Very impressive.

 

Great Hyden piece

Jason Isbell Reviews Every Jason Isbell Album, Including ’Reunions’