Butch Walker - American Love Story (May 8, 2020) Album • Page 9

Yeah I'm definitely wondering if coming at it from the outside is helping me enjoy it, cause outside of the slurs used in Out in the Open making me incredibly uncomfortable (which is obviously the point) I don't share any.of the criticisms in this thread. Early days but my initial reaction is that it's at least as good as Sycamore Meadows, which is one of my favourites

 

I listened to the first 5 tracks last night, and honestly I kind of dug it . The lyrical content is definitely different, but I think I understand what he's going for. I might be like you in the sense of coming at it from the outside though. Musically, F It (I Don't Like Love) is really catchy.

 

Unfortunately, I grew up uber-conservative and Beck was always on in my household. So I can confirm this is the perfect analogy for this album lol.

 

Just finished my listen. Pretty enjoyable overall. Album does drop off in the middle for sure, but the last few tracks pick it back up.

 

man I wish the lyrics to this were...anything else bc musically this is such a fun album lol

 

I keep wanting to return to this because in my head I pretend it will be different, but then I hardly get through a minute of Flyover State and turn it off.

 

Oh man, Flyover State's one of my favourites on the record! I'm an absolute sucker for The Lion Sleeps Tonight though

 

Had a couple listens now and picked up the story. Seems like from a narative perspective the first six songs could have been one or two. Then Out in the Open kinda drives the whole change-of-heart turn. I'd have preferred if the album referenced this gay kid specifically early on and built to that song from there. It would have made him saving Bo's life a lot more impactful to me. Could have used a couple of songs where Bo's views were at least challenged, or where he grappled with his morals, before that point as well to make such a complete turnaround believable.

Instead it feels like six songs of "this guy is an asshole". Then one incident. Then he decides to be nice. Then the end of the story feels rushed.

Like why do we get six songs of Bo being racist and homophobic but only two about him getting married, having a kid, kid comes out, he's cool with it, kid becomes a successful musician, wife dies, he and the kid take a road trip with her ashes.
If you throw in meeting the wife it's still condensed to the the final three songs...

Finally, no way in hell is Let It Be the second best Beatles album.

 

I had the chorus to F It (I Don't Like Love) stuck in my head all day yesterday.

 

https://www.facebook.com/butchwalker/photos/a.10150271262354893/10158938292799893

 

Same.

 

"F it" is super catchy

I like the album fine overall. Not his best. But a lot better than I expected based on what I had read.

I don't mind the on-the-nose lyrics, nor the narrative, but the spoken word stuff takes me right out. Always feels lazy to me, like a bad storytelling device.

 

I keep feeling like Butch just got on a roll writing song after song about MAGAssholes.
Then he was like, well I can't just put out a whole record of this, better turn it into a story so there's a reason for half a dozen anti-MAGA songs. And for me it doesn't work. But he can still write a great hook and musically this is one of the best things he's done.

Completely agree with those saying songs like Joan had more effective storytelling on their own than this entire album, which crams its entire narrative into two songs (three tops) anyway.

 

the verses of Flyover State are almost the same melody as the verses in Can We Just Not Talk About Last Night

 

Received my vinyl today. It’s actually a beautifully put together package. The story is printed on the back too.

 

definitely liking this album more on a second listen, admittedly not listening to the lyrics closely. Some really solid songs here though.

 

Yeah, I don't know if this is a good or bad thing, but I'm someone who can easily disassociate lyrics from music. When I do listen to the lyrics on this rock opera, I don't find myself trying to connect with them like I would with other albums. Mainly because I know it's suppose to be a story and not someone truly processing their personal thoughts or struggles. Even if I did try to connect with the story (And I, unfortunately, know my fair share of "MAGA-Dorks" (Thanks for that one, Jason)), I know I won't connect because the story falls short in character development and feels rushed.

That said, the music is absolutely fantastic and I appreciate Butch's effort, even if it falls a bit short.

 

Having lived with this album for awhile here’s my general assessment. I really really like what’s going on musically. A lot of really great stuff. That said lyrically I think it’s a little hit and miss. The real issue I see is Flyover State/6ft Middle-Aged American Man being right in a row color the rest of the album.

These two tracks I get what he’s going for, but I think a little more subtlety to the lyrics rather than feeling very specific to this time and very surface level would help the album significantly. Because once these two go by all the other songs are heavily affected by them. So any time another song even has a single lyric in these directions it feels like you’ve been hammered by the theme already instead of it just coming organically through the songs.

The story itself also probably would have been a little stronger by bringing a song from the Out in the Open characters perspective into the earlier tracks as well. Not having the opening as Bo heavy might have helped to balance the perspective issue a little more.

Everyone else seems to really hate Everything White, no real strong feelings on that one though. It’s short kinda goofy, chorus is actually really catchy.

Fuck It is great. Lyrically other than the brief mention of border babies it’s very much a return to ReadySexGo or LOSC style. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

In conclusion, not a perfect album, but it’s grown on my a bunch. Lyrically, not something you can just throw on at a party. Which is kinda a shame as the music is so good.

 

Butch is playing the whole album acoustic on his Facebook later today

 

Very excited to hear how some of these sound

 

Love, love.....Fuck it I don’t like looovvve

 

The whole thing is up on FB now

https://www.facebook.com/butchwalker/videos/295728201615906/

 

We brought back my entire "Butch Walker Week" feature from AbsolutePunk. Re-reading some of these was a lot of fun!

Butch Walker Week

 

Awesome! That’s what got me hanging around in the first place!

 

I remember that! If I recall correctly, we had pretty similar Butch discovery stories.