Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions (May 15, 2020) Album • Page 23

thank you!

 

Live album of the reunion with Cooley and Hood for pre-order

Jason Isbell Merchandise

 

i agree with chris

 

the four sweetest words in the english language

 

on an unrelated note, this shirt is hilarious and I kinda want it

 

The opener has grown on me a lot since the album was released, moreso than any other song on here, but it is still one of the weaker songs on the album for me.
I think it's a great song though, it's just that a couple of songs on this were absolute instant classics for me.

If I had to nitpick I would say it probably could've hit harder if it was a little shorter than 6:40, especially as the opener, but I do kinda think that's splitting hairs a little bit.

 

It's still easily my least favorite thing on here, and I probably play the record less than I would if there was a different opener.

 

i let this record go for a while but it was super easy to come back to and Dreamsicle is still an all time top tier song that i love each time as much as i did the first.

 

I think another issue with the opener for me is the next three songs are all-timers and I just get impatient to get to them after the 40th repeat of the phrase “What’ve done to help?!”

 

I think the placement of the song is a huge issue for me. Look:

Cover Me Up
Alabama Pines
Last of My Kind
If It Takes a Lifetime
What’ve I Done To Help

One of those is not like the others. Jason Isbell openers are immediate and urgent and emotional and grab you by the hand and say, ‘you’re in for something special these next 45 minutes.’ Until this one. This one is the one people are talking themselves into being fine after it grows on them.

I think if it was track seven or nine or something I wouldn’t care so much. But starting with it gives a completely different feel to the listening experience than if something stronger was first.

 

Gonna have to agree to disagree. To me that song is all the adjectives you said it's not (immediate, urgent, emotional) haha. But whatever. It's not my favorite on the record or probably even top-5 favorites, and I must concede that it is probably my least-favorite opener of his since the debut (let's not throw any shade on Seven-Mile Island, which is a fantastic tune in addition to the ones you listed) but it's great and the version from the drive-in live show a few months back was even better. $0.02.

 

The only thing that really bothers me about "What Have I Done" is that it is really similar to "Anxiety" structurally and in the verse melodies. That's my only real beef because the repetition doesn't bother me--although again I get how it could bother someone else

 

I absolutely adore Seven Mile Island as well. Actually, that whole record is criminally underrated.

 

i'm all for artists expanding their sonic pallette. for someone with as widely documented of a music taste as jason has, him not choosing to do another folky and spare opener is a big win for me. like Chris said, it isn't my favorite track on the album and it isn't my favorite opener of his, but it's hardly a bad track, it opens the album very well, and it's pretty far from the "worst" track on the album (in quotes bc all the tracks are quite good lol)

 

i've also grown accustomed to having takes on him different than the norm since the (solo) song of his that is more often than not in my head is Super 8 lol

 

I'm sad to say that I actually skip it now, far, far, far too repetitive to sustain repeat listens

Plus, i'll do anything to be a little closer to 'Overseas'

 

Yeah giving this my first listen in a while and the opener is just way too long and repetitive. Song should be about 4 minutes and it would be alright. Still wouldn't be anywhere near my favorite on the album but I almost dread listening to this album because of the way it starts out.

 

I would definitely not go that far but it’s probably my least favorite on the album, although the production of “Be Afraid” still bugs me. I think “What I’ve Done” translates much better to a live setting. Probably could’ve trimmed some fat off of it for the record and elongated/jammed/vamped on it for live shows.

 

I really feel this with the vinyl. It’s easy enough to just start with track two on Apple Music or whatever, but I think I’ve only listened to the physical record once this year because of this, which is a shame because Isbell vinyls always sound super gorgeous.

 

this conversation isn’t tiring every time lol

 

if you ask me he should do a six-hour concert of only that song like the national and "sorrow" but to each their own

 

just poking my head in to say that 'Only Children' is still, 6 months and countless listens later, an absolute gut punch every time.

 

do you have anyone to talk to / castle walls that you can walk through
do the dead believe in ghosts / or are you lost in some old building

 

Yeah, that run of “Dreamsicle” -> “Only Children” -> “Overseas” still kills me. But I haven’t come back to this album as much as I thought I would. I think where I’ve settled on ranking his recent output is: Southeastern > SMTF > Reunions > TNS.