Ben Howard - Is It? (June 16th, 2023) Album • Page 2

Was spinning the deluxe Every Kingdom earlier and man, some of the songs on that are superb, especially the ones he left off the record. Just don't feel like anything he does nowadays remotely lives up to it. But as you say he's doing his thing, it's different and he still sells out whatever theatre he's playing so doesn't really matter what I think.

 

i've never cared much for every kingdom but im not a huge acoustics fan

IFWWW
Noonday Dream
CFTW
Every Kingdom
Is It?

 

It's clear we like or liked his music for different reasons. The first 3 tracks off IFWWW are fantastic but it's a bit patchy after that imo. I only liked one song off Noonday Dream and that was There's Your Man, which I still spin now. Collections is an absolute write-off. I'm still enjoying Is It? though!

 

My ranking of Ben's albums are:

Noonday Dream
IFWWW
Every Kingdom
CFTW
Is It?

That said, I thoroughly enjoy everything he's put out (including EPs). He has enough variety to attract anyone to a particular album. My preorder for Is It? comes in tomorrow, so stoked to spin that this weekend.

 

IFWWW is front to back one of the best albums of its decade

 

I remember reading a piece on IFWWW when it was released and Ben mentioned that they had to trim back a few of the songs since they were long and weird. Probably doesn’t exist, but I’d want to hear that version as well. IFWWW is a heavy hitter all-around.

 

I'm having a little bit of trouble assessing this album

It feels a little too close to the previous album

There are some bright spots I'm going to need a couple more days

 

finally got around to checking those IFWWW bonus tracks tonight. really cool stuff even if I'd heard four of them already. Lotus Flower was new to me and goddamn that one is stunning