Anberlin Band • Page 176

on a related note, if anyone has a copy of the Best Buy version of Vital, please rip the Pretend to Be Friends documentary and put it on YouTube.

 

I got that version when it came out, and the documentary is literally worthless and a huge waste of time. Basically them driving go karts and playing some stuff in the studio under an instrumental track.

 

This.

(But I imagine I can rip it if somebody really wants to see it, I've already ripped mp3s of the instrumental tracks featured on it)

 

ugh, good to know i'm not missing much.

 

On a related note, with all the different bonus track versions (Target, itunes, Best Buy) I really miss Grooveshark. I need one place to go for all those album extras. Youtube usually works but still not the same

 

Cadence
Paperthin Hymn
A Whisper & A Clamor (legitimately shocked nobody has said this one yet)
Breaking
Art of War
Other Side
Atonement
Nothing Lost
Lacerate

 

This is just about the only reason I still think mp3 collections matter these days. But, so many artists are just releasing "deluxe" versions of older albums on streaming services that feature all the bonus tracks from any given era, which generally works for me. Anberlin's definitely got some stuff I wish was on streaming but isn't (True Faith cover is the biggest one that comes to mind).

 

Yeah I wish I'd Like to Die was on streaming too, at least the live version is there

 

True Faith is on the deluxe version of New Surrender at least on Apple Music. not sure about Spotify.

 

Dang. There's no deluxe version of New Surrender on Spotify

 

because in the middle of the night my head forgot god drugs and sex is on vital and not new surrender lollll

When listening to vital I stop at modern age so apparently my brain took that too far



I love dismantle repair but might like hello alone and reclusion even more

 

i first thought that the shorter version of fin was on the normal cd and the longer version was just for the special edition (with the darker artwork and bonus songs) ... i only had the special edition but had heard the shorter version from a friend


also: dismantle.repair. is their best song and my favourite song of all time

 

the final part of the song that’s missing here is the reason Fin is the top closer for me!

anyways:
Cadence
Paperthin
Reclusion
Retrace
Down
Modern Age (no love to speak from devotion bonuses)
Losing it all
Circles
Nothing more

 

I'm glad someone likes it! Haha.

 

whisper and clamor might be my least favorite anberlin song lolz

 

I find the rest of the song average for their closers, I didn’t realize it was a hindrance for anybody!

 

With how much fluff there is on Blueprints and New Surrender this is pretty crazy

 

A Whisper & A Clamor is my least favourite on Cities but I'd still take it over anything on Dark is the Way.

 

I left God, Drugs, and Sex off of my phone when I originally downloaded the album and kinda have always had Modern Age close it out. I still listen to it on vinyl and live stream stuff. Just not my favorite song.

 

The line of that song containing the title (“There’s a clamour in your whispering”) is such a clunker, otherwise it’s excellent.

 

Curious, would you like it better if the song had a different name because of that?

 

If they'd just written a better line there, regardless of what they called the song, I'd be a lot more into it. I feel like Cities is Stephen trying his hardest to write literary, wordy lyrics, and when it works it works, but when it doesn't, yikes. (The "conversate" instead of "converse" slip up is rough too, but then again, I majored in teaching language arts, so I often pick bones unnecessarily.)

edit - like, even melodically the line doesn't work for me, I'm just not sure those syllables fit there after "clap your hands all ye children"

 

That never bothered me, but he is at his wordiest here, and it seems like he scaled that back the next two albums, when you went from “hands like secrets are the hardest thing to keep from you, lines and phrases like knives, your words they cut me through, dismantle me down (repair), you dismantle me”

to

“closer, closer, closer. Are you out there somewhere, come where I can see.”

for a single chorus.

 

Yep. The lyrics on Cities are easily his best imo.

 

It's in the bottom half, but wow, is it worth it just for "it's not the lives that you SAVE."