Dawes - Passwords (June 22, 2018) Album • Page 3

I listened to the album a few more times last night. Craig is right about the end of I Can't Love - the last minute-and-a-half is absolutely incredible. I still struggle to get through the first four minutes of the song though. The first time I listened through the album, My Greatest Invention was my favorite of the ballads in the middle, but now I am pretty sure I was just getting impatient with all of the slower songs in a row, because I definitely think it is the weakest of the three. The live version of Telescope from CBS This Morning Saturday Sessions is fantastic. It brings a little more energy to the song and it feels like it really goes somewhere, without changing it all that drastically. Its really made me appreciate the song more.

 

AYFB is my go-to now when I want to listen to Dawes. Every song flowing to the next begs me to listen over and over. Music, lyrics, tones, instrumentation, wordplay, it’s sll there

 

After several listens I definitely like this better than WAGD, and probably about the same as AYFB. This still doesn’t touch Nothing is Wrong or North Hills for me. I will say though that I think Crack the Case and Time Flies Either Way will both end up being 2 of my favorites Taylor has ever written.

 

I definitely don’t like it as much as Nothing Is Wrong, Stories Don’t End, or All Your Favorite Bands. Not sure about We’re All Gonna Die yet. That album grew on me a ton.

 

I still think it’s a solid album, and I like the different sound they tried, but I think what it comes down to is it has the 2 Dawes songs I like the least out of their entire history. For No Good Reason is in my top 10 though.

 

Out of curiosity, what two songs are you referring to?

 

When the Tequila Runs Out and Roll With The Punches. Tequila is by far the worst though.

 

I can definitely see where you're coming from on Tequila - I HATED that song at first. It is still far from my favorite Dawes song even now, but somehow it ended up growing on me a lot. I enjoy the song and music and just kinda ignore everything he's saying. It is still definitely a head-scratcher for someone whose lyrics are usually so thoughtful and deep. My thoughts on it now kinda remind me of how I've always felt about Joe Walsh's song "Life's Been Good": his voice is nasally and actually kinda annoying, he's just singing about being rich and lazy but for whatever reason I've always just enjoyed the song.

"Roll With The Punches" I've enjoyed immensely since the very first time I heard it. Honestly, after spending a lot of time with We're All Gonna Die the album, I think if the closer had been a different version of the same song - one closer to how they played it live around the time they first introduced it - I would put that album up against any of their best albums.

 

I like Tequila in a harmless way, I really like Roll With the Punches, but I often skip right past the title track. It's one of very few Dawes songs that I think tries to pass itself off as much deeper than it really is, and it feels so shapeless.

 

Surprised at "Roll with the Punches." I knew you didn't like "Tequila." What about "Punches" irks you?

I don't know what my least favorite Dawes track is. I ended up really liking "Tequila." It was a blast live. I'm not very hot on "Side Effects." That one kind of ends Stories Don't End on a whimper, for me.

 

I love Roll with the Punches

 

I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is, I know when the acoustic kicks in right before the chorus and then just the entire chorus overall has always just annoyed my for some reason. It’s got this weird sugary pop sound to me that reminds me of Hanson or something, no offense to those guys. I know most people loved that song, but for me it’s almost always been a skip.

I saw a debate on the Dawes Facebook fan page talking about least favorite Dawes song and thought it was pretty interesting. The most popular choices were Hey Lover, Roll Tide, and Tequila. I don’t really count Hey Lover since it’s not really their song, but that one would probably be up there for me also. Agree on Side Effects, it’s near the bottom for me to.

I thought it was cool to see a topic on that though. The band has so many great songs and are so consistent that it’s tougher to make a list of songs you don’t like then songs you do.

 

I always just liked the lyrics to "Roll with the Punches." I thought it was a unique take on that kind of song. Divorce tunes are usually crushing, so to have them do one that's this catchy pop song with this loud, blaring keyboard line was pretty cool.

I didn't like "Roll Tide" at first either, but that one grew on me. "Hey Lover" is pretty disposable, but it's fun enough. And like you said, not their song.

I interviewed Griffin around the time of Stories Don't End (never posted the interview, because the call quality was so bad that I couldn't understand half of what he was saying), but he said his favorite song on the album was "Side Effects." I was pretty shocked by that.

 

Side Effects is also bottom 5 for me but I never understood why people don't like Hey Lover. I love that song and I like their version of it better than the original.

 

This album's boring me. sorry

 

I absolutely love both "Hey Lover" and "Roll Tide". Passionately. I don't usually care for covers much at all, but that one works so well for me, and they really made it their own. "Side Effects" never stood out to me one way or the other, as great or bad per se, but it's a solid song on a great album.

I just went back and sampled all of their albums to try and figure out what my least favorite song of theirs is, and I know I'm just echoing what others have said, but they have a staggering amount of great songs. Between my not being crazy about the mid-section of their new album, and seeing what I don't like on their older albums, it's clear to me that I definitely like their slower songs a lot less than their faster, more uptempo ones. A lot of times with their slower songs it feels to me like they are holding themselves back and purposely keeping the energy bottled up when the songs themselves wanna open up a little bit and let it rip. I realize I just mixed metaphors big time but thats why Taylor is the songwriter here not me.

Honestly, I find a lot of North Hills to be kind of boring when I try to listen to the whole thing all the way through nowadays. Going through their other albums, songs like "Moon in the Water", "We're All Gonna Die" the song and "Now That It's Too Late, Maria" stand out to me as the weaker tracks. I know "Maria" is a song a lot of people love, and most of their fans think of that entire album as a flawless masterpiece, but I absolutely fell in love with the livelier and more rocking version of that song that they played live for a while before the album came out.

My least favorite song of theirs would have to be the album version of "As If By Design". It is so different than the rest of that album, and the instrumentation and arrangement always just strikes me as a joke, as if they are just ----ing around and tossing off a weird version, when its the closer of the album and should send the whole thing off on a strong note.

 

I love "Maria" so much. Just gorgeous writing and beautiful guitar work. Love "Moon on the Water," too. That one and "Million Dollar Bill" were the two that stood out to me the most the first time I listened to Nothing Is Wrong. They aren't my favorites anymore, but they were the ones where I was like, "Yep, going to love this band."

 

I’ve always preferred the slower Dawes songs. My Way Back Home That Western Skyline, A Little Bit of Everything, and Something in Common are right at the top for me. I think that’s why I don’t have the issue with this new album that others seem to have. I’m ok with the amount of slower tunes on it and Crack the Case is prob my favorite, it’s just that this isn’t as strong of a batch of songs as some of their previous albums for me.

 

That's where my thesis falls apart, because "A Little Bit of Everything" might be my favorite Dawes song of all time, and it has been since the first time I heard it.

 

Slow Dawes songs are the bomb. I just think this album could use one extra uptempo number.

 

from a window seat was the first i heard from them and it's still my fave. they need more riffs.

 

Crack the Case is the best song I’ve heard in 2018.

 

Have I Will Run and Crack the Case (Live) on dropbox if anyone wants em

 

Yes please.

 

I Will Run