Round of 32: (7) Jimmy Eat World - Futures vs. (39) Prince - Purple Rain Bracket • Page 5

the production on purple rain is pretty close to perfection, however. a master class.

 

Man, I love what Norton did on that album. Those songs sound so big and lush and beautiful. I think @cshadows2887 has criticized it for sounding a little too “radio rock,” which I get, but I wish more rock albums sounded like it, tbh. There’s a great album from this year from a band called Tree River that shoots straight for the big, anthemic emotions of Futures, but I wish they had a little more punch in the production department to really take the songs to that next level.

 

“radio rock” is a good description of why it doesn’t work for me, that’s a better way of putting it. like, i don’t need my emo band to sound like muse.

 

Isn’t Jimmy Eat World radio rock?

 

What can I say, I’m a sucker for emo that sounds like that. Another favorite of mine from this era is the Gil Norton Dashboard album. Feel like he was one of the few people who could make bands like that sound massive and mainstream without losing the emotional punch that built their fanbases.

 

I couldn't not vote for Futures, but I just listened to Purple Rain for the first time in a minute, and man, that's such a fucking masterpiece. Also, every time I listen through that album, I can't help but immediately go watch the "Purple Rain" performance from the Super Bowl. Do yourself a favor and watch it now if you haven't in awhile.

 

Just had the memory unlocked of that Darling Nikki cover by Foo Fighters. God there was really a period where that played like every hour on the radio

 

didn’t prince play best of you during the SB as a response?

 

Absolutely referring to the guitar tones. "Work" is a great example, one of the heaviest sounding choruses I can think of on what is essentially a pop-rock song

 

From that year alone, I'd say it sounds better than Three Cheers, Where You Want to Be, even ...Is a Real Boy. All albums I enjoy that sound fine to me, but I genuinely think the recording on Futures sounds immaculate and as an album it rivals the quality of any of them, ...Is a Real Boy maybe being the only one that gives it a true run for its money.

 

Wow, I’d somehow never connected the two but yeah, that’s exactly what happened. Seeing some conflicting stories, but a few articles that indicate Prince wasn’t stoked about them covering his music so he did it out of spite

 

Fun fact: Prince also covered "The Middle" lol. This is not a joke

 

Agree with this wholeheartedly. I think if the songs are there, this kind of production can really emphasize certain strengths and even make the music more dynamic, which seems ironic considering most people would consider "radio-rock" to have a more generic sound. But it's also part of the reason Diamond Eyes is one of my favorite Deftones records. It's heavy, it's catchy, and it sounds good as hell.

 

i’d say three cheers and wywtb sound much better, and i like futures much more than one of those albums and about the same amount as the other. honestly is a real boy’s production is one of the few things going for it too. again, bleed american sounds better than almost all of these albums and i like futures wayyyy more

 

i mean, it doesn’t sound “bad” and it sounds better than, like, METN and a lot of other ap.net bands. i’m sure this is how they wanted it to sound too, i.e. a “big loud rock record,” after the debacle of BA’s release. that kinda blown out sound though just almost never works for me. it’s similar on TBS’ Louder Now, a much worse album, and on Songs for the Deaf, an album i love, both by eric valentine.

 

Disagree on literally almost every count haha it is what it is

 

Have never liked how Three Cheers sounds. I hear the hallmarks of the loudness wars way more on that album than on Futures. Nothing sounds crisp or distinct. It's all just a big, loud soup. I like this "dynamic edit" of it way more: https://www.reddit.com/r/MyChemical...re_dynamic_version_of_three_cheers_for_sweet/

 

Chris has the exact opposite feeling. He has said numerous times how producers really messed with his sound on Dusk & Summer, made him change his lyrics to fit for the masses and made him lose the emotional connection he put in the songs. If you find some of the early demos from then you can hear original lyrics and arrangements that got scrapped for the overly produced arena rock sound. That's the main reason he followed up Dusk with a low key acoustic album to little fanfare, and doesn't play any but the required songs off of it live.

 

I personally think the only rock music that should sound clean and crisp is label major-ass major label pop punk or “pop rock” (by which I do not mean bands that have success, but a certain style - which to be fair I rarely listen to), the rest should sound just a little bit fucked up. That’s what I prefer as a listener at least, but I’m not as a heavy a listener as most of you are when it comes to rock music.

I for example like how “bad” the recent Menzinger album sounds, I wouldn’t want it to sound clean, seemingly unlike many other people.

Anyway, it’s always interesting to see you argue rock production, because I don’t know much about it.

 

Gil Norton didn't do Dusk & Summer though. That was Don Gilmore and Daniel Lanois. Gil produced A Mark, A Mission.

I know Chris feels that way about Dusk, and I've listened to the revisited versions of that, A Mark, and Alter the Ending on streaming. In all three cases, I think the originals are significantly better than the revisited versions, but I have gotten the sense that he likes his acoustic records more than his electric records.

 

I mean, I guess the line I'd draw is that I think Futures is through and through a pop-rock record. I think it loses a lot of its shine if you get a less crisp version of it (which, those versions do exist; there's a Mark Trombino version of the record that sounds a lot messier and they sold a double album version of it that included demo versions of all the tracks).

I like how "bad" the recent Menzingers record sounds too, actually, but I think we're in the minority on that. A lot of people hate how that album sounds.

 

I think the problem there is that some people did not want or expect that. But I wasn't talking about Futures specifically. I just wanted to join the production talk

 

That's right! Got those two switched. Norton did do Vindicated though. If I remember correctly, Dusk had a producer and then they switched it up when it wasn't working out. I could be wrong though.

Yeah. All the revisted albums are worse than the originals. They sound recorded through an iPhone in one take each. If you can get a hold of the original demos / early live plays before recorded though you might be in for a surprise. Dusk and Summer and Heaven Here are drastically better.

 

Pretty sure it’s Don Gilmore on Vindicated. He definitely started Dusk with Lanois, but I’m not sure what happened there. I would love to hear the full Lanois version of that album.

As for the demos, the album version of “Dusk and Summer” is literally a top five all-time favorite song for me, so I have trouble believing I’d find a different version of it “drastically better,” but I’ll track it down!

 

To me it's clear Gil Norton did an amazing job especially after hearing the demos! Lots of small changes that really make the sound original for the song etc., I personally love it, agree Clarity might be more genuine, or however you want to call it, but Futers is an all time best pop rock record to me, very important as well taking into account that it would be the starting few years of me getting all those albums with a roll-out, not re-discovering them digging back, like I had to do with Clarity, with BE I still didn't fully grasp it really.