The Menzingers - After the Party (February 3, 2017) Album • Page 79

I think the biggest shift that I miss from the Meznos over time is the loss of the irish/folk punk aspect that you hear on songs like Kentucky Gentleman and Male Call and their older stuff.

I also wish that they could rerecord Sunday Morning with better production

 

Livin Ain't Easy has grown on me a lot, I love it as a song but musically it's still an odd note on which to close the record. If anything, my complaint with the record is that it sorta sputters toward the end; I'm not big on the title track.

 

The closer maybe doesn't sound like what I'd expect from a closing track, but I think it's a great song and as others have said, it makes a lot of sense lyrically to wrap things up. I don't think I'd ever consider The Menzingers a band that are known for their closers anyway. I think their strengths lay more in kicking albums off.

 

The chorus on Livin' Ain't Easy somehow reminds me of a dystopian-sounding version of Do They Know It's Christmas Time lol.

 

I think Chamberlain Waits is still my favorite closer but Livin Aint Easy is still a really good, more mellow rock song.

Wild to think this band has released 4 of the best albums of this decade. I hope this album makes them explode, they deserve so much more attention than they get.

 

Narrative or not it's still changing the way an artist presents their art, albums are 99% of the time ordered a certain way for a reason. That doesn't mean all album sequences are good obviously but I don't believe in changing an artists presentation for no reason other than self satisfaction. It just seems like a waste of time and a weird practice and I think it's comparable to a movie because I think whole albums are a valid, fuck, a great form of artistic expression that deserves your respect. It's why I've never been about buying like 4 songs off an album and not the rest

 

The artist's intent means little to me at the point that I'm consuming the art, though. I don't reorder track lists very often, but I don't think doing so compromises the art simply by modifying it into a more personally enjoyable form.

 

People who rearrange albums are probably the same as those weirdos who watch movies on 1.5x so they have more time to watch movies


Smh!

 

I mean I've had this conversation a thousand times lol, people can do whatever they want, I can think that what they're doing is stupid as shit

 

this topic always gets hostile lets just move on

Thick As Thieves is maybe my favorite Tom song

 

It's my least favorite Tom song here haha

 

Watch them throw us a curveball on the next album of Eric or Joe writing and singing a song and watch this thread self-destruct as we debate the introduction of another Menz songwriter.

 

I believe you forgot the "boxes labeled former you"(Wild Years) as a reference to 'Nothing Feels Good Anymore', "as the image of a former you".

And I also thought the "We used to get high"(Black Mass) as a reference to whoever 'Casey'("we used to get high and listen to our boredom") is about, since the rest of the song seems to be potentially that.

 

Man I really love this. Have only been able to listen through twice but am so happy, and I know its only going to grow. Early standouts (apart from the songs we got pre-release) are Midwestern States and Your Wild Years. But man its so good.

 

Ooo yeah that's a good one. Seems likely.

 

You're my least favorite Tom song here

 

The decade taken hostage by my own guilty conscience may be a reference back to Asshole just because of the general idea of both of the songs and that same sentiment being expressed in both lyrics using the word "hostage" but it could well be a stretch and i accept that

 

Definitely a call back to Gates when he sings "Souveniers of Happiness in the moment" from Wild Years. Fuck this record is so good.

 

Yeah there's a few super obvious ones and then there's some that are kind of a stretch but still cool to speculate on

 

I meant to say that the comparison doesn't work not that I think people should rearrange things

 

Does anyone here have a list of the Greg and Tom songs from their previous albums? I just suddenly really want to make playlists of their songs.

 

CW:
Greg: I Was Born, Deep Sleep, Time Tables, Tasker Morris Station, Rivalries, Chamberlain Waits
Tom: Who's Your Partner, Home Outgrown, Male Call *though they both sing*, So It Goes, No We Didn't, Come Here Often?

OTIP
Greg: Good Things, Obituaries, Gates, Sun Hotel, Mexican Guitars, On the Impossible Past, Casey, I can't Seem to tell
Tom: Burn after writing, Ava House, sculptors and vandals, nice things, freedom bridge

Rented World:
Greg: I don't wanna be an asshole anymore, Rodent, Where your Heartache Exists, Transient Love, Nothing Feels Good Anymore, In Remission, When You Died
Tom: Bad Things, My Friend Kyle, The Talk, Hearts Unknown, Sentimental Physics

 

Thanks

 

Quoting this so I can always remember.

 

It's still blowing my mind that a band five albums into their career are still putting out just perfect music. Every album seems to come out at a time that I've needed it terribly. 4 amazing albums in a row, they're just such a special band.