The National - First Two Pages... & Laugh Track Album • Page 13

Boxer then TWFM then Sleep then IAETF

 

England is a great song

 

SWB came out when I was going through a ton of personal shit and didn’t listen to it until like a year or so after it came out and it never clicked with me.

 

My hot take is that the production on Alligator is ass

 

I get it

 

For the 15th time in this thread, my hot takes are that 1) HV, despite juggernauts like Bloodbuzz and Terrible Love, was an identity misstep that they smartly course-corrected with TWFM and 2) people who joined the National love train with HV are a special breed who still view that identity misstep as the National’s actual, true identity (and subsequently tend to hold sometimes wild opinions about the records that came before and after).

 

them making an album they wanted to is an "identity misstep"? speak on that

 

Are you asking how it’s an identity misstep or are you stating that you disagree and that, if it’s an album a band intended to make, then it can’t be an identity misstep? Or both?

 

end run of alligator is the peak

 

how is it an identity misstep?

 

Complete Mountain Almanac - Complete Mountain Almanac (January 27, 2023) • forum.chorus.fm

 

There is no TWFM or SWB without HV.

 

The only misstep on HV was not using the alt. version of Terrible Love

 

The sound of the recordings on HV is punchier and more immediate. Some of the songs are underdeveloped and simpler in comparison to their albums that came before and after. After HV, TWFM explored the same terrain but it was done with a more subdued, thoughtful approach that is closer to the kind of slow-build, long-term band they are.

Another way of saying it is that HV is a lot like the record most bands understandably make when they blow up but the difference is that most bands make that record 2-3 times and the National made it once. So, it’s a mini-outlier that can be pointed out and not part of a big decline malange.

 

I agree. IMO, TWFM is what HV would have sounded like if it was just a quiet follow up to Boxer with no expectations and the usual subtle growth they show between records.

 

As a relative hv hater (it’s good just not classic!!), I’ve always had trouble squaring that it’s both kind of obnoxious in its grandiose swings (England) but also pretty downtrodden and dark even for them (not much upbeat outside of bloodbuzz). It somehow has always felt to me like they picked the weirdest possible combo of retreading some of boxer, trying to become more arena friendly, and exploring something more artistically adventurous in its darker songs. It’s kind of a miracle it all kind of works, for the most part - at the end of the day I have a hard time saying if it’s that it feels a little off overall that holds it back for me, or it’s just that it’s kind of short on what I consider top tier National songs.

 

I disagree but this is an interesting way of thinking about HV

 

Also agreed. When they debuted the song on Fallon, I believe before it had been played live or at least shared online, it was magical. It was weird that they used such a different take.

 

Yeah, it’s an odd take that I wouldn’t necessarily expect but respect.

 

Real weirdo hours in the National thread. HV is top three

 

The national records are prolly all between like a 7.5 and an 8.5. But there’s so many incredible songs, and their live shows rock, so they get to be kind of the platonic idea of a mid-oughts to mid-10s indie rock band.

 

HV 7.4

 

High Violet is my favorite followed by I Am Easy to Find. I don't know if their the "best" albums but they are the two I return to the most by far.