An Ultimate Record

Yesterday night I listened to Evanescence's first release, Fallen, three times. Straight. This behavior is not unusual for me when listening to this record. This CD remains to be the only record I can listen to dozens of times without getting bored. I bought the disc at least two years ago and play it still on a regular basis. I think a lot of other people have an 'ultimate CD' like this, probably a different one, and I also think the reasons people inherently like those records vary from person to person. But here are my reasons.

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First, the CD must be subjectively different from other records you have listened to. For example, Fallen is the only CD I know that combines hard rock rhythms with definitively soft Alternative vocals. If a CD is too similar to others you play, it will get boring/repetitive or initially not seem interesting. The way Fallen is different to me can be heard in sustained vocals and greatly varied tracks. I dont know if you guys recognized this but it also seems that I hear something new each time i play the same song

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Secondly, the record must not have any/many fillers or crap tracks. I like every song on fallen. I can name them in order. I know almost the complete lyrics to all of them. In other words, I think you must like all of the tracks to enjoy repetitively listening to the disc. For me, this means the tracks must vary in intennsity, length, volume, etc. but none of them so diferent that they are no longer to your taste. (ie, if a song is 1:40 odds are I wont like it very much).

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Finally, you have to agree with/like the lyrics and themes to the album. In Fallen, the lyrics rebvolve around a central message of loss. The different tracks describe the same message in different tones (sad, angry, etc.). I think to it needs to fit whatever mood you are in so you can play it whenever. Therefore, it needs to have some amount of sympathy and variation. You need to really connect with the artist at the given moment.

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Anyway, my points in this were these. One, to ask if any of you have an album like that, and what your reasons are for liking it so much. Two, to ask whetheryou think it is more important for a band to produce an overall good album, or good songs. An interesting point being that Fallen is definately one of my favorite albums, but none of the tracks are in my favorite songs. Anyway, feedback?

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You are probably going to be mad at me for saying this but: An Ocean Between Us.. I love this album soooo much. I listen to it all the time. But I have to admit I am more like Val and I do not play through a CD, but I have to say 90% of the time im listining to that CD. Out of my whole music library. And it is one of my only CD's where I know most of the songs: (not in order)

1) Nothing left
2) An Ocean Between Us
3) Bury Us all
4) Seperation
5) Within Destruction
6) Forsaken
7) This is Who we are
Comfort Betrays
9) Departed
10) I Never Wanted

Now the ones I had to look at itunes:

11) The Sound of Truth
12) Wrath Upon Ourselves

So I know most of the album. And remember I can't remember crap when it comes to lyrics, band memebers, song names, or albums. I don't even know what album crazy train is on off the top of my head (I checked it is blizzard of OZ). But AILD has been there for me for a long time and I listen to it when I am happy, sad, angry, or anything else im feeling. I also understand their message in their songs, i.e nothing left is about how we all try to fit in and we lose our own individual personality. And sometimes I see that in our school.

Hmm do those albums have any central themes, etc. Put another way, what makes the album more than just like a compilation of songs, and more like a set of similar songs. How are the albums different from another. Do the songs go in an order for a reasson? Or is it just a collection?

I would say the general message in An Ocean Between Us is along the lines of:

We have lost individuality, seperation, and loss. I would say that because Nothing left, Bury Us all, This is Who we are, are the main songs about individuality. And the others are about seperation and loss. (In general)

yea id say thats mostly waht all music is.. a way to find something out about yourself and then let people know in a creative way

haha always good to agree with the stranger. Hi Jakob. You are right kinda. Or just ewmotions in general.

AILD wrote:

I don't know who you are asdfghjkledzepplin, but thats very true.

FYI > Thats Jakob Parady.

hehehehe
for secret santa at my moms work she had heard some evans=escence that she thought was pretty so she sked for the open door cd. then she saw the lyrics and listened to some of the songs and was surprised. she doesnt like it.

Uggh Open Door is really a LOT worse than Fallen. I mean its not that its bad, but to me Fallen was like... I don't know. Incredible. Like haunting, and Im not making stuff up Im serious this is how I feel about it. Like I could sit and Think about nothing else but how amazing it sounds for hours and hours. It makes me shiver. Get it? And open door is really nothing like that. I mean, its nice, good vocals, nice message, variety, etc., but it doesn't captivate me in the same way. Actually not at all. Whatever.

ITS JP, BIG CHEIF, JAKOB PARADY

yay for caps!

what does you r post have to do with anything? I am just curious.

val didnt know who jakob was and jeff said so and val didnt notice or something cuz he didnt confirm. why do you have to ask like that? im not spamming.

I was just curious. I did not know. I thought everybody knew already that it was jacob, apparently not. I didn't say you were spamming, again I was just asking.

what happened to scotts post? IT WAS MURDERED

kreechen... me tinks u dun eet. :suspect:

:tongue:

yah wtf?????!?!?!?!?!?
just cus i dont like what your doing doesnt mean you delete my post. that had exactly to do with what we were talkin about. what is all this cencorship for. If it isnt swearing or spam just leave it don't just delete it if im voicing my opinion. An opinion which you obviously dont like. You better not delete this. but I won't delve deeper into the subject...

Ya i have to say scotts right. I mean i understand you want to keep it clean but this is like Fahrenheit 451 (KillKILLKILL)

omg, shut up joe, go home. if u have something that stupid to say, just delete. We dont want to see it.

im guessing you are reffering to what joe said about fahrenheit 451?

what?? no edits?? w/e. what i was gonna say was that i actually meant it but i thought it was a kill that i said it like that. sorry for the confusion.