Customer Reviews

Another Fine Day

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First thing I absolutely ADORE about this CD is that it sounds like a mix-tape. The songs are almost all collaborations, but bear the markings of the person who brought the demo to the sessions or such thing. Gary Louris is in fine voice as ever, and to his credit, really doesn't bring songs that evoke a Jayhawks-styled sound. Craig Johnson really has the hooks and arrangements going, with a POP-tastic track "5-22-02" really standing out (with its Suburbs-like horn vamping). Just try getting that one out of your head...
Tweedy actually plays a more minor role in this set, but the songs here are all so strong it suggests they really had a lot of material to choose from. If you listen to this without distraction, you'll catch a lot of the nuances and be hooked right away. If you listen once and think little of it, just spin it again the next day or so and after a few listens you'll find it very delightful. Timing-wise it was perfect: Released in the early days of summer, as it has a bright, cheerful, summery feel to it. Watch for an EP of some of the other "out takes" in coming months, and if you have a chance, catch their tour in September '06--I saw the Minneapolis show and was blown away at their set...

Damn. Now this is more like it. Up until now, supergroups were tarred with tarnished and gag inducing brush that Asia foisted upon the term back in the early 80's. And in their defense, Golden Smog had been content to release good music that somehow drifted underneath the radar of too many listeners. But the opening chords of "You Make It Easy" from Another Fine Day wipes that forever away. And the ultimately too-frickin'-catchy for it's own sake "5-22-02" hooks you in for the duration. Rest assured, there isn't a bad song on this disc. But for the sake of discussion, try out "Beautiful Mind," "Listen Joe," and "Hurricane." And if for some reason that defies any semblance of logic, that doesn't sell you on this album, try out "Cure For This." This is a song that deserves loving treatment by Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoff on their Under the Covers" album. What could have been an exercise of self-indulgence arrives as one of 2006's finest albums.

Went out to buy this record today, the day of release, due to the amazing predecessor, "Weird Tales". I'm a big Jayhawks fan, as well as a big Wilco fan, but this album caught me a bit by surprise. It's very rocking in production and songcraft, with only a few acoustic tunes. The majority of the record is wall-of-sound rock & roll...like Oasis covering Whiskeytown... which results in one the most thrilling listens I've had when first popping in a new CD and letting it play. I recommend this album to anyone who loves great rock & roll or Americana with some soul and energy...

First off... don't listen to self professed Smog anti-fans like Wheeler. This is a great disc. It follows true to the evolution of this band. I hate it when people judge music through anticipation. There is nothing weak here whatsoever. To try and label this is also a crime. Powerpop? No. Sincere, yes. No Smog disc has sounded like the last... it is no different here. Louris and Tweedy are shining stars in the industry. They just reside in a galaxy that most do not choose to look into. For shame!

Okay, these user reviews are plagued by a high degree of subjectivity, though what is objective about music? Plainly speaking, after listening to AFD for four weeks now, I believe this disc is quite exceptional both in its variety, the quality of songwriting, and overall production. This was my first exposure to Golden Smog, but since I have explored (that is, purchased) "Weird Tales." I just don't have the same feeling toward that disc as I do for AFD. For the record, I am not overly enamored with Wilco's recorded output, and had no previous exposure to the Jayhawks. Another Fine Day, then, needs no antecedents to make a salient musical impression. I am not given to hyperbole, but can best sum up my feeling about AFD this way: I have already downloaded it in its entirety from ITMS, but am now ordering two physical discs from Amazon--one for my 24-year old son, and one just for posterity.

I love Golden Smog, the Jayhawks, Wilco, , but this is NOT those people or normal Smog.(I don't think there is such a thing as "normal" in any kind of music) Just as Monsters of Folk is not M. Ward by himself, My Morning Jacket, or Brighteyes. or........Middle Brother is not Dawes, Delta Spirit, or Deer Tick. What happens when talent such as these people get together and something different comes out than their usual fare. CHANGES ALL THE TIME! That being said, "Another Fine Day" should still sound like Golden Smog, right? Hold on, the reviewer that said this band was like a bunch of guys sittin around drinking beer and thinking up good stuff. Well the day(s) they sat around thinking this album up they were in a ROCKING good mood. And it shows!!! More up front, in your face, ROCK N ROLL!!!!!!!!!! If viewed from that point of view it's one of their best. (I think)(you don't have to agree with me) Anyway, I could hardly believe what I was hearing when I cranked up my 500 watts of monoblock amps into my 12 floorstanding ( 6 JBL cira 1970's Studio Monitors, Infinity Kappa 9's and a couple of POLKS and a pair of Axiom's.) speakers. This album is one I haven't stopped listening to since it came out in '06. I've been cranking on my speakers and amps since I got the Chicken Pox, Measles, Mumps over a two year period and discovered being sick and laying in bed wasn't so bad if you had good ol rock n roll to listen to. (I was also into Harry Belafonte and Calypso at that time also.)(that was 57 years ago)So I give it 5 stars---not because other people like it---but because, I LIKE IT! Thanks for listening !!!(reading)

This is for people who have lives who are NOT obsessed with their own take on the Tweedy/Tupelo/Smog sub-cult.
People who like OTHER things may find this to be a fine album by any standard. The songs work, the vocals blend. Duke Ellington said there are only two kinds of music: Good music and Bad music. Just listen. This is Good music.

I have never awaited the release of a recorded piece of music as anxiously as I did the latest from Golden Smog. So of course, when I popped it in the player, I was instantly stunned. I was expecting to hear something like "To Call My Own" come blasting out of the speakers, and that is not what I heard. In its place was something much more studio-sculpted and modern sounding. Gone was the roots rock looseness that had shaped this collective's earlier sound.

But my frame of reference is different now than it was when I first heard "To Call My Own," and this could account for this music's immediate sense of strangeness. A lot has changed since my impulsive purchase of "Weird Tales" some time in 2003. When I found that disc I had read a review or two that had called it "aural prozac" and that was just what I was in need of. So I spent some of what little cash I had at the time on a used copy at the local indie record store, hoping that the lightly worn disc would play alright in my stereo at home. It did, and it wormed its way deep into my consciousness, became the cornerstone of my music collection and shaped many of my purchases since that time. Basically, many of my listening choices since that time have been an attempt to recapture that feeling that took ahold of me when "To Call My Own" came roaring out of those speakers like a house on fire.

So here I am three years later. My life is much different now, a lot of the desperation of those times is gone. I had no problem springing for a store-bought copy of "Another Fine Day," knowing my finances would be more than OK. The career woes and bad relationships of the "Weird Tales" era of my life are now memories, thankfully. So of course this record isn't going to feel the same as "Weird Tales" did because back then everything I listened to seemed to have more urgency or speak more directly to my condition.

So I gave this album a deeper listen, and arrived at the fact that these boys have grown up, just like I did. Their use of sonic texturing, their cohesion as a band, the embracing of pop-rock, all suit their maturation and desire to explore new terrain. There are rootsy moments, like "Long Time Ago" (a wonderful song about dealing with the introduction of a new sibling into the narrator's life) and the stunning cover of the Kinks' "Strangers." Others, like the first two tracks and "Corvette," sound suited for modern rock radio. What struck me is that beneath the cleaner studio veneer, these guys are still having fun, rocking because they mean it, loving music in a way that too few groups do nowadays. Yeah Jeff Tweedy isn't as strong a voice in this group now (although his work is intergrated into the whole surprisingly well) but so what? This is basically an extension of the Jayhawks' later years, which is fine by me.

So in summation, I do lament the loss of some of the rootsiness. It does seem like a lot of the greats from the mid-to-late-90s alt-country revolution (hee hee) have turned into avant-garde-power-popsters, which is fine by me, but it was never until this point what Golden Smog was really about. Nonetheless, I am finding as I spin it more and more that this disc is an extension of rather than a departure from what made this band great in the first place. In their own way, these songs are quickly becoming new favorites. They'll find their place in my life and pretty soon, "Another Fine Day" will take its place alongside "Weird Tales" on the shelf dedicated to pure aural prozac. When that happens, it'll be a fine day indeed.

Since I've discovered iTunes I've been better able to put my music appreciation into perspective. Many work hours have been spent rating individual songs, where a rating of four or five is used for my all time favourite songs (they number in excess of five hundred). Three stars is reserved for songs that I'm always happy to hear, but that aren't what I would consider to be "stand out" tracks. And that's about where I'd put the vast majority of the songs from the latest Golden Smog album.

It's such a shame when a third of the tracks from the album's predecessor "Weird Tales" obtained the coveted four and five star status.

Perhaps it's because most of the songs have been co-written by Gary Louris, but this album's three-starness reminds me of a Jayhawks album where all the songs contain great hooks, but only one or two deliver their promised potential. If only Gary had come up with another "Until You Came Along" or the endlessly appealing "Jennifer Save Me".

It's now that I have to admit to being absolutely mad about Jeff Tweedy, and it might be that I'm not so keen on "Another Fine Day" because Jeff has only contributed to the writing of two of the songs. From my experience with the two previous Golden Smog albums, I've initially been attracted by the sweet hooks of Louris and lamented what seems to be a lack of effort from Tweedy, only to find Tweedy's strangely infectious and heartfelt vocals winding their way towards a four star rating or beyond.

With the above perspective, I have to say that there's something really special about the classic Tweedyesque "Long Time Ago". It sits nicely in the Golden Smog catalogue alongside "Please Tell My Brother" in that it's another simple acoustic song about love for one's family. And Tweedy sings it as if he means it. It's worth buying this album for that track alone.

In fact, it's definitely worth buying this album. The only thing wrong with it is that Golden Smog have produced much better material.

Maybe a few more listens will help, but this album reminds me in a lot of ways of Bubble Gum music from the late 60's. Way too cute. After eight years I expected a lot more.