Customer Reviews

Difference Between Houses & Homes: Lost Songs

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Ah. B-sides, the much sought-after thorn in the sides of completists everywhere. I, myself, had got as many of these as possible, but a few stayed out of reach ('And The Bit Just Chokes Them' from 'Sucker and Dry' and 'A Disruption in Our Lines of Influence' from 'Disruption'), so, when this release was announced, I pre-ordered it right away. Along with all these classic, out-of-print 7” tracks we get two new tracks: 'Dispenser' and 'I Thought There'd Be More Than This' (a connector to 'Proposals', from 'The Storms of Early Summer: Semantics of Song'), both older songs from Cursive's early days.

Cursive has always been one of those bands that you can either love or hate—I know, I know, that's said about a lot of bands, but here it's true, I think: you can either like dissonance or not. And Cursive has plenty of dissonance. So, if you're a big fan, buy this. If not, get the hell out of here and start with something a little more whole: 'Domestica' is their finest album to date, followed very closely with 'The Ugly Organ'.

B-side compilations are never a good place to start with any band; they're too eclectic and hard to connect with—albums are put together for a reason; the songs go together (whether by content or sound), are meant to fit together, and need each other for air. That's why 'best of' records always suck so much—good songs need other songs like them to stay alive. Here, the songs are fantastic in themselves, but only when you're listening strait through them are you even sure of what's going on.

The most interesting thing about this collection is that all of the songs were recorded before their current roster—Stephen Pederson ('Criteria', 'The White Octave') was a member back then, forming a foil with frontman Tim Kasher. Their guitars battled and cut each other, then settled down at pivotal moments. Later, Steve would leave to go to college (and form 'The White Octave'), and Tim would leave to be married. After his divorce (which was, judging from 'Domestica', quite painful), Tim returned and picked up where he left off, sans Steve, who was replaced by 'Lullaby for the Working Class' mainstay Ted Stevens. With this dynamic, they recorded the most important album to date, 'Domestica', before picking up another stray: cellist Gretta Cohn, to record an e.p., a few splits, and another full-length album.

This cd collects all the old 7 inches from Cursive and has 2 new unreleased songs. These songs are perfect if you want to find out how cursive got where they are. When the band first started they had steve pederson of the now defunct white octave and his new band Criteria. Steve Pederson and Tim Kasher are what made cursive who they are. They built the foundation. Later came Ted Stevens and Gretta Cohn.

If you like NEW CURSIVE... find out how they got to where they are with the purchase of this cd. It will help you appreciate the band alot more.

Lost songs and loose ends indeed, this album is quite a collection of sporatically recorded music.This CD has the same melodious entwinement between instruments that a real Cursive fanatic has grown to love. At first I was disapointed with this album because it just didn't have the usual cursive "feel" to it; but once I started to really listen to the whole song-not just the lyrics or the instruments, but the WHOLE song-I reallly began to like this album. For a newcomer- Domestica is the best stepping stone that you can get.BUT,for an avid Cursive fan this the perfect CD.Enjoy. -Sherman.

i'm a big cursive fan. this is a collection of old songs and b-sides. there's a lot of treats in here like "the bit just chokes them" and "sucker & dry." "polar" has a bass line that goes on forever and then the ROCK is unleashed!

i only have one complaint about this collection, and that is i liked different versions of two songs - "a disruption in the normal swing of things" and i think "a disruption in our lines of influence." both versions of these songs are good, but i much prefer the other versions. you might have to get those online. interestingly enough, i brought up this complaint on the message board and the bass player said they actually didn't realize these different versions were shipped out to be put on this cd.

They aren't blowing up the charts, but believe me when I say that things are alot different. In college I was buying these 7" inches and begging computer geeks to burn them on to discs so I could take them in my car. It's come a long way from flipping through vinyl singles at the since gone, Gillman's Record Lair in El Paso, Tx, to grabbing a copy at my neighborhood best buy ( don't judge, it's on my way to work). Let me just say that it feels great to hear these re-mastered and loud. Don't get me wrong, I love saddle creek but some of those wax pressings especially the disruption re-print(black disc, as opposed to original transaparant orange), and sucker and dry(which I could never sync the rpm's w/ the opening riff) just never gave the songs thier proper sound. And i'm not a vinyl hater but these songs just had to be heard everywhere, and all the time. The only complaint I have is that both disruption songs seem to be either mastered completely different or just alternate recordings alltogether. Also the opening track, which i had never heard, is good, but as far as cursive go, a little dated.

Key tracks: Pivotal, Sucker and Dry, A Disruption in the normal swing of things, and A Disruption in our lines of influence. but they're all good.

The songs themselves are all pretty decent, Dispenser has been one of my favorite Cursive songs. The problem is they also left a lot out. With all those b-sides and 7-inch tracks you'd think they would have made this compilation more than 12 tracks.
If you can't get the tracks elsewhere, buy this, but only as a last resort.

hah, first review. anyway, i pirated this like a month before it came out, and a friend persuaded me not to listen until it came out and he'd buy me the cd, he's one of those cd buying freaks. so anyway, i slipped on the 7th and i really like it. my favorite song is nostalgia, which is good if you like the newer cursive, and polar and icebreakers are good if you like the old cursive. so anyway, solid cd from my favorite band, but 4 stars because it's not original and the songs don't exactly blow me away, but it's worth a buy. it's very mellow. if you want to check out cursive, i suggest you get domestica and if you're still interested the ugly organ, then this and then the older stuff starting with storms of early summer.