Customer Reviews

Great Divide

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this album for $9 after I heard "If I Run" on the radio in 1996, and I've been a Semisonic fan ever since. About half the album is somewhat similar to "If I Run", which is a catchy little rock song it's tough not to like. I think "FNT" was on a movie soundtrack, and that's also a decent representation of what you can expect to hear on Great Divide.

The catchy, easy-going rock songs aren't the only reasons to get this album, though. Sometimes the band slows things down and just offers you a sad little love song or two. "Falling" may be my favorite song by the band, and other medium-paced songs like "Brand New Baby" and "The Prize" have grown on me enormously.

Great Divide is similar to Semisonic's more recent, first truly mainstream offering, Feeling Strangely Fine, which rode on the success of the single "Closing Time". I prefer Great Divide, but if you enjoy either album, you'll probably like the other one, too.

Semisonic get a little more excited on Great Divide, and it's a little rockier of an album -- possibly a better fit for fans who like "Closing Time" or "Singing in My Sleep" -- than Feeling Strangely Fine, but the band's style hasn't really changed.

Great Divide is an album that first caught me because I loved a few of the songs (If I Run, FNT, Down in Flames, Falling), but now it's an album I love because it really doesn't have any bad songs. My favorite albums are the ones I never use the forward button on, and Great Divide is one of those. The songs really grew on me, and the songs that didn't use to do much for me are now among my favorites.

Great Divide has lived in my CD player for 8 years now, and I think it's safe to say that I'll never get sick of it at this point. The funny thing is that, the first few times I listened to it, only a couple of songs struck me. Of course, the scrumptious "oo-ooh!" chorus of Delicious grabbed me right away, and FNT sizzles with electricity from the first listen, but most of the songs seemed less stellar. That didn't last long though. These songs are my adopted babies now.

I hesitate to label an album that didn't crest 100,000 copies sold as the greatest album of all time, but I will at least say that Great Divide is by far the best car soundtrack I've ever heard. Roll down those windows and crank it up!! I'm getting an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.

As a devout Semisonic fan, saying that 'Great Divide' is better than 'Feeling Strangely Fine' (one of the great rock albums of the 90's) is almost sacreligious, in a way. But I'm saying it. From the moment you first hear the opening lick to 'F.N.T.', you're sucked in for life. The whole album does that to you. I still don't know what my favorite song is, because they're all so good, but it's between 'F.N.T.', 'If I Run', 'Across the Great Divide', 'Falling', and 'In Another Life.' If you like your music with a beat that brings out the inner optimist in you, then buy this album!

Why, if it's so great, am I holding back the remaining star? A valid question: this album, in effect one of the most assured debut efforts ever (not counting the band's Pleasure EP) is deserving of another half-star, it's true, but while Great Divide is frequently irresistible, it doesn't quite reach legendary status. That said, I've heard very few albums that are so consistently listenable on a repeated basis. I first saw Semisonic, so surprisingly without their registering a memorable impact upon me, when they led off for Aimee Mann on the I'm With Stupid tour in 1996, a few months before this record's release. So I didn't even realize at first who was making the sweet but chunky music issuing from my friend Dave's car speakers. After hearing "If I Run", I was useless, and as with Mann's "I Should've Known" from Whatever, went on to play it over and over and OVER again on the 100 - mile ride back home; in fact, in excess of 1,000 total airings to date - no exaggeration. As he was a drummer that occasionally gigged, it and the movie "Phenomenon" became forever associated with my late brother's tumor-related travails. For that reason alone, Great Divide will always hold a very special place in my heart. But there are a host of other pleasures to be had with this record, just a little better than Feeling Strangely Fine, its far more successful follow-up (indeed, combine the stellar moments of both - specifically, "Closing Time", "Built To Last", "Singing In My Sleep", "DND", "Never You Mind" and "This Will Be My Year" with "FNT", "If I Run", "Great Divide", "Down In Flames", Falling", "In Another Life" and "I Feel For You" - you'll have one of THE all-time best albums in any genre, guaranteed). Classic Seventies AM radio touches abound, especially on the sardonic reincarnation parable "In Another Life", which closely references the Beach Boys' haunting harmonies by way of "Wishing You Were Here" (Chicago) and "Shannon" (Henry Gross) while still remaining original. Nor is it the only evocation; the title track is a gently surging, most happy marriage of Hawthorne's favorite sons and the Moody Blues. Semisonic stumbled badly with 2001's All About Chemistry and never regained its footing; listening (after much assumed resistance) to the samples for .....Chemistry provided by this site, I realize that it deserved a kinder fate - in some ways the material isn't at all far-removed from Songs About Jane, the final Kara's Flowers sessions that ultimately carried Maroon 5 to superstardom. It's not that the songs are terribly inferior; there just seems to be an element missing from the mix, and for me, it's unquestionably the 'crunch factor' that vitalizes both Great Divide and Feeling Strangely Fine. And had the music charmed in equal measure to those very cool suggestive but classy cover graphics, Semisonic's future might not now be in doubt (although the trio reunited in July 2006 for an impressive 7th Avenue Minneapolis gig, giving their fans hope for another record). Lead singer and composer Dan Wilson subsequently pursued a modest solo career, collaborating with Bleu for the absolutely stunning "Something's Gotta Give" but was elemental in the Dixie Chicks' quantum leap of kindred faith with Take The Long Way, while drummer Jacob Slichter wrote 'So You Wanna Be A Rock n' Roll Star', referred to by some book reviewers as one of the most witheringly funny and accurate accounts of popular music's business end. It would be interesting to see if I made it on to any of its pages but that, as they say, is another story.....(post-script: I didn't, and it is - really couldn't put it down!) Anyhow, one or two listens and it's abundantly clear that Great Divide demands a spot on any discerning music lover's 'go-to, no-brainer' list of favorite records.

This is one of the best cd's ever. The whole cd has great songs that pick me up when I'm down. "Down in Flames" and "Falling" are two of my favorite songs. The rock songs are a little harder than on Feeling Strangely Fine, but still great. It's the kind of cd where you put down the top of your convertable, turn your cd player up, and let the wind get in your hair on a great summer day. I know I do that.

Great Divide is without question one of the best records of the decade. Prior to forming Semisonic, Dan Wilson (singer-songwriter-guitar player) and John Munson (bass-backing vocals) played with Dan's brother Matt in a band called Trip Shakespeare. Trip is the only band I've heard who's even similar to Semisonic, But Semisonics song-writing is far superior to anything Trip did. Who knows why. Great Divide is bursting with cherubic sing-along pop classics. There are no bad tracks. It is certainly superior to their follow-up effort, Feeling Strangely Fine, which is also very good. One nice thing about Great Divide is that your enjoyment likely will increase the more you listen to it; so if you think it doesn't suit you after 1 spin, spin it again. This record is a pop gem so rare its value can't be measured in dollars. Happy Listening!

As the first major record debut, Semisonic's Great Divide is an album not to be shunned. This is one of the albums probably bought only after the success of "Closing Time" for most fans, but that's ok. It's probably best to start off w/ FSF anyway. Here, the Great Divide is more springy in it's music and less dramatic as w/ FSF.

"f.n.t." or fascinating new thing is a nice opener. They used it for that bacardi silver commercial, only thing was, that drink wasn't fascinating at all. The best song, and maybe the only single, "If I Run" is a classic. One listen will get you hooked, and will be begging for more. Songs such as "The Prize", "Down in Flames", and "In Another Life" each have an important role for making this album great. There are some that perhaps could be better such as the title track, "Across the Great Divide", "Delicious", and "No One Else" which aren't bad, but aren't exactly something that will knock your socks off.

A great debut for 2 later better albums.

One of my favorite CDs. And a very rare one of those CDs, which you can't listen, unless you're in a certain mood and the world around you is in the same mood.

All of the songs, even the sad ones, have such a certain upbeat, new, comforting, confidently fresh tone to them that I personally can not listen Great Divide unless it's spring (or autumn) and I feel great.

I had the privilige to listen the Band live in Chicago back in 1998 and would recommend everybody to see them in concert. Not only for the lively performance you'd expect from them but to just see three guys doing what they love to do, enjoying themselves, really caring for the fans and absorbing and reflecting back all the positive feedback in their music. I'm all keeps!

How on earth did this album slip under the radar? Great Divide is a wonderful mixture of exhilerating tracks like F.N.T. and mellowed out love songs like In Another Life. This is pop, but to pigeon-hole the style does a disservice to the universal appeal of this album. The songs might have a classic pop warmth, but the song-writing vocabulary and electricity transcend the genre.

Because the style doesn't bear too much resemblance to any other bands, the album may take a couple of listens to get used to. Afterwards, you'll fall in love with these songs. I highly recommend this album, especially as a daytime soundtrack for your car. Buy it and you won't regret it! 7 years later and it's still one of my two favorite albums (with Dark Side of the Moon).

Unfortunately the band didn't get a hit off of Great Divide, which I think is better than their most popular and well known cd to date, Feeling Strangely Fine. The music has grown on me a lot since I bought this. I agree with the other people who love"Falling". The song is the most amazing thing that the band has ever recorded. Great Divide is my favorite Semisonic cd and I hope that you love this music as much as I do.