Old Me Vs the New You [Import]

Laptop | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Trust Me Records
• ASIN: B00005O6NN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,183 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The New You

2. Back Together

3. I Can't Say Hi

4. Whole Wide World

5. Not the Right Time

6. Generational Pattern

7. Gimme the Nite

8. 21st Century World

9. Social Life

10. Cool Scouts

11. Myth America

12. We Never Made It to Venice

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars bitter harmony, January 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Old Me Vs the New You (Audio CD)

With seductive vocals reminiscent of roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and a penchant for dark humoured lyrics, Laptop's second album continues the themes of his first: mocking the music industry and conftronting past lovers. The versatile rocker forms unusual sounds through the synthesis of a slide guitar, Nord Lead 2 keyboard, and a White-hall organ. Mixed with cutting verses, this release is bitter harmony.

5.0 out of 5 stars sex in the city, for boys!, October 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Old Me Vs. the New You (Audio CD)

With seductive vocals reminiscent of roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and a penchant for dark humoured lyrics, Laptop's second album continues the themes of his first: mocking the music industry and conftronting past lovers. The versatile rocker forms unusual sounds through the synthesis of a slide guitar, Nord Lead 2 keyboard, and a White-hall organ. Mixed with cutting verses, this release is bitter harmony.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Proverbial Difficult Second Album, October 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Old Me Vs the New You (Audio CD)

While Jesse Hartman's second is a strong album, the appeal isn't quite as immediate as it was with _Opening Credits_. The 80s/new wave influence is considerably more muted, for starters. While this might appeal to some, it also means the album's less likely to draw retro relics like yours truly, and I'm pretty sure a lot of that album's sales were due to people drawn to the artist by that association.

It's also lacking in anything as delightfully malicious as "I'm So Happy You Failed" or "The Reason", or as offbeat as the wonderfully synthy cover of Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me". While the lyrical themes are darkly ironic as before, they're also more subtle in their delivery, and the lyrics themselves reward/require closer listening to fully appreciate.

On a more positive note, the album's got a more cohesive, consistent sound - whereas _Opening Credits_ was a handful of strong singles pasted together with weaker filler, this one's more even. Nothing hits the peaks of his debut, but there's nothing you want to skip either (well, unless you've developed a strong aversion to trendy vocal effects like me). However, when you hit material like "Whole Wide World", which sounds for all the world like something Stephin Merritt might have recorded, the consistency seems more a liability than anything, since you just know Merritt would have sandwiched the track between mutant techno-synth-country and a punk showtune sung in Bulgarian, or something equally eclectic, all the while retaining an appropriately high level of misanthropy and cynicism.

So, only 3 out of 5 for this. It rewards repeated listening more than the first album, but as the difficult second album it's position in the grand scheme of things has yet to be decided, and will only become apparent when the *next* album comes out.