Customer Reviews

Sycamore Meadows

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Prepare to be blown away! This is Butch's best album yet. The lyrics are phenomenal and definitely some of the most heart-felt he has ever done. This album absolutely oozes acoustic emotion and if it doesn't touch you in some way, you haven't been living life in this world. He also proves he hasn't lost his rock edge either...

HIGHLIGHTS:
"The Weight of Her" (if you don't think of Tom Petty when you hear this track, I don't know what rock you've been hiding under) -- brilliant track.

"Going Back / Going Home" -- love Butch's "rap" near the end...

"Ships In A Bottle" -- my personal fav

"Here Comes The...", "Passed Your Place...", "Summer Scarves", "ATL", "Untitled" -- hauntingly beautiful ballads and slower songs from the heart and soul that IS Butch Walker...


The whole album is exceptional, personal, and very well done. Great job, Butch!

~~Brandon "SPYKE"

If there is one thing I can expect from a Butch Walker record, is to be blown away. Sycamore Meadows is far more acoustic-based and intimate then anything we've heard before from his solo career besides a few songs in Letters. The majority of the songs do have a slower pace, which takes a few listens to fully appreciate the melodies, but you can not deny his talent at song arrangements. Well written, not over/under produced, and never dull. Some of the highlights for me are ATL, Here Comes The... and Summer Scarves. I've always been a big fan of his more rock-out numbers but there is no question he is extremely gifted at ballads. It's incredible that he can write songs so well at both ends of the spectrum. But that's Butch, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Outside the ballads, I have been listening to Ponce de Leon Ave. and Vessels constantly the past day and I am thoroughly impressed with how Butch setup these pop-rock songs. Musically, they have a cutting-edge sound to them with great big choruses and interesting musical instruments. The bells in Vessels give the song a very dramatic vibe to it. As for Ponce..., it's the party song of the CD. I love the beat during the bridge. Am I the only one who feels 10x cooler when I listen to a Butch CD?

Thanks, Butch for giving us another phenomenal record.

I must admit that despite Butch Walker's very long career, I never heard of him until I saw him live in Orlando at the end of March this year. I was going solely because a friend of mine was playing guitar in his band and really had no expectations whatsoever other than to visit my friend. This guy is a phenomenal showman! The songs are great and he connected with everyone at the show. I went home and downloaded this CD and I've been listening to it ever since. Because of this CD, I actually feel like I know Butch Walker, like he poured his soul into a CD and handed it to whoever would listen. Awesome! Buy this CD; you won't be disappointed.

Butch delivers a solid album, miles away from "Left Of Self Centered" or "..and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites" but not as singer/songwriter-ish as "Letters". The hooks are still there, but the vibe is subdued and much less band informed as his previous effort. Very Tom Petty. If you're a fan, you own it already.

After I fell in love w/ LOSC, it took a bit of adjustment on my part to appreciate "Letters". Since then, it's become one of my favorites of his. Now, he's back, better than ever, (with a couple CDs in between) with Sycamore Meadows. My take? Better than them all. His sincerity and honestly comes out in every song. Be sure to check the hidden track about 4 minutes in after "ATL".

If you heard the rough cuts he released last year you'll be amazed at how they've evolved. Adding P!nk to the vocals on "Here Comes The..." was a wise choice. Harmonies are fantastic.

If I could give this CD more stars, I would. It's THAT amazing.

I like the new offering by Butch Walker - I certainly enjoy it more than the last effort which I wasn't bad but did not appeal to me in a mass way.

Butch has really grabbed my attention as he has written songs that reflect personal experiences, many of which are about love lost, inspirations gained, and pain felt, as those experiences are the ones that many others have also encountered. I feel that this is his most successful album as an artist and I hope that he sells many copies as this is an album that deserves to heard as this music would appeal to the masses and what better way than to focus on topics that have meaning for multitudes.

A strong stand out track is "Ships in a Bottle", which is a song about love's flame that quit burning and the pain that resulted is sung in its pure art form: The entire construction of the ship in a glass bottle is done with pliers' and tweezers as the bottle opening is much too small to allow bigger tools. Because of the small bottle opening, each piece must be able to fit through the opening, so you can imagine the tedious work this is. In time, the pieces become a ship inside a bottle. The ship, fully constructed, is incapable of being taken out of the bottle as, fully assembled, it is too large to fit. Hence, it is stuck unless disassembled piece by piece or the bottle broken.

With time, with bottle movement, the ship begins to break down, similar to what the song says, "Breaking down, sails falling off". Trying to stay afloat inside a place you can't survive. Symbolism for how the person Butch describes in the song is feeling "stuck with the pain of love lost and no way out, like a ship in a bottle, falling apart piece by piece".

The entire album is good and one which you can listen to from start to finish, which is a rare thing in today's music industry.

Further memorable tracks include: "The Weight Of Her", "Here Comes The...Heartache", "Vessles", "The 3 Kids In Brooklyn", and "Summer Scarves".

Nobody's mentioned "Closer to the Truth and Further From the Sky"?!?!

Maybe because it's track 11 - this is the song I've been waiting to hear from somebody for years! Pure magic sound that hearkens back to what first attracted me to popular music back in 1970 or so...GREAT SONG!!!

This whole LP is top-notch; but this track nearly brings me to tears...the 2 piano ballads that follow are wonderful codas too...

The great thing about Butch Walker is even though you don't know what you're going to get, you know you're going to love it! As always he pulls from his personal experiences and his musical inspiration. After one listen, the 2 songs that stood out for me were "Going Back/Going Home" and "ATL." They continue to be my personal faves on this album. "ATL" will rip your heart out!

Sycamore Meadows...Where to begin? I found it funny that another reviewer alluded to the idea that Butch has abandoned his "core" audience with this release. I find it funny to think of Butch as even having a specific "core" audience. If you have ever been to a Butch show and had a look around you can see you are surrounded by people from every age group and walk of life. The last show I was at I was standing beside a nurse in scrubs on my left and a biker dude in leather on my right. They were both yelling and singing along the entire time with the equal enthusiasm that the college kids in eyeliner on the front row brought along. Butch is an artist, he knows how to connect with people, its both his job and his passion. The fact that on any given night at his show you might stand beside a physics major or a drag queen is just a testament to his talent and greatness.

The production on SM is as stripped as it gets, a few times I felt like it could have been a little better constructed. If you have his "Justified and Stripped" EP you can expect a similar raw sound for a large amount of the album. At times the record almost sounds like a collection of B-sides until you think of the past year in Butch's life which led up to the album. The songs are a mixture of bright highs and dark almost bottomless lows that Butch has alluded to in the past but never explored on such a detailed level. The craftsmanship of the songs and lyrics are again on a masterful level rarely reached by his peers and acquaintances. The music on this disc I have to say is great (when it was there), but at times I felt is was a little too stripped down in places where it should have had a little more substance (As I said before). I understand this was to help build the "mood" but sometimes I felt like it was a crutch. I still have to highly recommend it both to fans old and new, It is a incredible record that belongs in everyone's collection.

Here is a track-by-track review.

The Weight of Her:
This track has a really great vintage vibe to it like the "Damn the Torpedoes" era of Tom Petty. I have to say it is one of the best songs Butch has ever written, you find yourself replaying it over and over again without realizing you are hitting the repeat button. It gives you a clear view of the reach of Butch's musical prowess of recent years. It's mixture of two parts comedy one part tragedy is more fun to sing along to than anything you could hear on the radio any hour of the day or night.

Going Back/Going Home:
Butch comes off sounding like a wise and humble Rod Stewart starting the track with a Faces style reminiscence of things lost in the fire and found on the inside. The track ends with a brilliant Butch ramble that sums of the story of his life in 45 seconds making you laugh, cry and think of better days. When the song ends you find yourself wondering how the hell anyone could fit all of that into a song and made it listenable. Then you remember who is singing. Brilliant.

Here Comes The...:
This track is one of the many darker tracks on the album where Butch embraces the pseudo-country-alt-rock sound he has been dabbling with for the last two albums. Pink sings back-up vocals and for once sounds like she isn't trying to be a bloated over-hyped rock star. It is a track you can close your eyes and hear echoing off of the walls of the Exit/Inn in Nashville (A great venue to catch Butch at if you get a chance). The chicka-chicka of the guitars and the playful patterns of the drums keep the tempo upbeat but the lyrics let you know loneliness is anything but fun.

Ponce De Leon Ave:
If you don't live in Atlanta then you might not have had the experience of being lost on Ponce De Leon at night watching people stumble home from parties until the wee hours of the morning. The street has a great retro feel to it with a hint of old spanish decor, at any given time you can see things that remind you of your childhood if you grew up in the South. This track has a great Seals & Croft 70's summer vibe to it, the horns in the background and the off-color rhythm section make it a stand out track on the album.

Ships in a Bottle:
A classic "Butch" track which could have been on any of his albums in the last decade. The point is its on this album and for a good reason it's the pivotal track that glues together every song after it. When the chorus rolls in with it's bittersweet wave of minor keys and brass instruments you understand the feeling of always being on the wrong side of the glass. Butch plays the role of the ship in a bottle, nudging forward at the emptiness of life after love, knowing that the glass/circumstances around you keep you separated from the life you want. At the end you almost feel like the track is too short and should go on, truly the mark of a great storyteller.

Vessels:
Again, Butch channels a vintage feeling opening the track with a set of chimes that could have fallen right out of the 60's. The lyrics lead into a dark and resolute chorus with Butch stating "We don't get along anymore/ Saw his name and number by the door/ You just take the bed i'll take the floor/ We don't get along anymore." The song has those dark tones like bands like the Hollies, the Animals and even the Rolling Stones used to make "Pop" songs in the 1960's. There is a feeling of foreboding at the idea of seeing a crumbling relationship manifest before your eyes knowing all the promises you made to each other have turned into lies. Butch knows this and lets the lyrics go where they want to travel, exploring the things that once made the relationship happy that are now the scene of the battleground. The song is powerful and so catchy it almost makes the misery of separation feel like a heroic achievement for anyone who has survived it.

Passed your place, Saw your car, Thought of You:
A very low key track that almost sounds like an after thought until you hear how Butch strings the lines "There's never been a pill strong enough to make me feel / Like all your fingers do" into a chorus so heart wrenching that you won't be able to get it out of your mind for days. M3 fans will find it similar to "Let Me Go" from the "Hey" album. The track is one part misery, two parts old memories and feels like finding a photo album of your grandparent's wedding day in a dusty attic years after they have passed on. I can't say I cried but I may have wanted to.

The Three Kids in Brooklyn:
After three heavy tracks leading you through heartbreak-ache and isolation this track offers a well needed diversion. The horse-trot of the drums and somewhat humorous and autobiographical lyrics bring a smile to your face long before the one kid in Atlanta at the end tries to make an escape. It's Butch doing what he knows how to do best, giving you a somewhat elusive tale of happenstance and slamming on his guitar until the fade.

Summer Scarves:
Butch shows his fascination again with the past and channels the 60's this time opening with a very Velvet Underground-esc flute and low key lyrics that sound like they were recorded in a dark basement with a wall tapestry. By the time the steel guitar brings you into the burnt-umber chorus of late summer, memories of years past will begin to make you feel the heat of the sun and the promise of something better to come.

A Song for the Metalheads:
A weird off-beat Dylan like track that really sounds like it was written and recorded in one take. It is both a sign of the times and a message to all the fake people currently making our society a joke.

Closer to the Truth and Further from the Sky:
A weird ditty about organized religion that feels cool but a little half-a**ed in terms of production. If you have ever gone to church and felt more lonely inside with all the people around you than you did before you walked in the doors it will bring a smile to your face. The chorus is a bird trying to soar with a broken wing but it makes it to it's destination.

ATL:
This track is an absolute masterpiece of song writing that puts Butch in league with the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison and Cat Stevens. If you have ever for one moment doubted the validity of Butch Walker being an artist this track will force you to put up or shut up. The haunting flow of the piano leaves you with chills long before the story of the lyrics begins to sink in. It has the vibe of the song "Joan" from the "Letters" album but shows his personal and artistic growth since that time. A modern masterpiece.

Untitled:
A very emotional and raw letter being sung to the fans. Sounds like something you would find on a mix tape in a shoebox under Butch's bed.

That Side of You:
At the beginning of this album there is a tone that is set by "The Weight of Her" that has a bright and wreck-less-happy feeling. As we move along the tracks the tone darkens and becomes much more serious, so at the end we are left wondering "What else does he have left to finish with?" Ladies and gentlemen I give you "That Side of You." For a track that closes out the album you would be hard pressed to find anything that is better written, produced or musically sound. It has that Beatles/ Hey Jude vibe that you just can't shake that leaves you feeling like you have been through it all but it's going to turn out ok.

Thanks for another great musical journey Butch.

I love you Butch. This we know. But I can't help but hear the same opening to Futurama in opening of "The Weight of Her". Not that I'm complaining... It makes me smile.

Its amazing how an event like a fire can transpire into something so beautiful, and calming. This album has a lot heart to it. Its not my fave, I think Mr. Bradley Glenn out did himself with "the lets go out tonights"- and perhaps he's been hanging out with Jesse a little too much... "There goes that guy i know, comes to all my shows
Stealing every move i'm about He's a little bit younger and a hell of a lot more fit"

The absolute best tracks on this album are
1. The Weight of Her
2. Going Back/Going Home
3. Here Comes the...
4. Ponce de Leon Ave.
haha.. I can't seem to pick one.

As a huge insomniac I really connect with the opening lyrics to Ships in a Bottle ...

I think its a nice change from 'The lets go out tonights'. Butch is growing as an artist, and this album feels super organic, and very, very real. Kudos Bradley. See you around. . .