This Is Unity Music

Common Rider | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 3, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hopeless Records
• ASIN: B00006IJ5A
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,724 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true Masterpiece! Jesse is a Genius!, March 15, 2004

By 

M. Burgstaller "Mike" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Is Unity Music (Audio CD)

Wow, based off the previews i thought this CD would be just alright but this is an AWESOME CD!!! after a couple listens I was totally in love with it. I think I might even like it better than "Last Wave Rockers" and thats saying alot! However if you are an Op Ivy fan getting into Common Rider I recommend Last Wave Rockers first, then this CD. Last Wave Rockers is pure, simple and great ska/punk, this CD is truley original, using elements from all types of music, it also sounds very well produced! Do yourself a favor and pick this CD up, you wont regret it!

1. Firewall 8/10
2. Set The Method Down 9/10
3. Small Pebble 10/10
4. Cool This Madness Down 10/10
5. Long After Lights Out 8/10
6. Blackbirds vs. Crows - 9/10
7. Time Wont Take Away - 10/10
8. Prison Break -8/10
9. Midnight Passenger - 8/10
10. One Ton - 10/10
11. Toss Around - 9/10
12. Longshot - 10/10

they are all incredible songs, my very favorite:
Cool This Madness Down, Time Wont Take Away, One Ton

5.0 out of 5 stars What More Can You Say?, April 15, 2011

By 

Andrew Grimm - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: THIS IS UNITY MUSIC [Vinyl] (Vinyl)

What more can you say? This is Common Rider - formed by Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy. Put this on and turn it up!

4.0 out of 5 stars More ambition, slightly less appeal to me, but it's still Jesse, November 18, 2008

By 

ClydeNut - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Is Unity Music (Audio CD)

While "This Is Unity Music" may not be my favorite Jesse Michaels album, it still radiates in musical creativity and the sheer love of making music that Jesse always put on display (at least with his 2 previous full length albums).

My main problem with this album is the production: it's far too tightly produced. On alot of other bands, tight, clean production is a pro, but Jesse's music wasn't really supposed to have crystal clear studio production. Hopeless Records obviously isn't the most fundable label in town, but the production quality they can afford certainly dwarfs that of Panic! Button or Lookout in the late 80's. I suppose it's good that a musician as inventive and non-commercial as Michaels can have a more accessible sound. But what I love about Operation Ivy's Energy and Common Rider's first album, is the almost homemade feel of them, and they really have an underground, Gilman/Berkeley sound to them, which this album unfortunately lacks. Great production just doesn't fit well with this musician, I think (unlike Green Day, another Gilman-pioneer band).

But the music is still there, and alot of it is still great. I find the lighter tracks to be the ones that stick out; Jesse goes into more serious, sometimes depressing, material here; and alot of that, I think, doesn't fit with Jesse's spirit, and with the rest of the album. But that happens rarely on this album, so it's not much to complain about. This is still about as "punk rock" as Common Rider was before; except with better production.

I will say that this is an album that seems to have this band mature even more and progress into new territory, and it would've been interesting to see what the planned third album would sound like. Jesse has said that, because of financial reasons, a Common Rider reunion doesn't look something to happen anytime soon; but of course, it's more likely than an Operation Ivy reunion.

The highlight tracks for me were Time Won't Take Away, Cool This Madness Down, Prison Break, One Ton, and my persona favorites Small Pebble and Midnight Passenger.