Anyone else dislike 9?

[hbhdaem]

I know i'm voluntarily stepping out in front of the firing squad here but...Well, i for one hate it...almost all of it...never thought i'd see the day...i don't think i have ever been more ashamed of an album in all my life...

...i had to expel that thought from my system...

...i'd appreciate any validation offered...
...perhaps i'm looking in the wrong place...
...perhaps i'm not looking at all...

...i treasure damien rice live, i have a love for O...

...i dont know what 9 is...
..but its not what i know...
...and its not me...

...i do not think i could ever learn to like it...
...perhaps i can make my peace with it one day...

i do not mean to cause any offence...apologies if i do...
...just seeking a fan of the same opinnion...

Peace.

[Niko]

I'm really sorry to hear that 9 doesn't do it for you. That must be such a crushing blow, particularly after waiting for so long

Out of interest though, did you like the songs from live performances and bootlegs, or had you not heard most of them before?

[hbhdaem]

thanks for the sympathy...i'm in bits over it...was blinking back tears and all...i loved the songs live and i had them all on my mp3 but 'animals were gone' and 'sleep dont weep'...i feel he just ballsed everything up. the versions chosen for the album are awful...so forced and rehearsed. to me its like hearing someone trying to cover damien rice...

i havent been reading the board recently because i'd waited for a promo before listening so whats the general consensus then?

[Bumpman]

Haven't heard it. I'll be taking it on its own terms.

[Beevers_uk]

Im with you Sean. Im waiting till i hear it on My CD player!

[hbhdaem]

please let me know what you think as soon as you have an opinnion on the matter sean because i'm very interested to hear what ya have to say on it...
i'm dying to get feed back from a person whose opinnion i respect...thanks

[breadfan35]

I will say this, when it comes to every performance on 9, I prefer the live version with the exception of "Elephant", "9 crimes" (I like the studio and live versions equally) and "Coconut Skins". Most of the studio versions seem to lack the strong intensity that the live versions have IMO.

As for the New songs which I do not have live versions of and had never heard before the tour or album,...I am not as impressed with "Animal Were Gone" as others here seem to be. It's ok, but I have mixed feelings. I fell like it is not Damien at all and yet exactly like Damien all at once. I am giving it time to grow on me before I say I don't like it. "Sleep Don't Weep" is a good song that I am pretty pleased with. Above all, the stand out track of All of Damien's new releases is "Rat Within the Grain". It is a great tune that is exactly the kind of thing I expect and love from Damien.

(On a side note I am glad Damien used a real piano to record Accidental Babies instead of that electric organ thing he used on the tour. It did not complement the song at all.)

Over all I enjoy the album, I just prefer the live versions more. I have still been listening to it a ton and am pretty sure I will continue to do so.

[Daniel]

not too gone it. as of now find it a bit boring and bland. But that may change over time.

[Gatsby]

i like it. its a nice album, as regards mind blowingly good, well not yet
O on first listen was something new, so give im giving it a full chance

i will however say he does sound to be trying harder. Especially "elephant" which is haunting and beautiful, but his style of singing sounds slightly forced, like he wants the listener to cry by the tone of his voice
Thats the impression i got.

I wanted a heavier album, not the same ballad like songs that O produced, much more raw, but its quite produced.

I do like it however and im giving it more a chance to grow on me

[Windgirl]

live is almost always better than recorded, I mean why else would we go to a live show, if something better was in our living room for a lot less? You have every right not to like it though, music is all about pathos, if just doesn't appeal it doesn't. I'm still really excited for it come out though. lo siento on the disapointment.

[Bumpman]

Originally Posted by hbhdaem

please let me know what you think as soon as you have an opinnion on the matter sean because i'm very interested to hear what ya have to say on it...
i'm dying to get feed back from a person whose opinnion i respect...thanks

Something tells me I'm having the mickey mercilessly ripped out of me. Oh dear.

[katiejoey]

i haven't heard it yet - i've been so tempted to listen to it but i'm waiting for the cd. but i must say, even with a lot of the songs on o, i love them live so much more. not that i don't love them on cd, that's one of the very few cd's i know that i listen to straight through without skipping a song, but Damien is such an intense performer. i always thought it would have to get a bit boring playing the same songs day in and day out on tour but when he performs live, it feels like he just went through all the emotions he wrote about right before he got up on stage. rarely does an artist put that much into every performance. so, i wouldn't be surprised if some of the songs lack a little bit of that intensity on the album, but that's why i'll go and see him every chance i get. and besides, it's not like there will be too many surprises, we've almost all heard most of the new album songs before so maybe we're just expecting too much.

[carvinC980t_kid]

i've heard it all and it was the just about the only music i listened to from the day it got streamed till they took it off! i didn't like it at first. it wasn't that it was not good, but i was disappointed, but then it grew on me a lot! me, my yoke, and i is such a good song!

over all i'd say it is a great album! i do prefer all of the live versions over the album versions. especially 9 crimes and rootless tree.

[tj]

I'm the opposite. The first time i listened to the stream i got shivers up and down my spine... I got such a buzz listening to it over and over and thinking... 'Wow this album is going to be huge.' I can't wait to get a hard copy in my hands tomorrow! I don't understand why people say it's overproduced? I think the band's tighter but the recording sounds just as organic and natural as O to me.

[Thom Yorke's lazy eye]

The recording is heavily understated.

Maybe that's just the mp3 version we have at the moment, but still, it has the rawness of O.

Something I remember with O:

It took ages to get into every track. Many, many listens, along with live performances to fully appreciate each track.

This album is a grower. I am certain.

Some tracks are astounding, namely Rootless Tree and Accidental Babies.

Some tracks are tedious, namely Dogs, maybe Coconut Skins.

If listening to radiohead all my life has taught me anything...give it time.

listen.againandagain.

[Wheels]

I love it... prefer it to 'O'...

I can't at all understand how you could 'hate' it... maybe you just expected it to be something it wasn't? I'm sure it will grow on you.

[Bowe]

i think you dont like 9 because u suffer from a disease i like to call "U@ SYNDROME".
I think damien is trying to reinvent himself with this album the way u2 do with all their albums. Maybe u feel so strongly about how much u dont like it cause u and me and everyone else who bought o had so long to listen too it...a little too long.
I guess you should just think of it as Damien rice 07-a new and for most i think improved ricey

[Oisin]

First of all its early days yet for this compilation of songs.

I'm not too impressed so far I was sure that there would be so much more to this album. Not just all the bootleg songs and two new ones, I feel like I ruined it for myself by searching for all those live versions of the un-realeased songs. I've heard this album a thousand times, apart from the two new songs, and no "Wooden Horse" or "Tongue" ??? are they left out due to being previously realeased by Juniper/BellX1 or something??, cause thats the only reason I can see for omitting them. I do like "Dogs" tho. But Grey Room sounds instantly like 'Delicate' and maybe thats because it is it, basically, in a diferent key with the same drum beat. In saying all that I'll probably end up loving it over time. It may be my fault for listening to the bootlegs but if he's working on the next album already well that means we'll see it in 2010 yeah!!? ;( So I can ruin that one for myself too.

[ste_swann]

I don't think that's the reason why Tongue or Wooden horse didn't make it on this album, Me,my yoke and I was a Juniper song as well, and Bell Xs last album features Volcano (in a very flat version IMO) so I think that if Damien ever wanted those songs on ), they would be on it

Ste

[Oisin]

If you listen to the San Francisco, Warfield gig 27/03/04 you'll hear great performances of those two songs (Wooden Horse & Tongue). They seem to me to be stronger songs and in my opinon better than anything on '9'. Fingers crossed for next album!

[ste_swann]

Tongue is one of my favourites actually, and about wooden horse, I've heard it only a few times so I can't really say. I would love to see Tongue on one of the next albums (hopefully, I will be still alive when the 4th damien album comes out...please do note that I'm only 17-almost 18, but you know what I mean, uh?)

Ste

[tj]

Ste... Volcano was on Bell x1's first album. They've had two since. I don't think it's a flat version at all. Just a different to Damo's. You're entitled to your opinion though. I do prefer Damien's version. On the other hand, i prefer Bell x1's versions of Face and Tongue. It evens out somewhere i think... He he.

[ste_swann]

Damn, I knew it...I didn't remember if it was the 1st or the last one, but being too lazy to go and check it out on my ipod, I chose the second option, very random... sorry tj!!! anyway, maybe flat isn't the word I should have used...it's not that I don't like it at all, but it seems just not too different from Damo's version, I think that if they have to sing it again they should do it in a very different, new way

EDIT: oops I forgot my siggie....

Ste

[Tommy]

I will say this, when it comes to every performance on 9, I prefer the live version with the exception of "Elephant", "9 crimes" (I like the studio and live versions equally) and "Coconut Skins". Most of the studio versions seem to lack the strong intensity that the live versions have IMO.

I agree with this, i love Damien's music so much and i really really wanted to love this album and although its still very good its just not as amazing as i hoped it would be.

Thom

[Oisin]

Wooden Horse Mp3:-
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I142XHT2

another reason why I thought Wooden Horse would be on '9'

"'Cause you build a thousand walls
All you need is nine
Your rode her like a wooden horse
A hundred, a hundred times"

[ste_swann]

I have to say that besides a couple of songs, which I adored from the first time, I was rather disappointed the first time I listened to it. But it's growed on me a lot in only a few days, and I can say that if it's not better than O it can be considered nearly as good

[tj]

Originally Posted by ste_swann

Damn, I knew it...I didn't remember if it was the 1st or the last one, but being too lazy to go and check it out on my ipod, I chose the second option, very random... sorry tj!!! anyway, maybe flat isn't the word I should have used...it's not that I don't like it at all, but it seems just not too different from Damo's version, I think that if they have to sing it again they should do it in a very different, new way

EDIT: oops I forgot my siggie....

Ste

no need to apologise ste. But... They shouldn't have to do it any different than the way it was on their first album if they were to perform it again... Cause i'm nearly sure their first album was recorded and released before O.

[borneoman]

I think that one of the problems that we have...is that we are TOO SPOILED!! In the sense that we already knew the live versions of most of the album tracks way before the album... For most artists, it's the opposite, they release their album, you get to know the studio versions and then the artists go on tour and then you get to know the live versions, which most of the time are better and improve the album versions...

But with Damien is the opposite, and I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have a problem with Accidental babies being too slow or Rootless tree lacking anger...

And I agree some of the live tracks are better or sound stronger (like Rootless tree or Yoke) but I think the album versions are pretty decent. And for some of the other songs, I think there's no such a big difference (9 Crimes, Grey Room, Dogs, Elephant, Coconuts)...

IMO it's an amazing album. Love the 2 newies (Animals and Sleep), and songs like Accidental babies, Elephant or Grey room are a '10' to me!!! Of course everyone can complain about tracklisting, but that's up to Damien, too much to choose from. For me, the album would have been better with Insane & Then Go but it'd not up to me, it's up to the man himself!!!!

[ste_swann]

Originally Posted by tj

no need to apologise ste. But... They shouldn't have to do it any different than the way it was on their first album if they were to perform it again... Cause i'm nearly sure their first album was recorded and released before O.

Ok...now I officially feel stupid

Ste

[Bumpman]

Originally Posted by Oisin

no "Wooden Horse" or "Tongue" ??? are they left out due to being previously realeased by Juniper/BellX1 or something??, cause thats the only reason I can see for omitting them.

Well, It might sound a bit pretentious or whatever, but an album is more then just a big playlist, the songs that are on 9 are all on it for a reason. Some artists don't do that, and just turf everything into one package, which is also good. But I think that the reason that so many really great songs were left off was because they didn't fit with what Damien wanted from his album. That's sort of the point, to make a great piece as a whole rather then just 'the ten best songs I've ever written', or 'everything I have that hasn't been released'.