Circuital.... anyone heard the entire album yet?

[steve_h]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

[Tracy 2112]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

Nice try. We all know the album doesn't come out until May 31st.

[steve_h]

No Trace I have heard the entire lot of it and hope it will start to grow on me.

[walterfredo]

What album?

[Tracy 2112]

No Trace I have heard the entire lot of it and hope it will start to grow on me.

Grow on you?   ;D

How would you get "music" to grow on you?

[e_wind]

Steve, are you tight with the band or something? Can you get me a golden ticket. Thanx

[steve_h]

A terminology used for when you play music over and over again and after a initial disapointment the record gets better and better.
Love the green hair.

[jones]

Nice first post.  Welcome to the forum. :-\

[steve_h]

Love to see the band at Red Rocks or at Manchester but sitting here with everthing crossed that they are gonna come to Manchester England this summer.
It is quite surprising how such an amazing band are still relatively unknown over here. Actually a trvisty.

[steve_h]

That was meant to say a travisty.

[BigHerm]

 :-\

I thought it was great. Circuital is the best song they've put out since Z. After watching them perform it on Storytellers, gave me much more appreciation for the song. The only song on the album I don't really care for, aside from "You Wanna Freak Out" (still no full version), is "Outta My System." Sounds like a MoF song... Anyways, yea I think your analysis sucks but opinions are like...

[Penny Lane]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

this is a great first post---and i agree
but if anyone can make these songs come alive....LIVE...it's them...

[Bigsky]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

this is a great first post---and i agree
but if anyone can make these songs come alive....LIVE...it's them...

...your comments sound just like comments of EU when it first came out...but now we all know those tracks came alive. I love MMJ for their live music not their studio releases; with that said...this new album fucking rocks....

[BH]

Just curious Steve, why have you never felt compelled to post in the forum before today?  Serious question.  I'm trying to get into the mind of someone who only feels compelled to speak out when they have something negative to say.

[Ruckus]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

I haven't even listened to the album and I couldn't agree more. ;D

[Bigsky]

Just curious Steve, why have you never felt compelled to post in the forum before today?  Serious question.  I'm trying to get into the mind of someone who only feels compelled to speak out when they have something negative to say.

[Ruckus]

Just curious Steve, why have you never felt compelled to post in the forum before today?  Serious question.  I'm trying to get into the mind of someone who only feels compelled to speak out when they have something negative to say.

I don't see what the big deal is here.  It's not like he's trolling.  This board is filled with die hards and at times I've refrained from expressing an honest opinion just to keep the waves calm.  It's nice to have a counterpoint to the redundancy of so many of the album reviews. 

[headhunter]

I have and without giving too much away to anyone who hasnt please please please do not get too excited.
I rate this band probably higher than any band I have ever seen or heard but this recent offering is many a mile away from a promised return to what the band are known for and I would go as far as say this album drifts further away from what we know them for.
Apart from the first couple of tracks and another couple of half decent ballads this is not a very memorable effort whatsoever after all the anticipation.
Gone is the haunting melodic vocal effect, gone is the roots/folk/country rock sound and even the jam rock guitar solos are kept down to a minimum.
I would struggle to place any track on a best of album and dont think many of the tracks would make much of an impact live if it wasnt for the brilliance of what MMJ are live.
In comparison to previous albums this one must rate very low. I can not pin down what has happened here. Is this just the band trying to pin down record sales in middle America and the UK? or just another change in style/ to a middle of the road pop/rock band.
It certainly is not a back to the roots album.

I haven't even listened to the album and I couldn't agree more. ;D

Ruckus For President!!

[Ooga]

Wow.  I really can't understand all of the negativity around this album.  I am no fanboy by any means, but I think this album is stellar.  Hell one of the tracks is pretty much missing.  If I were to rate this album I would give it a solid 8.5 with room to grow depending on how "You Wanna Freak Out" turns out.  Of course it is different than previous material, just like each of their releases have been.  People complain about the lack of a huge guitar song (I think Circuital is), but if you look through their catalog, It Still Moves is really the only album that is full of those long jammy guitar freakouts.  I love that album, but I find it overstuffed, with really only one song under the 5 minute mark.  Circuital is more focused and I thinkall of the songs and songwriting are exceptional.  It stayed interesting and engaging throughout the entire album, and rewards repeated listens.   

My ratings of their studio release:
The Tennessee Fire - 7.5
At Dawn - 8.0
It Still Moves - 9.0
Z - 9.5
Evil Urges - 7.0
Circuital - 8.5

On a side note, I let my brother listen to it and he doesn't really listen to rock, and said he thought it was great (it surprised me, he likes rap).  Well except for Slow Slow Tune, which he really didn't like Jim's voice. 

[Ooga]

Also, I was just curious what the responses around here were like when everyone first heard Z?