Circuital...Now That Fall Has Hit

sweatboard · Sep 16, 2011, 11:00 PM

It's so nice to have an album on vinyl and be able to flip the sides and feel that anticipation and excitement of the songs that are coming. I really think they did an amazing job of selecting how the album flows, especially on vinyl. Love the opening of Victory Dance and Circuital.....and then making that final flip knowing that it's Slow Slow and Moving Away. It's a beautiful and somewhat sad ending, but you pull it out later and it's like.......VICTORY DANCE!!!!!!

That's my ramble, how has this album grown on you guys?

and the vocal overdubs on The Day Is Coming, and the steel guitar on You Wanna Freak Out and the, and the..... :)

johnnYYac · Sep 17, 2011, 01:08 AM

Great thread, Board of Sweat. This album has been on regular play for me since (before) it came out.

I heard the leak, the CD, the mp3, the vinyl, entirely live twice, partially live 7 times (5 in person), over and over. No song has diminished in its standing. I find new things each time I listen.

Hell, I'm still discovering the lyrics! The extended "noth... ing!" in Circuital is genius! And you're right about the way the vinyl lays out tracks, in 4 acts. Sometimes, when I don't have much time, any of the four sides can provide me with a certain mood or moment.

Hey, also love your empiphany over at Other Music about Blood on the Tracks. Dylan can be hard to take on stage these days, but albums like that remind you why he is a deity.

sweatboard · Sep 17, 2011, 11:21 PM

U wanna freak out? COME ON!!!!!!

yeahyahahayahhayah!

buster douglas · Sep 18, 2011, 03:44 PM

As the weather cools and the days grow shorter, I'm regularly running trails up Mount Royal, enjoying the natural landscape and noticing the changing colours of the leaves... This is not the high-intensity circuit training that I've been doing all summer, it's that peaceful, trancey kind of exercise that just seems to clear your body and mind... Circuital is perfect for this!

Victory Dance just sets the mood so nicely, allows me to simultaneously relax and focus, gets me into that groove so that I'm in a clear mindset to prepare for the so-called "runner's trance". By the end of it, I'm just starting to break sweat and the drumbeat of Circuital kicks in, overwhelming me with a torrent of positive energy! This of course continues right through the song and into The Day Is Coming! I'm in full runner's trance mode at this point and mellow, reflective songs like Wonderful and Outta My System are so appropriate and seem to take me out of my body... roughly 25 minutes in now and I'm huffing and puffing and need a little more high energy music to keep the pace-- BOOM! Black Metal/First Light/You Wanna Freak Out just fly by and carry me to the top! The way down is a bit easier and more of a cruise, and Slow Slow Tune and Movin' Away allow me to glide all the way home...

Now if only I can convince my Yoga teacher to play music during practice...

EasyRyder · Sep 18, 2011, 03:57 PM

Quote from: buster douglas on Sep 18, 2011, 03:44 PM
As the weather cools and the days grow shorter, I'm regularly running trails up Mount Royal, enjoying the natural landscape and noticing the changing colours of the leaves... This is not the high-intensity circuit training that I've been doing all summer, it's that peaceful, trancey kind of exercise that just seems to clear your body and mind... Circuital is perfect for this!

Victory Dance just sets the mood so nicely, allows me to simultaneously relax and focus, gets me into that groove so that I'm in a clear mindset to prepare for the so-called "runner's trance". By the end of it, I'm just starting to break sweat and the drumbeat of Circuital kicks in, overwhelming me with a torrent of positive energy! This of course continues right through the song and into The Day Is Coming! I'm in full runner's trance mode at this point and mellow, reflective songs like Wonderful and Outta My System are so appropriate and seem to take me out of my body... roughly 25 minutes in now and I'm huffing and puffing and need a little more high energy music to keep the pace-- BOOM! Black Metal/First Light/You Wanna Freak Out just fly by and carry me to the top! The way down is a bit easier and more of a cruise, and Slow Slow Tune and Movin' Away allow me to glide all the way home...

Now if only I can convince my Yoga teacher to play music during practice...

NICE! I have had similar experiences too...definitely a good runner's "trance" album with fall around the corner

buymycar · Sep 18, 2011, 08:26 PM

We had a rare thunderstorm here a couple of weeks ago, and it made me think about the cars driving through the rain at the end of one of the tracks on Circuital. I somehow had forgotten about that in all of the excitement of the Circuital release. I had to look up which song had the car driving through the rain at the end, and it was Movin' Away. What a perfectly appropriate song for it.

sweatboard · Sep 19, 2011, 05:24 PM

beautiful stuff. :-*

foomex · Sep 20, 2011, 12:38 PM

Quote from: buymycar on Sep 18, 2011, 08:26 PM
We had a rare thunderstorm here a couple of weeks ago,

I'd love to hear Victory Dance in front of a large window watching and hearing a big ass thunderstorm. I can imagine it perfectly, and it rocks.

e_wind · Sep 20, 2011, 01:18 PM

To me, their albums translate best the time of the year when I first got into it. Circuital will always be a fun (and it's their most fun album, IMO) summer drinking album.

Clarkwork · Sep 21, 2011, 09:24 AM

I think this is one of their strongest albums. I still enjoy listening to it, and my 4 year old son loves You Wanna Freak Out. I mean sings it out loud and wants to listen to it everytime he is in the car type love.

Makes me think that the Muppets movie made a big mistake by not having that song in the movie if a 4 year old loves it that much. I wish I could post a video I have of him singing it word for word, even getting the words right.

sweatboard · Sep 22, 2011, 12:17 AM

It's like they created it in the spring so that it would have time to marinate in our souls and REALLY HIT us in October

slappymoe · Sep 29, 2011, 03:51 PM

this isn't like me, i'm never the guy to take a stinky poop in someone's thread, but i gave evil urges a full listen the other day, first time in a year, and i maintain it's a much stronger album than circuital. it is my humble opinion that evil urges, touch me 1 and 2, thank you too, sec walkin, look at you, aluminum park, smokin...........all these songs are as good as or better than anything on circuital.

don't get me wrong, i don't think circuital is a bad album, it just doesn't have the start-to-finish quality songwriting i've come to expect from jim james. the title track, wonderful, first light, freak out, and slow tune.....these 5 songs stand out to me, the other 5 just don't hit me the way the first 5 albums did. i'm especially un-fond of outta my system. might have been great for the electric mayhem band, but it pales in comparison to damn near every other song jim has written for this band.

ok, i've gotten it off my chest, and i apologize if i offended anyone's delicate sensibilities with this post. and after this rant, i think i'll go do some housework while listening to circuital. maybe the light bulb will come on for me.

Clarkwork · Sep 29, 2011, 08:26 PM

Quote from: slappymoe on Sep 29, 2011, 03:51 PM
this isn't like me, i'm never the guy to take a stinky poop in someone's thread, but i gave evil urges a full listen the other day, first time in a year, and i maintain it's a much stronger album than circuital. it is my humble opinion that evil urges, touch me 1 and 2, thank you too, sec walkin, look at you, aluminum park, smokin...........all these songs are as good as or better than anything on circuital.

don't get me wrong, i don't think circuital is a bad album, it just doesn't have the start-to-finish quality songwriting i've come to expect from jim james. the title track, wonderful, first light, freak out, and slow tune.....these 5 songs stand out to me, the other 5 just don't hit me the way the first 5 albums did. i'm especially un-fond of outta my system. might have been great for the electric mayhem band, but it pales in comparison to damn near every other song jim has written for this band.

ok, i've gotten it off my chest, and i apologize if i offended anyone's delicate sensibilities with this post. and after this rant, i think i'll go do some housework while listening to circuital. maybe the light bulb will come on for me.

I think it's a valid argument, but to me they are just two very different albums that I can't even compare to each other. Just totally different feels to them.