Rank each track...in this thread

[The DARK]

1. Like a River- I never bought the idea that Fleet Foxes and MMJ were all that similar, but if you do, it seems the master has been learning from the student. If the goal of this song was to reflect natural beauty, they succeeded with flying colors.

2. Only Memories Remain- Regions of Light was building up to this: mystic spirituality applied at the personal level, with smooth, spacey, and soulful backdrop.

3. Compound Fracture- A 70's soul-pop throwback with hippie vibes and room to jam? Sounds like the essence of what the band has been after lately. Here's a nice spot to point out Bo's fantastic contributions to this album.

4. Believe (Nobody Knows)- Jim could write show tunes for a living if he wanted to. He has such a knack for the rise and fall of a song and can make an inherently cheesy sentiment sound profound.

5. Tropics (Erase Traces)- I don't hear Bon Jovi as much as everyone else seems to. MMJ does "dramatic and mysterious" songs incredibly well, and this is a worthy entry in that category.

6. Spring (Among the Living)- The verses here are a bit clunky, but the guitar lines are fantastic and will surely make for a hell of a live song.

7. Big Decisions- It's nice to see Jim finally show something resembling anger in his songwriting. For a pop-oriented first single, it captures their essence quite nicely.

8. Get The Point- This kind of song sometimes feels obligatory, but there's a dose of refreshing honesty here that helps elevate it.

9. Thin Line- There are some indelible moments here (Jim vocal gymnastics and Carl's guitar solo amongst them), but the chorus gets a bit grating after a while.

10. In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)- I see what they were trying to do, but it doesn't quite come together as a song. They toy with a lot of interesting ideas that never really get developed.

[Shug]

Not on the same page as most, it seems.  The songs I like the most seem to be the ones with stronger melodies and a more traditional structure and style.  In general, I'm not very impressed with this new record.  In fact, I even like Circuital better.

Thin Line
Big Decisions
Only Memories Remain
Compound Fracture (Miami Jungle version without the falsetto vocals)
Tropics

The rest of it falls pretty flat for me, especially the more experimental tracks like In Its Infancy and Like A River.  Spring sounds to me like a rehashed but not as good version of Victory Dance. I prefer Slow Slow Tune and Moving Away to Thin Line and Only Memories Remain. I'm just not feeling much emotional connection to these songs at all. I'm hoping I hear more stuff I like in the live arrangements, but overall this album is in my bottom three of all the Jacket albums.  Its a far cry from Steam Engine, I Will Sing You Songs, Lay Low, Anytime, and songs like those.

[Jamfish]

1. tropics
2. spring
3. like a river
4. get the point
5. compound fracture
6. in it's infancy
7. big decisions
8. believe
9. only memories remain
10. thin line

[Mahgeetah34]

1. In Its Infancy

2. Only Memories Remain

3. Like A River

4. Thin Line

5. Compound Fracture

6. Get The Point

7. Believe

8. Tropics

9. Spring

10. Big Decisions

[walterfredo]

1-9. All Tracks not Like A River
10. Like A River

[Derek713]

1-9. All Tracks not Like A River
10. Like A River

This cracked me up. At least it made in the top 10 

[Derek713]

Tough and ever changing......

1. In Its Infancy
2. Spring
3. Tropics
4. Compound Fracture
5. Big D
6. Only Memories
7. Get The Point
8. Thin Line
9. Believe
10. Like A River

[dookie shoot bandit]

1-9. All Tracks not Like A River
10. Like A River

I have to agree. The songs, especially "Spring" are getting better and better each listen for me....
I'm just not feeling "Like a River"... At all

[PJAMVedder]

Love River, and it's still growing on me
Don't see how anyone can't like Spring
Infancy is awesome
Believe is really good
Get the Point really good
Compound really good, even better live
Thin Line ok for me
Tropics really good, sure it will kill live
Memories good
Big D I like more now since I've taken a hiatus from it for the other songs

[HardNightConformist]

I'm very surprised to see the unanimous love for Only Memories Remain. I'm left wanting so much more with that song. Around 5:20 into the song they could've taken it somewhere completely different and tied it all together with a hectic climax, but instead the song just stays the course and dies off.

Here's my list:

1.) Believe (Nobody Knows)
2.) Spring (Among The Living)
3.) Tropics (Erase Traces)
4.) Compound Fracture
5.) In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)
6.) Get The Point
7.) Thin Line
8.) Like A River
9.) Only Memories Remain
10.) Big Decisions

[ChiefOKONO]

So difficult to rank!!  Right now Tropics is high up there as is Get the Point.
I like them all really.  Hillside song is so great too!

I do agree about Only Memories and we can only hope they really jam it out live and add some tasty guitar solos!

Also, just listened on headphones and it sounds really nice... some of the details really come through.  I thought the drums were recorded very nicely!

[ruralt]

1 Spring
2 In Its Infancy
3 Tropics
4 Only Memories Remain
5 Believe
6 Like a River
7 Thin Line
8 Compound Fracture
9 Get the Point
10 Big Decisions

I thought this was going to be fun until songs I really like ended up looking as if I hate them. I'm glad that it's difficult to choose, though.

If I Can't Wait had been given a more fully fleshed production and put in Big Decisions' place, I probably would've declared this my new favorite MMJ album. (Still like Big D, just way, way less than the others.)

[ManNamedTruth]

1. Thin Line
2. Compound Fracture
3. Spring (Among the Living)
4. Like a River
5. Only Memories Remain
6. Tropics (Erase Traces)
7. Get The Point
8. In it's Infancy (the Waterfall)
9. Big Decisions
10. Believe (Nobody Knows)

[ManNamedTruth]

Anyone who doesn't like Thin Line is on crack BTW.

[Shug]

In Its Infancy (The Waterfall) is starting to really grow on me, but just The Waterfall section, which is awesome.  I'm not crazy about the In Its Infancy section.

One thing that is happening for me with repeated listenings though, is that I'm detecting some themes in the lyrics and that is helping get into some of the songs for which I'm not that excited with the music.

There's an obvious personal theme of ending and moving on from a relationship/partnership like in Big Decisions, Get The Point, Only Memories Remain, Thin Line and maybe Spring and then I'm getting a second theme, more interesting to me, of the evolution of a social standard or spiritual development.  This theme is stated most obviously, I think, in In Its Infancy.  I'm thinking about it in terms of, for example, the idea of slavery or women's suffrage.  I mean that at one point in history a supposedly developed progressive society based on freedom from oppression still thought there was nothing wrong with owning slaves or not letting women vote.  Those standards have obviously changed and that change was a long time developing until it came to pass.  I think Jim is writing about the future of social evolution (in a non-issue specific way)  and how what society jsut accepts or feels powerless to change now (poverty, environmental degredation, racism or whatever current social ill you might think of) may in the future be unthinkable and how these future ideas are in existence right now, but just not developed yet.  (Maybe we are seeing that in action our society hopefullly becoming less tolerant of discrimination based on race and sexual orientation?)

I think at least some of Jim's music has always had a hopeful and social/spiritual message and for me detecting that theme in his current songs is allowing me to appreciate them more.

"The idea was always there, in it's infancy
The seed took root, over many years
An idea grows before it walks
And as it walks, it learns to run
And as it runs, it feels it's form"

[ericm]

After many listens, I'm ready to participate (most likely the order will change down the road).

1. Tropics
2. In Its Infancy
3. Spring
4. Like a River
5. Believe
6. Only Memories Remain
7. Get the Point
8. Big Decisions
9. Compound Fracture
10. Thin Line

We're almost in 100% agreement here.    The first five are exactly the same for now, and then I have Compound Fracture above Only Memories at 6, with the next couple  just dropping down one spot.  I'm hoping seeing Thin Line live will make me like it a bit more than I do now.

[e_wind]

That's probably why I like I Can't Wait so much - because it's older.     I told my husband that I thought it sounded like an older song.  Sounded kinda familiar.  Maybe I've heard it before but I don't know where.

After listening to the whole thing at least 10 times, I'm tired of it - which is not a good sign.  So I have decided not to listen to The Waterfall any more for a while.  I'm sure that the new songs will be way better live.  They always are.  Except for maybe Black Metal.

That is just a silly statement. Say what you want about that song, but I don't see Jacket play any song live that gets people as high off their feet as Black Metal. I'm having flashbacks to OBH 1 & OBH 2 were people were losing their s**t to black metal... So good live

I completely disagree. HotBM is one of 5 or so MMJ songs that I completely dislike. Not even a "it's better than most music coming out today, but not up to Mmj standards" situaition. I just plain don't like it. I think Circuital was an over all tragically large misstep for them, but I don't loathe most of the songs. HotBM and First Light are my two least favorite jacket songs though, easily.





Which brings us back to the topic. The Waterfall isn't my favorite by any means, but it's miles ahead of Circuital. The biggest difference between my list and most all others is that I LOVE Big D.
1. Compound Fracture, Big D, Tropics, Thin Line
2. Spring, Waterfall
3. Believe, Get The Point, Like a River, Only Memories

It's just like old times though, I don't dislike any of it. It's great.

[jimsflyingv]

After many listens, here are my top ten:

1. Tropics
2. Only Memories Remain
3. Spring (could have easily been Nr.1 if they have sticked to the beginning of the song and kept it more of a guitar based song)
4. Compound Fracture
5. Believe
6. Big Decisions
7. Get the Point
8. In Its Infancy
9. Like a River
10. Thin Line

[Shug]

I really like:
1. Thin Line
2. Only Memories Remain
3. The Waterfall (LOVE the music and lyrics of the Waterfall section)
4. Big Decisions

Kinda like:
5. Tropics (nasty heavy guitar riff at the end after starting with acoustic guitars)
6. Compound Fracture

Not feeling it:
7. Spring (not much of a melody, more of a fleshed-out groove)
8. Believe (too much of a showtune/Andrew Lloyd Weber sound like unicorns, butterflies and rainbows)
9. Get The Point
10. Like A River

[slappymoe]

i posted earlier in this thread. without looking back, let's see how much, if any, my list has changed after many listens.

compound fracture
tropics
spring
thin line
believe
the waterfall
only memories
like a river
get the point
big d