Rank the Openers REVISED!

[The DARK]

Now with Evil Urges:

1. At Dawn
2. Evil Urges
3. Wordless Chorus
4. Mahgeetah
5. Heartbreakin Man

[tomEisenbraun]

without having the actual album to judge against, I don't know that we can accurately call this one yet...

I think each one is perfect for each album in their own way so far, for very different reasons.

Heartbreakin Man because it's just so very "Hi! We're My Morning Jacket!" and doesn't give you any time to wonder about what the band will sound like.

At Dawn has seen the band have some time to let TTF settle in with its listeners, and as it is going to be a slower, more introspective album that follows the turning of gears inside the head more than anything, affords the opening title track the ability to float into its role of introducing the album. Just like the nature of the album, "At Dawn" doesn't just announce itself. It gives you a little while to wonder "what the hell are these noises?" and then it just explodes with every bit as much power as "Strangulation" provides as a closer. It's almost a reprise for an album that hasn't happened yet--giving you a preview of something that doesn't exist except in the future of possibility...

Mahgeetah. Whole different story. Much like "Heartbreakin Man" we only get a half second of time to wonder what's going to happen with that initial "Sittin here with me and miiiiine.." and then we're off! No hints of the slow middle section of the album, and appropriately so. This album sees the band writing songs that define themselves, not writing songs to fit an album. Not to say that's a bad thing at all-- At Dawn was almost a concept album in the way that it floated around, still not quite. Each song was quite different, but there's a thread there that links them to this certain "vision" for lack of better words. It Still Moves is a very different story, while still very similar. ISM is more afternoon than dawn, more comforting than isolated, more amber than pre-dawn blue... And the warmth of Mahgeetah prepares you for that. We're given no hints of the impending soul-crushing power of "I Will Sing You Songs," "Steam Engine" or "One In The Same" and where we don't expect them, we're pulled even further into them, caught off-guard, taken by surprise and completely wrapped up in them...exactly Jim's sort of bait-and-switch, and we get pulled right into the beautiful middle of it...

Now "Wordless Chorus." Shit. If the band was ever going to 1-2 punch us into something new, this was how. Again, given just a brief moment of "What the hell is that sound that I'm hearing from my alt-country speakers?" we're thrown into a completely guitar-less verse with almost no reverb. How can this be? Who switched my southern-fried Kentucky chicken-pickin for this?! But then, "Oh yes! there's my reverb! And wall of harmony! It is Jim! But so....different?" And we've found the band with entirely different legs. Rather than even bother to try and slowly introduce us to the new sound, we're thrown head-first into it, as if a defiant Kentucky-fried southern rock throwdown. "Fit this into our back catalog!" New listeners will be sucked right in, and old ones will scratch their heads and/or (the or was my case) groove along while stunned that the band pumped this out of Jim's head, while still completely unchallenged with this song as being a part of our old familiar band's sound. Something completely new, but still very comfortable, but still absolutely completely entirely different.

And now we happen upon "Evil Urges". While still to early to call, I'll comment a little on the track itself-- it follows a similar sound still, but the driving keys line underneath the entire beginning are so different. This track is certainly not a familiar old tune, but it wants to be so quickly. And we'll let it! It's beautiful, it's a bit haunting, and the drums are so damn perfect! If you ever wanted to get an album off with a kick, I'd say this'd do it for you... but without the rest of the album to judge it against, I'll save my thoughts for a later date....

[InTheZone]

totally dead on, i couldnt agree more  8-)

[bridget]

Goodness, Tom. Publish that somewhere would you?

Spot on, heart felt, giving the music the patience all serious art deserves.

mmwah :-*

[sweatboard]

I really enjoyed that Tom.  Great Stuff.

I LOVE the drum sound on Evil Urges, why do drums sound so much more Awesome when Patrick is hitting them?

[Love Dogg]

Goodness, Tom. Publish that somewhere would you?

With props given, I'll go ahead and give my two cents:

1. At Dawn
2. Wordless Chorus
3. Magheetah
4. Evil Urges
5. Heartbreakin' Man

[evilPaauwe]

1. Wordless Chorus.

[Ive got an EVIL plan babe]

This is not a best-to-worst rank necessarily.  It reflects how the song impacted me at a particular point in my life.:

5. Evil Urges
1. Heartbreakin Man (one of the first I ever heard.  I was immediately a fan)
2. At Dawn
3. Mahgeetah (goes up in rank when live)
4. Wordless Chorus

[sweatboard]

totally dead on, i couldnt agree more  8-)

"In The Zone"  GREAT screen name.  :) two thumbs up!!

[Andrushka]

I agree with the comment in which we can't truly decide best openers until we hear the entire album. The first track of a record is an introduction for everything else to come, it sets the stage. since we don't have a good idea of the flow of the album, it's hard to decide which opener is best. but based only on the strengths of the songs as exclusive entities, here is my list.

1. mahgeetah
2. wordless chorus
3. evil urges
4. at dawn
5. heartbreakin' man

[The DARK]

What a great post, Tom.  :o

[DoctorJimmy]

Yeah, but what does it sound like?

[AllyDee]

All of the opening tracks on the records are favorites of mine...

At Dawn would be my top pick, but it's just too darn short.

1. Mahgeetah
2. At Dawn
3. Wordless Chorus
4. Evil Urges
5. Heartbreakin' Man

[RedPatokaSea]

1. Wordless Chorus (Bonnaroo '06 ... I about had an orgasm)
2. At Dawn
3. Magheeta
4. Evil Urges
5. Heartbreakin Man

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

this is a great question.  I have only heard Evil Urges from the SXSW NPR show but mine are:

Wordless Chorus
Mahgeetah
Evil Urges
Heartbreakin' Man
At Dawn

[Kimbos_Evil_Bread]

1. Wordless Chorus (Bonnaroo '06 ... I about had an orgasm)

wow...I definately got to listen to my bootleg of that show again then.

[folieadeux322]

1. Magheeta
2. At Dawn
3. Wordless Chorus
4. Heartbreakin Man
5. Evil Urges