Is NC (self-titled) to this side more of a departure than this side to WSTFD?

[johnson ma120]

each time I've listen to WSTFD I realize its much more different from this side than I previous thought, but I still think NC to this side was huge jump, if you will.

sorry, I cannot really think of more to say. the albums are all unique and different from each other but the thought came up the other day while attempting to learn when in rome.

any thoughts? curious

[Sneezy II]

Almost everything I've heard and read indicates this is an entirely new direction for them.

It took several listening session to This Side for me to really warm up to it. Then it became a favorite. Same with WSTFD. Although I sort of knew what was coming, it has taken several listens to finally love the entire CD.

I may have to go give Deciever another listen.

But mainly the absense of Krauss makes this album leap ahead of their perceived style. It's just more reflective of their taste and their growth as artists. And they had a three year gap in which to grow.

It's a huge leap in my estimation.

[Jimmie]

I've already commented on this a time or two in other threads here, but I think that this is not that great a departure. The first Sugar Hill CD was pure acoustic folk, delightful, light and airy, beautifully produced, steeped in tradition.

This Side was a HUGE step away from that. This Side took three or four listens to even begin to appreciate - even though I knew some of the songs before the album came out. The production hadn't changed, but the band and their material had. Songs like Spit On A Stranger, Should've Known Better, Speak, Green and Gold, Brand New Sidewalk, and nearly all of the rest, simply could not have fit onto the earlier record. This music was distinctly different from what came before.

Taken as a whole, Why Should The Fire Die takes another step in the same direction. Like This Side, it takes a few listens to appreciate it. But that's in part because the material covers a broader range. Some songs (like Jealous of the Moon or Scotch and Chocolate would have been right at home on This Side. Others (like Tomorrow is a Long Time or First and Last Waltz or Stumptown) would have fit easily onto the first NC album. And then some (like When in Rome or Best of Luck) really take Nickel Creek farther than they've gone before. And finally some songs (like Somebody More Like You or Helena) could have come from one of the band's solo records.

So I think This Side took an entirely new direction from its precessor, while WSTFD simply takes another step in that same direction.

BTW, it's certainly true that the production is different on the new record, but that's only a small part of the story. Don't let the differences in production cause you to miss the continuity in Nickel Creek's music. In a sense, I think the production is just catching up with the music.

I've said this before: This is not the album that I expected them to make. When they hired a rock/pop producer, I expected them to pen material that this producer could mold into a pop/rock record. But they didn't do that at all.

Instead, they brought forward material that has strong ties back to all of their roots - folk, celtic, bluegrass, rock, jazz, and more. And then they gave these producers room to shape this raw material into individual tracks that are very much in keeping with the music that Nickel Creek have been performing on stage.

It's no surprise to me that they needed two producers to accomplish this. The range of material on the new record is staggering. Each song has its own style. And they seem to have deliberately juxtaposed some incredible contrasts - Eveline to Stumptown to Anthony to Best Of Luck, what an amazing sequence of songs!

But this breadth also makes WSTFD a difficult album to come to terms with. New listeners (and I hope there will be many) will have to work to gain a full appreciation of this project. It's not trivial music, and it's not easily accessable on one listen. So it will take a few listens to draw in someone who hasn't heard them before. But I think it will hit its mark.

It will be interesting to see the first week sales figures. If I remember correctly, This Side sold 50,000 copies in the first week - more than any Sugar Hill record to date at that time. I expect WSTFD to go WELL beyond that.

[elbereth]

Originally posted by Jimmie
Green and Gold

Sorry but it's Green and Gray
I just had to say something or it would bother me.

[Jimmie]

Originally posted by elbereth
Sorry but it's Green and Gray

Oops - thanks for the correction. Too late to edit it, though.

[thebiglargeness]

wstfd is like this sides older, cooler brother

[MadtownMira]

I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been said, but I received my copy today. Wow. WOW. I love the majority of it on first listen, which rarely happens for me. You can hear the tremendous maturity over the last three years. I love that the lyrics are much more personal, I'm that much more drawn in.

Powerful stuff.

[lerdave]

This Side was a huge departure from the first album. I don't see WSTFD as much of a departure from This Side. In fact, I think a couple tunes are more similar to NC than to This Side.

[Adyn]

Originally posted by thebiglargeness
wstfd is like this sides older, cooler brother

[lolol] That's awesome!! Well said ;)

[lethal12005]

I totally agree with Jimmie. And it is like This Side's older, cooler brother! The one difference I see is that WTSFD has a crystal clear sound (to me) compared to This Side had a somewhat off sound.

[Jimmie]

Originally posted by lethal12005
The one difference I see is that WTSFD has a crystal clear sound (to me) compared to This Side had a somewhat off sound. Hmmm. I find just the opposite. Gary Paczosa, who engineered the last two albums, achieved an incredible clarity and purity on his recordings. WSTFD, on the other hand, is deliberately recorded on analog equipment that tends to smear the detail a little bit. Add to that the rock/pop production techniques, and you wind up with a record that can't come close to the flawless capture of the last two albums.

Listen to Speak and note how carefully Gary focuses on the articulation of the k at the end of the title word each time it comes along. You won't find anything like that on the new record. On the new record, I often can't even make out entire words, let alone trying to pick out a specific consonant.

As much as I like the new record, that's one thing that I definitely miss - Gary Paczosa's incredible work as recording engineer and mix engineer. BTW, he mixed the SACD versions as well.

[PrincessNic]

Originally posted by Jimmie
Listen to Speak and note how carefully Gary focuses on the articulation of the k at the end of the title word each time it comes along.

That is one of my favorite parts about that song...especially when Sara ends her part with Speak. You can really hear that K

[honortheking]

okay, i thought that Nickel Creek never wrote songs from a autobiographical standpoint...

but has that changed with the new cd? i mean, i thought i read something somewhere at some point that Chris never wrote anything from his own life until Deceiver.

has that changed for the band itself? this cd to me seems more personal. but i KNOW that songs like Helena and She Can't Complain are written from a general observation of people, but songs like Doubting Thomas and stuff... is that Chris or what??

i'd like to know... where is there line drawn? does this make any sense to anybody?

[PrincessNic]

I believe that most of their stuff comes from a somewhat autobiographical standpoint. Deciever was very autobiographical for Chris and I believe that some on this album is as well. But where they are coming from is taking the real and changing it around to make it somewhat surreal. There is always a little truth in all of their songs, but don't take it as fact. Just like stories, they are steeped in fact, but they have taken certain liberties with their songs.

[honortheking]

right!

i knew that Deceiver was all about Chris.

but i thought that i had heard or read somewhere that the first two nickel creek cds had no autobiography to them at all. like... nothing applied to THEM personally.

songs like Best of Luck and She Can't Complain aren't about their personal lives, but from something they've seen in others' lives.

dangit i'm confused now. im sorry. haha

crap i guess i just answered my own question in my mind. cause i do remember just reading about how Reasons Why was a personal song. okay