Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 A letdown November 19, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I wanted more upbeat, sparkling pop like the album "In Motion" offered. What they're trying to do here is done much better by Ida, and Ida doesn't use auto tuning. Pass this up and buy "Will You Find Me" by Ida instead.
 My sunshine November 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This album is fantastic, and is my album of the year. Aaron's voice has never been stronger, and his melodies more beautiful. The instrumentation adopts a minimalist approach that suits the vibe of the album. This is a perfect example of how simple instrumentation can be utilized in a way that is genius in its own right. My favorite track is one of the lighter numbers, "The Day I lost My Voice," which also happens to feature a lovely female vocalist - one of the many surprises on the album. If you enjoy the mellow vibe of Copeland's last release "Eat, Sleep, Repeat," beautiful melodies, and interesting sonic textures, then I would recommend checking out "You Are My Sunshine."
 I love Copeland and all but... October 23, 2008
Thisd album is good, not as good as Beneath Medicine Tree or In Motion, it is better than Eat, Sleep, Repeat which has got to be my least favorite Copeland album.
Tracks 4 and 10 really stand out.
The rest is quite listenable, definitely has that Copeland sound.
Some things I don't like:
The overproduction of the vocals. I played this the first day I got it and someone literally thought it was the Backstreet Boys (only one song, can't remember which)
The song "Not Allowed" really rubs me the wrong way. The lyrics are terrible. Not what I've come to expect from Copeland.
But one bad track on the whole album doesn't ruin it.
If you like Copeland already, you will like this.
What the hell happened? October 20, 2008
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
So I snagged this album the other day and listened to it in full. I'm afraid to say that I was verily disappointed. Here is my review:
After listening to the prereleased track "The Grey Man", I figured it was going to be a good album. The track sounded to me like a more mainstream Copeland, but overall it pleased me. The 'run right back to the start' portion of the song reminds me of old school Copeland. The intro portion is the part that gave me a hint of where this CD was headed.
Yeah sure, it's really cool and catchy, but it's horribly overproduced and generic. Not only is this intro overproduced, but the entire CD turned out to be. Remember back when Eat, Sleep, Repeat came out and it had that awesome song "the last time he saw dorie"? One cool thing on that track was the stereo splitting of the vocals. It is a decent effect. I use it in my recordings sometimes for instruments, but for vocals it is purely a garnishment. It was very successful on that track, and for some reason Copeland thought it would be a good idea to use it on EVERY track on this CD. I exaggerate of course, but it's definitely overused.
The never ending repetitiveness of the songs bewilders me. Copeland has never done this, and I don't know why they would choose to start now. I'm talking about tracks like "Should You Return" and "Good Morning Fire Eater". Little portions of extended repetitions also appear in many of the other tracks. Places where the technique is unwelcome and awkward.
I love the fact that they've gone back to having some electric guitar in some songs (distorted in fact). The little ditty in "What do I know?" is great, but it is too little to late. The allure of the CD has already been lost by the time you reach this track.
Songs go off on too many tangents. It's as if they're trying to mix it up a little. To sway away from their normal sound by doing something unexpected, but this isn't always a good choice.
The gleaming example of why this CD is a step in the wrong direction is in the third track. "Chin Up" was featured as a demo track on 'Dressed Up and In Line', and it seemed like it would have been welcome in Eat, Sleep, Repeat. I could even imagine it on some of the earlier albums. This is a song that shows all of the band's good points. Flawless singing. It's catchy but not poppy. Gentle but empowering. It is the archetypal Copeland song...and they have taken a hatchet to it in this CD. What managed to be an amazing feat of music in demo form was turned into a steaming pile of crap. It suffers from a mixture of sounding too electronic, and losing emotion from overcompression. The vocals sound lazy compared to the demo version. When the former driving bass line enters, it is almost masked entirely by various other instruments. When you thought they couldn't have anything else extra going on at once, they pull out the overlapped backing vocals.
The simple fact that the exact same song is on an earlier CD in 'demo' form and blows this version out of the water is a hint to why this album blows as a whole. The whole thing is very overproduced. Too many things are going on at once. In the later tracks, when I was almost lulled to sleep, the fact that they STILL had so much going on kept me awake and wondering why I was still listening.
My favorite aspect of Copeland has always been their outstanding ability to demonstrate the concept of 'less is more'. Songs like 'sleep', 'california', 'brightest', and dare I say 'chin up' are a great example of this style, yet it's been long lost.
Perhaps, if Copeland were to make their next album entirely made up of 'demos', they could crank out a decent CD. Unfortunately, I don't see them going back in that direction as of late.
Transcends space and time October 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Beautiful. I would need to write a book to fully review. This effort transcends mere words. Buy it if you're ready to see again and to be changed...for the good.
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