Say, didn't the new PT come out already?

[kexodusc]

I don't like the lyrics. Whiney and relentlessly depressing. He's already done these themes to death with the last 2 albums. I get it already. It will be crucial for Wilson to move on from these same ideas with the NEXT album. This band has a way of mixing the vocals down so that the listening experience is more about the instumental portion of the program, but still, enough already with the songs about the next Virginia Tech killer. Write songs about changing the problem, not wallowing in it.
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ROFLMAO...man, you just described three-quarters of the acts out there today - the other quarter are armchair revolutionists playing the political card.
Given the former or the latter, I'll take the former any day. I'd rather them be depressed about the state of the world than them using the state of the world to depress me.

[Troy]

I listened to it several times yesterday. I think what it is with the lyrics . . . it lacks metaphor, irony or wit. It's not clever in any way. It's very linear and obvious.

[3-LockBox]

I listened to it several times yesterday. I think what it is with the lyrics . . . it lacks metaphor, irony or wit. It's not clever in any way. It's very linear and obvious.

I'm thinking the same thing. Too preachy. Too U2'ish (lyrically speaking) and I DO NOT want Wilson to become the next Bono. And yes, I think that the omission of a single is a blunder, since that is what is going to get exposure in the states, but I think that Wilson has, at this stage of the game, written off any notion of hitting big in the states. Still, the theme of this album is very relevent and serves as a cautionary tale for me, having a 13 year old who would live on X-Box Live if we let him. But with such pointed and obvious lyrical content, I wonder if this album will endure as long as other PT albums. I remember Tom Petty's song Jamming Me from the early '80s, where he referenced Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscapo, and Vanessa Redgrave, which at the time seemed edgey, but two or three years later, sounded very dippy, and very irrelevant, and come to think of it, never gets airplay. Only a handful of people remember any of those people besides Eddie Murphy. So whatever point Petty was trying to make back then, will be lost on anyone younger than him now. So in a few years from now, when young people here an X-Box reference in a rock song, they'll snicker at it.

Like I already pointed out, its clear Wilson does what Wilson wants to do at this juncture, but I do hope this is a one off album of this type. Maybe Wilson is spreading himself a tad thin after all. Still a good album, just not a kickass album.

[kexodusc]

Well, I finally got it...

I see what you guys are saying about the lyrics. Yeah, a bit sterile, somewhat dull. Oddly enough, I find it works for the "theme" or concept of this album. Not his most clever writing by any means, but there's nothing wrong with blunt, simple lyrics. I hate it when artists try to get too deep for their own good with the lyrics. Sometimes it just comes across as forced.

Anyway, a bit less pop-oriented, more percussion driven than the last 2 I'd say. Musically, it's pretty good, a return to the artsy/spacy approach.

I like it. My only complaint is SW seems to sing pretty much at the same pace/tone for the whole album. Probably the worst vocal performance from PT in years.

Anyway, that damn little girl in the liner notes beside the Anesthetize lyrics creeps the hell out of me. She looks like a satanic demon or something. I keep waiting for her to open her mouth and reveal a forked tongue and giant nasty blood sucker fangs. I left the booklet open on that page all afternoon. Yuck. She's got serial killer written all over her. Or heroin junkie. Either way, not a great future the young lady...