Sure, it's country, but the production values are different in just about every way. I'm not ready to say the Romano record is better than Stinson's, but then again, it doesn't need to be and why should that matter anyway.

The opener, Time Forgot.....is outstanding in just about every way a song can be.

I gotta agree with you. There's really little in common between this and the Stinson album, other than both being country. Though, I am completely compared to call this the much better record and I had the Stinson album in my top three last year.

And FT, I'm sure I'll disagree with you but thanks for reminding me that I need to check out that Hayes Carl album.

I just got home for the first time in a week, so I haven't listened to this yet, but given the description, I'm looking forward to it even if I can't count to eight. Having said that, maybe 4 of the 5 pages of this thread are about as big a dog's breakfast as I've seen on this board. I'm well aware of the flag-waving "no censorship" paranoia around here, but if you let a banty rooster shit on the living room rug long enough, it'll go get its buddies and bring them back to have some company.

I didn't mean to make it seem as if I didn't enjoy the Romano album, because I really do like it. Just thought maybe it was a tad overhyped by TEH BEEG. Not so much #1 with a bullet as maybe #11.

It is good. And I do like it.
But I think that the Pisapia comparisons are a bit overdone.

Okay. Starting to hit me now. Sure, it's slow. Boring, no. It entertains the senses.

I didn't say I didn't like it. I would think everyone could guess that this type of thing isn't directly in my wheelhouse - more like taking a chance swinging at something juuuust a bit outside.

I am sure it will come in handy for Sunday style listening.

I'm a little confused by all of these half apologies for not liking it as much as me. I actually had to go back and re-read some of the thread to make sure I didn't pick a fight or something. It's fine that people don't like it as much as me. I'm just glad that people like it. When you go out on a limb and say something is album of the year or the decade or more as I did, you pretty much have to expect that most people are going to disagree.



You probably already understand this but I'll say it anyway. I wasn't trying to compare it stylistically to Pisapia or to predict that people who liked Pisapia would all dig this as much. The Pisapia mention really started from my observation that no artist currently in their prime had come out of the blue to bowl me over so hard since Pisapia did with "Daydreams." Daydreams is also on my short list for best albums of the '00's so it got me thinking about how long it's been since I've liked any new album this much and with repeated listens, I've grown to think this is the better album of the two and it's really not that close. I didn't necessarily expect the board's biggest Pisapia fans to agree with me on that but that's how much I dig it. It's easily top ten of the last 30 years for me and possibly top 1 of the last 20, probably no worse than #3-4 of the last 20 years.



I get this is much more in my wheelhouse than yours. I expected you to somewhat like it but not go nuts over it. That's fine. You are completely understating my opinion of it though. Thus, why I expect to disagree. I do need to check out that Hayes Carll album. I expect to like it but I don't get blown away that often so I'd be really surprised if I like the Hayes Carll album nearly as much. It's all good though.

For those who like but don't love it (yet), I would say its a grower and an album that benefits from loud play or headphone listening.

Didn't reply to Gar because I even told him that he'd like not love it when I sent him the link.

You probably already understand this but I'll say it anyway. I wasn't trying to compare it stylistically to Pisapia or to predict that people who liked Pisapia would all dig this as much. The Pisapia mention really started from my observation that no artist currently in their prime had come out of the blue to bowl me over so hard since Pisapia did with "Daydreams." Daydreams is also on my short list for best albums of the '00's so it got me thinking about how long it's been since I've liked any new album this much and with repeated listens, I've grown to think this is the better album of the two and it's really not that close. I didn't necessarily expect the board's biggest Pisapia fans to agree with me on that but that's how much I dig it. It's easily top ten of the last 30 years for me and possibly top 1 of the last 20, probably no worse than #3-4 of the last 20 years.

Yep. I understood that. But I just don't think it's nearly as good as the Pisapia. Still, maybe with repeated listens, as you said...
That's hella big praise.

So I've decided there are only three songs on here that haven't completely kicked my ass yet ("Louise", "Nothing", and "Never a Forced Smile") and I don't skip those. I could still see "Never a Forced Smile" and "Nothing" tapping me on the shoulder and then kicking my ass at some point in the future. "Louise" isn't bad but is easily my least favorite.

While I've been enjoying this record for awhile, I hadn't yet donned the headphones to hear it. It was a good suggestion, BG.

Also, while I've never heard the Stinson album, I definitely prefer Daniel Romano to Hayes Carll.

There's a link to his [Stinson] album in the TWENTYTEN thread if you care to rectify that, and here's his "Last Fool at the Bar" from 2005 that I upped in the 2005 thread:



I thoroughly recommend both but obviously I'm in the Daniel Romano is better camp.

Got this downloaded, can't wait to getthe BIG headphones on at work and give it a spin.

Well, I just gave him a quick preview and I gotta say, I'm not sure if I can clear a whole album. That voice is a bit of dealbreaker for me.

Well, 2 and a half minutes in and I love it so far. Clean, honest, interesting.

I'm a little confused by most of what's going on in this thread.

At any rate, I finally got around to listening to this today. I like the guys voice, I like that it has a traditional country feel but that it's the old country feel. The songs feel pretty good but that's only one listen so they haven't really sunk in.

In comparison, I found the Stinson to be immediately off-putting because it was so damn Nashville-formulaic.

This will get more plays, thanks again for the tip, BG.

^ what he said

So surprise surprise, I've given it a few more listens and "Never a Forced Smile" has joined the rest of the songs that kick my ass. "Louise" is far from bad. The vocals on it are actually pretty impressive. It's just a little repetitive to me and I prefer the songs with strings to the organ backing on "Louise." "Nothing" is actually a pretty good song, it just doesn't feel like something out of the reach of someone like Damien Jurado (who I like plenty) so it doesn't really blow me away like the other songs.

Glad to hear more people liking this. I'm not expecting anyone else to call it album of the decade but I'll be interested in hearing how it does grow on people with more listens.

This hook is setting pretty deep.

Finally got around to listening to this just now. After one play, verdict- very fucking good, with a bullet. This is very mature music for being from a young guy. I wasn't sitting undistracted during round 1, but I'll change that before the day is out. It really started getting my attention at Louise, and held it strongly until the end. No idea where dude is from, but he's got some West Virginia in his blood, whether naturally or through transfusion. The short guitar break on There Are Lines In My Face is inspired.

Deserves all the accolades it's receiving here. billyg- thank you very much for making this a better Saturday morning.

Is this only available as either an import, or from the record label in Canudian dollars?

I searched around a bit and couldn't find an non-import version cd or vinyl. If anyone else has looked and had better luck let us know. I haven't ordered yet but will probably order directly from the label. The $20 price includes shipping from Canada so that seems pretty reasonable. I guess what's holding me up is I'm still trying to decide how much of his catalog to order. He's got another country solo album from last year (which I haven't heard) and a what looks like a one-off collaboration called Daniel, Fred and Julie (or something like that) which is also country. The Julie is Julie Doiron. I don't know who the Fred is. I'm leading toward just ordering all three but I just paid a a five figure tax bill, monies a little tight and I'm not sure I really need that last one.

Glad you're enjoying it. I am so obsessed that when I was out running errands all day yesterday without it, I ended up streaming a few songs on my phone.

Friday after work, made it about 10 minutes with the wife and daughter, stared off into the distance, said "Excuse me a second but I have to listen to something" and finished out "book reading" time and dinner time with it going in the background. Full-on sang the choruses out loud in front of god and everyone else whilst reading books to the little girl on the couch.

Purchased used on Amazon for 10.98.

Damn.