Go Well Diamond Heart

Having lived with this for a little over a month now, I think it's finally got through. Being a double CD consisting of some fairly complex songs, I think it was probably too much to take in even after 8-10 plays (for me anyway) but now it's becoming a lot clearer and while there were a few tracks which made little impression on the first half dozen or so spins, I'd have to say now that I like every track and I'm really enjoying it. So I'd say to anyone who isn't quite sure about it yet, to stick with it. It's a grower but may take quite a while like it has for me.

Go to www.midlandsrocks.co.uk for a brilliant review of GWDH by our mate Paul Quinton.
Be warned it's going to produce a response from people. It is an honest objective review of an album by a Mostly Autumn fan who is not scared of being honest about it.
I agree with every word he has said. Having lived with the album for over 2 months now I am still waiting for the spark from the record-and it just isn't happening. There is some good material on there but not enough is even beginning to give me any of the wow factor that other albums have.

I am putting on my tin hat now

Paul Turner

Are you trying to stir things Mr Turner

Moi, perish the thought Colin.
Spoke to Paul about this last Sun at the Touchstone/Panic Room gig and he said it would be on the website. I read it with interest and truthfully I not only agree with what he says but admire the honesty it takes to write a less than favourable review of band we all love but he thinks the album has not hit the heights musically that he hoped for and I believe he is right.

Paul Turner

I agree with almost every word he has written, and we did chat about it after the York gig.

As ever, these things are down to personal tastes and preferences.

Personally I think that GWDH is MA's best, most consistent and most moving album for years and that they have produced 2 disc's of inspiring and emotional songs. For me it is a fresh and uplifting start to a new era and an album that has completely restored my faith in the band after the last couple of albums which both failed to totally win me over.

Stephen C

Stephen C wrote:

As ever, these things are down to personal tastes and preferences.

Personally I think that GWDH is MA's best, most consistent and most moving album for years and that they have produced 2 disc's of inspiring and emotional songs. For me it is a fresh and uplifting start to a new era and an album that has completely restored my faith in the band after the last couple of albums which both failed to totally win me over.

Stephen C

Did I write that? If I didn't, it's exactly what I was going to write.

The bits I agree with most are:

Personally I think that GWDH is MA's best, most consistent and most moving album for years and that they have produced 2 disc's of inspiring and emotional songs. For me it is a fresh and uplifting start to a new era and an album that has completely restored my faith in the band after the last couple of albums which both failed to totally win me over.

Well, a few months on and GWDH is still getting regular play. Which is something I've been unable to say about anything else the band have released since Storms Over Still Water.

Over time, I've had to modify my opinions somewhat, which I suppose is only natural. Mostly my opinions have changed for the better: nowhere is this more true than in the case of High, which I've actually come to enjoy (largely due to that epic-sounding chorus) despite the slightly repetitive lyric. Hold The Sun has developed into a real favourite, too, as has Back To Life. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the only thing that's less than completely superb about the single-disc/standard edition of the album is the utterly wretched Something Better, which just becomes more annoying every time I hear it. I've started actually skipping it now when I listen to the album, which is never a good sign.

Disc 2 is more 'difficult', in that it took quite a few more listens to sink in. Ice remains by far the highlight for me - it's right up there with the best stuff the band have ever done - but there's still plenty to admire elsewhere. Sound Of The World is great (hence the forum title!), with its big riff and cunning time changes. Hats Off is a glorious homage to the mighty Floyd, and I absolutely love Forever Young - my only complaint about that one is that it's a bit short! I'm still not completely sold on Days Of Our Love, which is a lovely lyric in search of more developed music IMO, or Anything At All, which I seem to really enjoy 50% of the time but could care less about the other 50% of the time - more than anything else on the album, it's entirely dependent on my mood at the time of listening.

But yeah - still easily my post-Storms favourite, and I definitely enjoy it more than I did upon release. Having made the adjustment to the new sound/feel - not too far divorced from what the band did before, but still a little different nonetheless - it'll be interesting to see where they take things for the next record.

I love "High" so much I've actually suggested to the band that they play it live - that bit where Livvy comes in with the glass-shattering vocal is one of the high points of the album. Would be a good replacement for "Something Better", which is great musically but spoiled by awful lyrics.

Disappointed the band haven't been playing "Sound of the World" this year - I thought it worked well as a live number when they played it at the tail end of last year.