I only got 'Where We Land' today and WOW WOW WOW HOW GOOD IS IT!
Good job Damien!
I'm listening to it for the third time now. ;D
Okay, my favourite song is: All I Want Is You
When SJ said the recorded version is better than the acoustic version I found that so hard to believe, but it's fully true! The acoustic version is just funtarstic as well. AIWIY
so has to be the single!
Here are my thoughts on the rest of the songs (except 22 Steps, since we've all already discussed that) -
Beautiful: I was expecting the slow beat and the new lyrics but I didn't realise how different the song would be to the concert version. I can now understand why Shimms said she didn't recognise it on the radio until she heard the chorus. At first I didn't like the start of the song, especially when he sang "Beauuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful", because it sounded kind of creepy and reminded me of a ghost or a stalker.
But as the song progresses more instruments are added and it sounds really beautiful (lol, appropriate title, Damien
). I liked the bit in the concert version where he sang "forever", but even though that bit was cut out, the new lyrics were good. Also, because I'm used to the concert version I didn't like the way one of the lines has been changed from "I'd drop it all without a doubt just to be near you" to just "I'd drop it all without a doubt". I'll get used to it though. I reckon Beautiful would make a nice single, but some of the other songs on the album would appeal to a wider audience.
Shine Like The Sun: I like this one, and it reminds me a bit of a Snow Patrol song for some reason. It's pretty catchy and it sounds like the kind of song Channel 7 would use in an ad for a TV show (or maybe I only think that because I know it's in an ad). There’s also a part of SLTS that reminds me of Creep (Damien's version, not Radiohead's).
I Still Miss Us: At the start it's sort of sad, but for most of the song it's just really nice and catchy. After I listened to the album the first time, this was the song that was stuck in my head. I was singing parts of it over and over again, although I couldn't work out whether the tune I was remembering was right. Just like Beautiful, I reckon ISMU would make a nice single, but some of the other songs on the album would appeal to a wider audience.
The Long Way Back: I really, really like this one! It's really catchy and it reminds me a lot of a song that I can't remember the name of (anyone know the song I mean? lol) Before the album came out, the only time I can remember Damien mentioning this song was when he said in his newsletter that they had been recording it that day, so I wasn’t expecting it to be near the top in my list of favourites, but it is. I think it would make an excellent single (after AIWIY of course
).
Not Just For The Weekend: I'd already heard this one but it was still just as nice as ever.
When I hear NJFTW I always get this image of Jagger sleeping next to the piano while Damien plays the song to him. It’s a great, twinkly song.
Songbird: I love Damien's rendition of this song, and I also thought that its placement on the album was clever (as in the way it fitted into the album’s song order). It's so different to NJFTW and the contrast from one song to the next just reminds you (or at least it reminded me) of Damien's versatility. And it’s the same again when you go from Songbird to Blew It All Away.
Blew It All Away: When I heard the first few bars of this the other day on ninemsn (before I quickly closed the window), I was sort of like "mm dunno if I'll like this...
" but after hearing the full version on the album I thought "wow, that's actually really good". It reminds me of Alex Lloyd's music a bit, yet its also sounds like Damien's music (I wonder why
) For some reason it also reminds me a bit of James Blunt and a bit of John Farnham. What I really liked about this song was the clever way he sang the words "blew it all away". The "away" was kind of like WOOOSH because of the falsetto and made me think of everything being blown away (lol
).
Alone: I'd already heard this before but I still really love it! I've written about this song in the Alone thread so I won't say anymore here except that it's funtarstic. ;D And it's Damien's favourite song on the album isn't it?
Cold Cold Heart: Just like with The Long Way Back, I hadn't heard anything about this song before the album was released, but I really like it! It reminds me of the Beatles a lot, but when my Dad heard it he disagreed and asked me whether it's a Pete Murray song. This one would make a good single as well I reckon.
Danny Boy: This was nicer than I expected it to be, and the lady he sent it to must have been so like this:
;D when she heard it.
Overall, I like the sound of the whole album, and I think the choice of the order of the songs works really well (are album song orders usually random or are they chosen for a reason?) I can actually sort of see why D released 22 Steps as the first single now that I've listened to the whole album. Different parts of 22 Steps somehow hint at the different sounds that are present in each of the songs on the album. And after listening to the album I get the impression that I've only just heard a little bit of where Damien is musically at the moment, or "where he has landed". (Just re-read that sentence and it sounds weird but that's the impression I got). My parents were paying out Damien's music all day until they heard the album just then and they liked it. ;D My Dad said to tell Damien that he doesn't like the way he slides onto notes in every song and uses the falsetto in every song, but I disagree - it's not like he does it constantly; he only does it where it fits in well. Apparently that's why my Dad doesn't like "large doses" of Damien (but he said small ones are perfectly fine ;D). I saw that Where We Land was rated 6/10 in the S section of the Sun Herald... I wonder if the person who rated it actually listened to it?
BTW woohoo - I just finished listening to the album for the third time and it's
still extremely FUNTARSTIC (no surprises there)! ;D
I LOVE THIS ALBUM 
and delirious 
) 
).
