Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

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markrobertnolan
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#31 Post by markrobertnolan »

Tom Angel wrote: Mon 20 May 2019, 4:17 pm A face like that is PSB at they best. That throbbing synth bass and even bells, It's in my top 10

Had they included In Slow Motion, In hIs imagination and lost Hold on and Ego music it would be up there with Behaviour.

And Breathing Space is gorgeous. One of their finest ballads. The production is astonishingly good - far better than Stuart Price.
Balderdash - Its like the Tim Powell drivel which was all over Agenda. Would you really rather the new album sound like that load of baloney?

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#32 Post by Lush »

Elysium is a beautifully produced album desperately looking for a good song. Which is why a lot of people like the instrumentals. There isn't a decent song on it, but Dawson did a dynamite job trying to salvage something.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#33 Post by jasonjohn »

Lush wrote:There isn't a decent song on it
Oh FFS. Some lame critiques on this "fan" forum.

If music were movies, some people would want every album set inside some dire Marvel "Universe".

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#34 Post by leesmapman »

jasonjohn wrote: Sat 22 Jun 2019, 6:22 am If music were movies, some people would want every album set inside some dire Marvel "Universe".
That would be Hell (which is also a great B-side from the Elysium era)

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#35 Post by rainerw »

Pod wrote: Thu 16 May 2019, 10:25 pm
Bulldog wrote: Thu 16 May 2019, 8:38 pm Replace "Breathing space" and "'Give it a go" with "In slow motion" and "Woods" and it gets 110℅ better.
Yep - throw in ‘in his imagination’ and it gets even better.
Plus replace replace "Ego Music" with "Rent" and "Hold on" with "Heart", "Requiem..." "with Left to my own devices".
Maybe "Winner" with "It couldn't happen here" and it gets even better.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#36 Post by ZiggyPSB »

I think the idea is to replace songs from the 2012 album with songs from the same era it was recorded in. Not any old song from their vast back catalogue.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#38 Post by rainerw »

ZiggyPSB wrote: Fri 26 Jul 2019, 2:34 pm I think the idea is to replace songs from the 2012 album with songs from the same era it was recorded in. Not any old song from their vast back catalogue.
I know. Just tried to be funny. ;-)

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#39 Post by retrofuturist »

They really should have kept Listening all for themselves... it would have fit in perfectly, and bolstered the strength of the album, allowing them to drop one of the cringy songs.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#40 Post by jasonjohn »

Elysium remains one of my favourites from them

It's sonically lush, the songs are interesting, varied, and I enjoy the little journey they send us on.

It's probably one of their most cohesive efforts, to my ears.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#41 Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
jasonjohn wrote: Thu 01 Aug 2019, 2:22 pm It's probably one of their most cohesive efforts, to my ears.
We need a Geowayne poll on the most "cohesive" PSB album.

Elysium would definitively not win it for me, but it would not be last either.

Retro. :)
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#42 Post by jasonjohn »

retrofuturist wrote: Greetings,
jasonjohn wrote: Thu 01 Aug 2019, 2:22 pm It's probably one of their most cohesive efforts, to my ears.
We need a Geowayne poll on the most "cohesive" PSB album.

Elysium would definitively not win it for me, but it would not be last either.

Retro. :)
Yeah good idea. To my ears, Elysium is a stream of easy-listening tracks with a core mood. It really depends on how you relate to the themes, I guess. I don't feel disrupted by any particular track. I even like Winner when I can mentally filter its chorus :).

I'm sure Electric would win, largely because half the people in here only seem to care about the high energy side of PSB. To my ears Electric is more a mix album. It doesn't try to be a variety.

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#43 Post by NikacP0kac »

retrofuturist wrote: Greetings,

Yeah good idea. To my ears, Elysium is a stream of easy-listening tracks with a core mood. It really depends on how you relate to the themes, I guess. I don't feel disrupted by any particular track. I even like Winner when I can mentally filter its chorus :).
It's bad in a good way, if you know what I mean.

After the novelty wore off, Elysium became very bland for me, it's like the expectation and the memory of how I think the songs should sound like is not replicated when listening to the actual thing. Leaving is a modern classic, I'll give you that, Memory and Invisible are quite good, but the rest leaves me cold - especially A Face Like That which has that very annoying synth riff and just falls a bit flat.
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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#44 Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Elysium would make a lot more sense to me if it looked something like this...

1. Leaving
2. Invisible
3. Breathing Space
4. Listening
5. Give It A Go
6. A Face Like That
7. In His Imagination
8. Everything Means Something
9. Memory Of The Future
10. Requiem In Denim And Leopardskin

... with a clear distinction between Side A & B... and with all the duff tracks omitted.

Still wouldn't be my favourite album, but I think THIS would actually be, to quote JasonJohn... "cohesive".

Retro. :)
"Politics are too emotional now. Contemporary culture generally is too emotional, really... I'd rather people looked to the truth." (Neil Tennant)

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Re: Today I listened to Elysium for the first time since 2012...

#45 Post by telys »

There's only one or two cohesive PSB albums:

Disco and perhaps Very but really only Disco, perhaps the best album they ever made thought it should've been fleshed out with AMCGA and WTWIW
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