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A Stitch in Time is still my favorite, but 2nd place celarly goes to Freak...so far.

Listening to this song now makes me realize how gimmicky and repetitive EP 1 has been...

I absolutely fell in love with "Freak" when Billy first debuted the song at the Sky Saxon tribute concert, and of all the recent songs (Spirits in the Sky to present), it is my absolute favourite. It is exactly how I hoped it would be and exceeded my expectations. To be fair, my expectations were incredibly low after EP1, which I think is awful. Sonically, the song reminds me of many early 90's lo-fi/indie productions, thanks to recording to tape I expect, and I like that a lot. Melodically, I would definitely put it in the "Zwan" bucket, as others have already mentioned, but sonically it is far from anything on MSoTS.

"Freak" is my favourite TbK song by far. I've been listening to the track on repeat for the past 3 hours... and just figured it out on guitar as well. Definitely gonna fool around with a bit of a cover version of this some time in the near future.

venison wrote:
Gimmicky and repetitive are exactly the two words I would use to describe Freak. It fits right in with the other 4 songs just fine in that regard.

OK a few listens in and I'm not massively impressed. All seems very basic. The drums are not a patch on Jimmy, with noticeable missed beats and other slips. And my biggest gripe .... I'd wish Billy would realise his voice sounds much better when its got somebody else harmonising backup (Ginger did a great job on the Zeitgeist tour).

So far with the Teargarden project "A Stitch in time" is the best effort (More Effort being what's required) so far and even then "99 Floors" and "Mama" where the last songs that I actually got Excited about.

ghostchild wrote:
Unfortunately I have to agree.

Astral Planes is the only one I'd say has been overly repetitive. I don't think Freak is more repetitive than the majority of 4 minute mainstream rock songs, and I certainly wouldn't say Song For A Son was repetitive or gimmicky.

Freak was the only new song I heard from the Spirits in the Sky shows, and I really liked it. I still like it, but am a little bored of it now. The studio version is a little lethargic.

The line "Life is not a dream where you can't wake up from the dream you wanted" is a really convoluted sentence. I'm still not quite sure what he means.

I dont agree that it's repetitive but I do think some songs were predictable and boring such as WWMM. It just doesn't really progress throughout the 4 and a half minutes. I don't like the main riff either. Its just a bit too cheesy...

Murder McMurderson wrote:
I might need to listen to the song again, but are you sure it isn't "WHEN you can't wake up from the dream you wanted"? It's still convoluted, but it might make a little more sense.

Oh, that does make more sense.

The guitars needed to be beefier on this and I just don't dig Billy's vocal delivery. I realize he's aged but when he sings like this it just sounds half-assed to me. It seems he can only really pack a punch these days when he goes for the snarl as in "As Rome Burns", but he doesn't do those types of songs as often anymore either. He's totally lost the breathy, "1979"/"Today" delivery that he used on the upbeat songs of yesteryear. He just sorta sounds like he's half-singing/half-talking now.

The one song I'd say it's worked on is "A Song for a Son", but that was a totally different style of song.

I'm surprised with the good reviews of the song!!! Definitely a good song. Looks very promising for what is coming. Very catchy!!! Easy listening and good for radio!! I love it!!!

I like the song and I think it's better than the other four but I'm just hoping that he gets better with each song that gets released.

Oops. I just double posted and my computer messed up.

Well I also like the style that they took with the song and I think his vocals have improved on this one. Also like A Stitch in Time and A Song for a Son it has real lyrics.

Billy's voice sounds the same now as it did with Zwan and I'm ok with that! I agree that it sounds half-assed sometimes but on other occasions, he gets it just right (for example Stellar, Ma Belle, Mina Loy).

Just put a new song on and follow it with something from the mid-90s. His voice used to be so heart-wrenching - both his soft singing and his more aggressive style. Now he just seems to stay somewhere between the two and his voice doesn't move me in the slightest. Not that his voice now is terrible, it's average, equal to many singers out there, but I just find it depressing as he used to be the greatest, most emotion-filled, passionate singer I'd heard, and now he's just ok.

I think the voice has a bit improved since Zeitgeist...and Freak compared to Song for a son is sung a bit more passionated imo.
Maybe that trend will stay (let's hope, at least.)

When have they played this before? I have heard a clip of it before. Not the production, somewhere live. Anyone know?...didn't they play it at the Spirits in the Sky tour?

DON wrote:
Yeah, I think it is slightly better now - and it's better live than in any of the studio songs. But still, a long, long way from how good it was pre-Machina.