Search - Hot Water Music :: Flight & Crash

Another solid effort.

dredpirateroberts | Lemon Grove, CA | 06/07/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a long time fan of these guys I have mixed emotions about this album. The objective side of me really likes this one, but the biased fan in me is not completely satisfied.



The song writing, musicianship, and energy are all top notch and on par with their earlier releases. There is no filler here - all the songs are good. Each song stands up on its own and also works together well as a whole album. I found it hard to pick "favorites", but I really like 'Paper Thin', 'Choked & Seperated', 'Old Rules', 'Jack of All Trades', 'A Flight & A Crash', and 'She Takes it So Well'.



There are only a couple nitpick things about this album that knock it down a few pegs for me:

First off - there is a lack of the "call and response" type of vocal work that really set these guys apart from the crowd. The two guitarists/vocalists played off eachother really effectively on previous albums. They did a lot of singing under and over each-other. Sometimes singing completely different lines at the same time. This had become one of the "trademarks" of their sound. This album suffers slightly because they don't incorperate this style of vocals nearly as much as they used to.



Secondly - The production of, or over-all "sound" of 'A Flight & A Crash' is a little more polished. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is "over-produced", but there is something about it that sounds a little more "flat" than I'm used to. At times the music all kinda washes together. There is a little more of that so called "Wall of Sound" quality that seems to happen with high energy rock bands sometimes when they record on a bigger budget with more main stream production. I just felt like I could hear each seperate instrument better and more clearly on the last three albums.



So, overall, 'A Flight & A Crash' is another really good album by Hot Water Music. Some minor flaws in my opinion, but still well worth having in your collection. Still better than 99% of the bands out there."