I have finally seen the light; Ozma's third album--Pasadena--is excellent. When it first came out I was incredibly bugged by the fact that they redid two songs (from previous discs) on this album. I wasn't angry with the band per se (mostly I blame the label for a stupid move like that), but I was put off by that. I think I felt cheated. With those two remakes as the first and third tracks, and the second and fourth tracks being ones that I didn't like, I sort of shut down and stopped caring to discover the rest of the album. Well, here is what I must say now. The rest of the album is wonderful. Heartache Vs. Heartbreak is a beautiful song that does some incredible things with chords and dissonance and is almost chilling (while maintaining its pop feel). Lunchbreak has one of my favorite little vocal hooks ("Your classmates don't respect you/Asi es la vida") and it has been running through my head almost constantly for the past week or so. In fact, I've even come around on Barriers now too.
So, I have changed the way I think about the album. I still don't really enjoy listening to the two remakes (because I feel like the songs were better captured the first times around), so I have decided to pretend like those songs aren't really a part of this album. Whalah! The album is great! The only song that I will still need more time with is Fight the Darkness, which I still think is a stupid song (at least lyrically, and so far it hasn't done too much for me musically either).
I highly recommend this album though. If you were already an Ozma fan then just pretend like the two remakes never happened, and if you aren't already a fan then it won't matter anyway.
The video below is of the song Heartache Vs. Heartbreak. I apologize for it, because it most certainly isn't the music video. It looks like some fan just made a photo collage background for the song. Ah well. The point was the song anyway.
This one is for Alex. I saw it on youtube and immediately remembered your cover of this song. It is Daniel, Star, and Kenn covering New World Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Have atchya.
3 comments:
Fourth album. :-P And I'm glad you're enjoying it. I feel pretty much the same way about it. One thing, on Fight the Darkness, I think it has some of the best drumming and bass work on the album.
Ozma 4 lyfe.
Does Double Donkey Disc count as an album? I wouldn't have though so.
Technically, it is considered one of their albums, but it probably does work better when thought of as 2 EPs.
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