Spinal Thievery (Taken Aback reviews)

[furrypedro]

...vs. Tap Corporation.

[hillbilly]

Gregg Boethin--Liked the lose feel of this at the start, then it got a little goofy, I wasn't in the right mood.

Stinko--A different side of Stinko, Like this settled down style. In a few places there could have been better choices of lyrics. I have heard you record acoustic better. Enjoyed this, nice change.

Social Uniform--I'm a fan of this guys singing styles, but wasn't crazy about this one. Don't care for those odd sounds.

Nick---Like the style of this guy.

Toby Roktot---Not trying to be hatefull, but I just don't feel it. But you get a lot of votes. Maybe you style will grow on me.

Masterhyde---You are the king of cheese and I can't quit listening.

[glennny]

Sounds like we accidentally submitted the instrumental version of the BSS song.

Nice cover Nick!

[iVeg]

BSS - i wondered about that. At first I thought, how long is this intro? Then I wondered if it was supposed to be instrumental. Just there was no real melodic line. Sorry that happened to you.

[noma]

Nice cover Nick!

Thanks! My cover alludes to the nautical origin of the phrase "taken aback" (which I wasn't aware of until after having googled it). I like your cover art, too. My favorite of yours so far was the Phillis Wheatley one, that was great

[glennny]

we have sent the BSS song with vocals to the Fightmaster.

[pauley g]

Balance Lost
Nice arpeggios, I like the way they weave around the bass line...just too dated for me although it would have made my mix tapes in high school for sure...wouldn't take much to update this though (see Temper Trap) maybe try to break it up a bit for contrast?

Barbies on the BBQ
Lyric is genius, I can totally relate to this! dig the surf vibe...nice job all the way VOTE

Berkeley Social Scene
at first I thought 'an instrumental? you guys are better than that!' then I read the comments...I hope the fight master reposts the lyric version, I'm definitely interested. as is, not bad. I like how you used stereo image to make the guitars pop

Gregg Boethin
I want to hear you start this whole thing faster so by the time you get to the 'rap' section, you're screaming at 210 bpm. awesome!
VOTE
inflatable vegetables
great comp work on the clav...lyrics good...I can almost feel the hook emerge in the chorus but it just doesn't get there for me...could you do something different at the end of the chorus more dramatic? something to make the hook shine?

Masterhyde
Belle of the Ball this fight. This has one of the best hooks I've ever heard. Remix so the drums are punchier and go sell millions of copies dude. VOTE

My Social Uniform
this one's mine. I had a feeling the sax loop kills it, but I wanted something rude and dissonant to convey how I was feeling when this event happened...I wasn't just taken aback, I was shocked! any advice on how to fix this will be appreciated...

Nick Soma
Reminds me of Irish drinking songs...good lyric, good arrangement, well performed...it just doesn't grab me. Not my style, but I still appreciate the work you put into it...

Paco del Stinko
Nice job Paco. Reminds me of the Violent Femmes. chord structure works well, can tell your feeling the lyric. bring the full arrangement in sooner maybe? VOTE

toby roktot
love the harmonica, lyric cool, just feels kinda flat. Maybe I just need the instrumentation to vary a bit more between verse and chorus?

Ziptor
good mood and vocal work...the distortion is appropriate for this I think...nice harmony and drum breaks. Chorus melody could stick out more though, I think that's what makes this good and it gets buried somehow. gets pitchy at 2:30 or so..

[iVeg]

Balance Lost: Too bad your voice was so low in the mix. Was that vocorder on some of the BGVs?
Barbies: Starts almost like a joke song.
BSS: [What we've already said.] Very jazzy. L guitar may be a bit hot in the mix when it's distorted?
Gregg Boethin: Good guitars. Not a fan of the verse lyrics, and didn't like the bridges. The tempo changes were fun, but I think you could have really rocked this song, and you chose to make it a joke.
Veg: I think I was trying to be overly-clever on the lyrics, so it became an intellectual game, and there wasn't any emotional connection. Thanks for your review Pauley.
Masterhyde: Vox was good. Chorus was strong this time. Good story. Good rhymes.
My Social Uniform: Loops. GOOD voice. Didn't like chorus.
Nick Soma: Like the intro, and the sea chanty feel. Something felt a bit off on the guitar solo.
Paco: Started off very subdued, for you. Liked how it kicked in. Really liked solo.
Toby: Heartfelt. Vox pitchy, but nice tone. Enjoyed harmonica. Some problems with your lyric rhythms - didn't quite fit at times.
Ziptor: 1st verse melody seemed way off, but got stronger as song went on. The whole song kinda degenerated into chaos.

[glennny]

Thanks Fightmaster! BSS vocal version is up. Sorry about the mix up.

[iVeg]

BSS usually has the person who writes the lyrics sing the song? I love Martin's vox over a hard song, but he struggled in places on this one. You could have adjusted the arrangement and instrument parts to fit his delivery style, or changed the melody, or maybe had someone else do the verses? He was good on the choruses, tho.

[Toby Roktot]

barbies. great beach blanket feel...nice harmonies. i can see the sundress fallout !! chorus really rocks !!!

paco. so many elements to this song....i love it !!

gregg. zappa lives!!! fun song

balance lost. this song really pops but, the vocals kinda get lost in the music. i like it but, i'd like it more with the vocals more out front.

my social uni. song grows on you with a few listens. very nice, i'll be interested where the voting sends this one.

ziptor. poor man's nirvana !! i can actually smell the spirit as i listen to this.....smells good!!!

masterhyde. nicely crafted. this is a rap song that rap song haters' will like !!

bss. music is very nice...

iveggies nice toe tapper !!

nick soma. song reminds me of gordan lightfoot with a little 'great big sea' thrown in....a very good combination !!!

thx to all reviews and special thanks for the votes last week. i can die happy now !!!

[furrypedro]

Balance Lost entry remixed with louder vox.
http://www.gocarpetburn.com/mp3/takenaback.mp3

[iVeg]

@furrypedro: Yes. Much better. Thanks!

[Masterhyde]

Ok, these are late as I wasn't on my normal schedule with Thanksgiving and everything.

Balance Lost

Sounding really 80's here. I'm waiting for Cyndi Lauper or someone like that to start singing. Wait...the vocals seem too low. Can't really hear them. They don't sound bad, just low. "The principles remain the same"? Can't tell the "Taken Aback" relation but that's probably because of the vocal volume.

Barbies on the BBQ

Baby wipes and tampons? Wow. Music is cool. Seems like you were going in one direction with the first verse then the chorus comes and it isn't so bad.

Berkley Social Scene

Nice guitar work. Voice is kinda pitchy for holding those notes. "burn my corpse and run"? Harsh. Decent but doesn't hit me too much.

Gregg Boethin

Yes, my refrigerator is running sir. Guitar is cool. I'm taken aback that you mentioned "the crapper". BPM change wasn't really noticable besides you mentioning it. I'm taken aback that you mentioned "pterodactyl". And rap is more than rhyming the words and mentioning your money and bitches, but it went with the song

Inflatable Vegetables

This sounds like a jingle. What commercial did you do this for? Music isn't too bad. Poured on his bed like syrup?......ooookay.

Masterhyde

Mine here. As usual I didn't work on this as much as I'd like. Thought about doing a change in key but ran out of time.

My Social Uniform

Real nice guitar starting this off. Wait....the vocals meld nicely with the guitar! Groove is quite funky (don't know if you can say 'quite funky' but I just did). The wah fade sound melds well too. And what is that sort of almost sax sound? At any rate I like this one.

Nick Soma

Nice guitar. You should have known better though. She'll always do it to you ya know? This one has a melancholy sound to it which goes with the topic....wait...what about those almonds....never mind

Paco Del Stinko

Bled you and left you by the road. Boy, these women have really done people wrong this week! I like the rhythm of the guitar. Interesting background vocals on the change part.

Toby Roktot

This sounds like "The Cars" right off the bat. What the heck is a "Shambray" (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). Music works. Nice harmonica at the end.

Ziptor

Rhythm is cool. Seems like the "Ha-aaah" should have been doubled or tripled or harmonized.

[furrypedro]

the vocals seem too low.

Balance Lost entry remixed with louder vox.
http://www.gocarpetburn.com/mp3/takenaback.mp3

Never let it be said that I am not a man of the people.

Thanks for the review!

[Toby Roktot]

hillbilly says:

"Not trying to be hatefull, but I just don't feel it. But you get a lot of votes. Maybe you style will grow on me."

that's ok mr. billy, like abe said..."you can please some of the people some of the time......etc"

pauly g says

"love the harmonica, lyric cool, just feels kinda flat. Maybe I just need the instrumentation to vary a bit more between verse and chorus?"

as i learn more chords, maybe the music will expand......nah !!! i'm just a drummer fakin' it !!!

iVeg says

"Heartfelt. Vox pitchy, but nice tone. Enjoyed harmonica. Some problems with your lyric rhythms - didn't quite fit at times."

i agree. always happens when i record guitar and vocals separately...thx

masterhyde says

"This sounds like "The Cars" right off the bat. What the heck is a "Shambray" (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). Music works. Nice harmonica at the end."

'chambray' is a word that rhymes with 'away' thx

and thx for all the reviews ....congrats to my social uniform very nice !!!