Album: Switchfoot ‘The Edge of the Earth’ EP Review By Jessica Morris Following the success of their ninth studio album Fading West which debuted at #6 on the Billboard charts, rock and roll alumni Switchfoot gave fans a taste of their life on tour with the music/surf documentary of the same name. The film highlighted the micro process the five-piece went through to create the distinctive sound of their album, but it also left fans wanting more. Enter the release of the EP The Edge of the Earth: Unreleased Songs from the Film “Fading West.” Featuring seven songs heard in the movie but cut from the initial album; the EP is a mix of the rock tones we love and the musical resonance of a soundtrack. It is certainly different from any of the band’s …show more content…
Finally in the opening track, we get to hear the song that inspired much of this creativity. “Fading West” is an acoustic, laid back and relaxed song. It is simple- perhaps a little more simple that what we have come to expect from Switchfoot. The driving guitars and catchy rift of the keyboard carry the chorus as Foreman sings, “I’m heading back to the left coast where I belong. California’s calling me back home.” While the lyrics are somewhat cliché, there is honesty in their delivery which makes them resonate. The need to keep things simple, to return to our roots and be centred is communicated plainly but with feeling, and as they do this you feel the waves of the west coast dipping at your …show more content…
Layering their instrumentation with sounds from around the world (any hard core fan will have observed this in the Fading West film); this song is convoluted in nature but still beautiful and artistic. Each piece of the song feels as though it has been delivered purposefully, and the brutal honesty of the lyrics, “The hardest war to fight, is a fight to be yourself, when the voices try to turn you into something else,” will hit home in your soul. “Skin And Bones” mixes things up, the hard rock edge of the band being softened for a broader and more synth based approach. A melancholy tune, the poetry of the lyrics paints a vast, desolate landscape. Choosing to focus on Foreman’s falsetto, the track seems to communicate the deepest and most fearful parts of our being with phrases like “apocalyptic skies.” The beauty of “What It Costs” comes largely from the fact it sung by guitarist Tim Foreman. His first time on lead vocals, Tim’s voice doesn’t cut through like Jon’s and carries far less grit. Yet there is a sincerity and gravel to it, mixed with a sweetness that is perfect for the song. Penned when his brother was forced to fly home in the middle of tour due to his daughter being sick, this song dares to uncover elements of love which often go undiscovered in music. A song about brotherly love, friendship, the love of a father and faith in
I was raised on the movie The Sandlot. My my dad played baseball through college and my brother has played since he could hold a bat. My mom, sister, and I also played softball when we were little. One could say that we are a “baseball family.” My dad first introduced this movie to me, and I was attracted to it not only because it is a fun film about baseball, but also because it has an entertaining soundtrack. The music fits well with the storyline and makes you feel like you are playing baseball and hanging out with the boys in the sixties. I also was raised listening to this genre of music and more songs from some of these bands. Throughout this paper, I will critique the main songs in The Sandlot that make it popular, as well as give a short biography of each band.
In this song they are talking about a young boy that is drafted into the war. They also talk about that the boys had the lack of experience. That why lots of innocent young boys lost their lives due to the lack of experience. This song is a very up tempo song and is sending a very happy and pro-war attitude. It’s also saying that one could get drafted to the war it just the numbers they have picked already. It is saying what are the direct cause the war put on the soldiers and all the stress the soldiers have. This song and these singers are really supportive of the war and thought the war was a good thing to go into.
Norman Bowker’s singing shows his experience of madness of the war. He sings, “I’m wasting my time. I got nothing to do. I’m hanging around. I’m waiting on you” (Lemon Tree). These are the lines that he sings while picking parts of Lemon’s body from the tree. Tim O’Brien shows the truth of how fellow soldiers face the death. Although the though of cleaning up a friend body parts the truth is Bowker faces this with a song. The truth is that instance death is a part of every day life in war.
For instance, “smell of gunpowder” (Magnus, 6), which is repeated multiple times, is a demonstration of how much the soldier values his war memories, for the solder describes the smell as “stimulating” (Magnus, 8) and “life-giving” (Magnus, 7). At the same time, as the soldier describes war in an enumeration towards the end of the poem, the audience learns his sadness and regret in face to the fact that “No one comprehends a soldier’s work anymore” (Magnus, 28). This enumeration, however, is used to recreate the images that the soldier experienced during his service so that the audience would feel the intensity of war. In addition, the assonance in “knobby bones” (Magnus, 4), on top of emphasizing the bold character of the soldier despite his age, evokes an image of an old, forceless man, which fits well with the beginning of the poem, in which the soldier is portrayed as weak and unenthusiastic.
Pathos: The emotions that are really being played on the most are anger. People have so much anger when they can not understand the world or what is going on in it. The audience becomes furious to all the killing and death in the world and they need someone there to sympathize with them. Anti-Flag gets the listener angry by exposing the faults of the world. The listener appreciates this because Anti-Flag will not sell into the wrongs of the world. It uses the emotion of finding comfort in that there is someone else out there that has the same views as the listener does. The band uses punk rock music as a common ground with the listeners and expresses their views through their songs. This relates back to the author because this is a great way to protest through music.
The song, Hotel California, written by Don Henley, illustrates the contrast between perceptions of California as a place of freedom and reality to show the pitfalls of living in Southern California during the 1970s.
...he essence of a grief-stricken generation, exhibited an unyielding emphasis on the importance of piercing passion over musical intricacy, and introduced the world to a vast array of gifted musicians who did not deem music as a tool to achieve recognition or financial stability. In turn, the decades that followed the rise of alternative rock have been inundated with so-called musicians whose main goal has been to get their faces plastered on magazine covers and achieve maximum public exposure, rather than devoting themselves to their craft. Consequently, the world has been left with nothing but an endless parade of shocking behavior, skimpy outfits, and mediocre music. Unfortunately, if the current state of affairs is any hint of what the future holds for music audiences, the magic generated by the nineties alternative rock will not be matched in years to come.
In the midst of the Vietnam war, songs arose about much more threatening subjects. These songs reflect this generation’s increasingly likelihood of being critical of both the war and the government as compared to past generations. The first sign of...
He talks about how soldiers are trained to live. How soldiers are trained in combat, and more. In this song “Fighting soldiers from the sky, fearless men who jump and die. Men who mean just what they say, the brave men of the Green Beret.” In this lyric, he is talking about how the soldiers fight and how brave they are.
This month we get to learn a little bit about Carlton Hill who has been described as level headed, easy going and a reliable friend. I find Carlton to have a very calming and pleasant presence about him, which is very refreshing!
Political issues such as the war on terrorism is evoked as an issue throughout the song. American was divided “All across the alien nation” when troops were sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. Metaphorical language was used to explore the issue. Audience positioning from techniques indorse concerns with a country divided and positions them to feel the need to cooperate and sort things out other than civil unrest and debate.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
“We’ll I’ve been working in a coal mine going down and down. Working in a coal mine going down and down; oops my body slipped down.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WRjgv62Ayc) With machine precision, Devo begins a rendition that expresses what would be extremely typical of the ‘New Wave’ i...
Springsteen wrote “Devils & Dust” during the Iraq War. He has been openly against the war and has been quoted saying to Rolling Stone, “As the saying goes, "The first casualty of war is truth." I felt that the Bush doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous foreign policy. I don't think it has made America safer.” The song itself could be interpreted as a soldier’s point of view about the war but overall it stands as a critique on our society betraying its own principles. The first couple of verses in the song already evoke the image of a soldier stuck in a war. “I got my finger on the trigger / But I don’t know who to trust” could be understood as a soldier’s experience in war but it could also have a deeper meaning. It could also signify that our society has to make these important choices that will end up affecting people’s lives but it is all too ambiguous, there just isn’t any certainty. We are left with the desperate feeling of not knowing what to do, not knowing wh...
I choose warzone to be the first on my playlist because it touches the subject on Trayvon Martin, Hanging in Piedmont Park, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling .The chorus addresses Eric Garner 's last words “I Can’t Breathe.” On July 17,2014 Eric Garner was