And it's #1 in the mids!

Who produced this album? I've listened to it twice now and it's clear that there are many potential anthems on here but they're completely ruined by the awful production that makes it sound like I'm listening to the album on a cassette! Seriously, where once you could hear every harp chord and hand clap on tracks like Rabbit Heart and Dog Days, now even tribal chanting on Heartlines, intricate drum patterns on Spectrum and potentially lovely harp sections on No Light, No Light are buried so low into the mix that Florence's vocals completely overpower them - a real shame! It's so bad that I'm actually doubting whether the mp3s I have from Amazon are the finished version of the album. :/

 

If anyone ever heard the original version of Thunder! Lightning! Strike! by Go! Team and compared it to the re-issued version, it's a similar sound problem as the re-issue had there - just so flat and almost in mono as every sound comes at you from the same place.

It's all Paul Epworth.

Is it really? I thought he did a decent job with Lungs and similarly I think he did a good job with 21 also by really playing to the strengths of Florence and Adele respectively - but he's got it very wrong on Ceremonials in my opinion.

I think the production is okay, but I agree with it sounding like a casette. THe biggest victim is strangeness and charm. AMAZING SONG, but its just so distorted :(

Just watched her on Jools Holland...

Very impressive.... maybe I like her a little more again.

Having now given this a full spin it sounds like the record that she thinks WE WANT TO HEAR. In the process we are left with soulless, empty tracks that detract (ironically) from the very ESSENCE that we all loved about 'Lungs' and Flo in the first place.

Having now given this a full spin it sounds like the record that she thinks WE WANT TO HEAR. In the process we are left with soulless, empty tracks that detract (ironically) from the very ESSENCE that we all loved about 'Lungs' and Flo in the first place.

SPOT ON.

 

It's the sort of album that you can imagine her wanting to re-release in 10 years time in a re-produced form to show how good it could have been. I do really think that a handful of the tracks are potentially amazing and you can listen to them and really see the potential - if you strain enough to pay attention to what's happening in the background of the tracks then there's some pretty intricate vocal and percussion layers that just leave no impression at all unless you're searching for them.

 

(I'll leave it at that as I feel I'm bordering on overkill with my view on it!)

"When I first saw Florence and the Machine two years ago at New York's cozy and beloved Bowery Ballroom, leader Florence Welch's voice was simply too loud for the room. She sounded massive, but shrill. Overpowering. If the show took place in an X-Men movie, the wind gushing from Welch's lungs would have propelled several patrons smashing through the Bowery's back window onto Delancey Street."

 

Ha.

I like the new album.... but I don't love it. It's so reminiscent of every Siouxsie and The Banshees and Kate Bush moment... each track sounds like either one of the other - it's all a bit... passe and unoriginal.

 

But..... it's one of the most gorgeous album covers I've ever seen. BEAUTIFUL.

But..... it's one of the most gorgeous album covers I've ever seen. BEAUTIFUL.

REALLY? :/

 

It has one of the worst fonts I've ever seen (although it's the same as Lungs I guess) and just looks like a cheap paint effort to me.

Oddly enough I just dropped in to say I think the album cover is laughable. Why anyone thought those were flattering images I will never know, the one on the right makes her look about 50.

 

As for the MUZAK, I'm not much of a fan but I heard 'What The Water Gave Me' in HMV t'other day and thought it was quite pleasant so I'll probably invest in the album once it drops in price a little.

Really liking this album... "Lungs" was good, but this, to me, is just on a different level entirely... I dunno why people are complaining about the production.. I've played it on my PC's 5.1 surround system and frankly, it sounds absolutely great... I can hear everything with clarity no problem... I hear the Siouxsie and Kate comparisons, but, so what..? Nothing these days is original anyway, and she does it with style as opposed to just being merely derivitive, so I have no particular issues... I only have issues when an artist is being lazy with their influences and just Xeroxes them, but Florence isn't doing that, so, like I say, no problems here....

I don't mind the album cover, but I don't like it either. It's very lifeless compared to the (beautiful) Lungs cover and it doesn't really suit the music either. I guess you could argue the emotionless nature of it matches how hollow the album can sound at times. That said I don't mind the font. At least it's not the horrendous green colour that was on What The Water Gave Me's cover.

REALLY? :/

 

It has one of the worst fonts I've ever seen (although it's the same as Lungs I guess) and just looks like a cheap paint effort to me.

 

nah.completely disagree - the photography is GORGEOUS.... very pre-Raphelite.... which I love. I think the band's logo font is naff.... but the font for the album title, I love.... a bit art-deco - and very similar to the one Goldfrapp used for Supernature.

 

The photography throughout the whole booklet is stunning, I think..... especially the front cover which is just beautifully iconic.

I was just going to say that the album cover looks like a Goldfrapp one.

It's confirmed that it will be 'Shake It Out' performed on this week's X Factor.

I've mixed feelings about this! On the one hand, if she pulls off Shake It Out then it will get a massive boost but at the same time her performance on The Late Late Show was very poor IMO and if she f***s it up it will be... unfortunate. I think No Light, No Light might have been easier for her to sing.

The album cover of this is a straight M!KEY JOB. Shockingly awful. I don't really like any of F+TM's cover art though.

 

Looking forward to seeing SIO on the X Factor. ONLY TENUOUSLY RELATED but I presume someone will be performing 'You['ve] Got The Love' tomorrow as well.

Edited November 4, 201113 yr by Bré

nah.completely disagree - the photography is GORGEOUS.... very pre-Raphelite.... which I love. I think the band's logo font is naff.... but the font for the album title, I love.... a bit art-deco - and very similar to the one Goldfrapp used for Supernature.

 

The photography throughout the whole booklet is stunning, I think..... especially the front cover which is just beautifully iconic.

 

The font for the album title is an atrocity. I've made better fonts and I by no means consider myself a type designer. Where'd she get it, dafont or something ? ? ? It looks like a font that a graphic design student would use in their first assignement. (Photo is pretty great, though)

 

I also agree that this album is a disappointment. It tries too hard, whereas Lungs sort of felt effortlessly pop but meaningful. Shake It Out and What the Water Gave Me are the best songs on it (and Shake It Out is still one of the best pop singles of the year imo)