Speak Easy Appreciation Thread

[thekoalastampede]

For most of us, we've been following this band for the better part, if not the entire decade thus fas and as Ozma fans we were pretty spoiled in the earlier years. We were given three full length CD releases in the matter of three years, we were given the Contraband Material, and Songs of InaudibleTrucks and Cars all in the span of 2000 to 2003. (Not to say all those things original releases were in those years but that's when most of us heard them for the first time.) Then in 2004, only a few weeks after hearing D-Song for the first time we were doomed to live the rest of our lives without a new Ozma record.

When I first heard Dan's stuff for "Speak Easy" I was immediately impressed. It wasn't Ozma at all but I still liked it. For the better part of the next year I would frequently check on Dan's myspace for new recordings and talk to him via IM about the album. Finally, today, over a year after seeing him at North 6 in Brooklyn and getting my free album sampler, i received the final version of Speak Easy in the mail. I have to say, I truly appreciate the album for what it is and I think it is great.

I'm sure we all know how much Dan put into this album and I think it's appropriate that we all share our appreciation for it with one another.

[amish]

I'm sure it's great. I just haven't gotten mine yet

[heysarahsarah]

I really can't properly explain how much I like this album.  Putting it on in the car driving to work is like holding a friend.  It's like a long walk on your favorite beach...it's familiar and invigorating.

The original songs have all of Dan's famously clever pop-savvy lyrics in a folky wrapper.  The traditional covers feel both very old and very original at the same time.  It's a hard combination to do at all, let alone as well as Daniel has.

So far, this is by far the best post-Ozma release of any ex-member....possibly the best any member has done in a very long while.  That may be my own personal folkish love shining through, but still...

[Not Jason]

I just ordered mine last week.  I haven't gotten it yet.  I'm not meaning to rain on anyone's parade, but save for a few tracks I've heard so far and loved, I'm expecting to be kind of lukewarm about a lot of it.  There has been an even split of "this is pretty good" and "this does pretty much nothing for me" on the tracks I've heard.  I'm not going to say anything for sure til I've heard the whole thing, mastered and in sequence.

[thekoalastampede]

when you say that Speak Easy is the best post-ozma project you're really not saying much. Yes Dear s/t was pretty generic and that about sums it up. Whatever Pat does doesn't matter because he's Pat and he doesn't matter, Jose's Kelly Clarkson cover was comical, and Ryen's solo fun isn't really worth bringing up in this discussion.

[Not Jason]

I wish Gone With the Ghost had ever committed to anything.  The potential on that project is/was very high.

[kitten]

gwtg is still finish their album and dan is still working with them; i think they're just having money and time issues.

[falyn]

i have been enjoying speak easy very much and agree wholeheartedly with sarah

[heysarahsarah]

I was actually counting Monstro with that...I guess I mean Ozma side/solo project.  I love the Monstro demo, but for some reason I like this more.  I think it's just the feeling he managed to capture.  It's nestolgic.  I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I really, really, really love this. 

[Not Jason]

I just got my copy.  Let me do the standard track by track thing:

1. Mr. Brown:  I've never been mad about this song.  It's just far too straightforward.  Four four in such a steady rhythm and tempo with a somewhat repetitive melody, just sort of turns me off.  It's not a bad song, it just doesn't chalenge any of my sensibilities, which is sort of a turn off.

2. Sao Paulo:  I haven't listened to this song in a really long time and I nearly forgot that I enjoyed it this much.  This is more along the lines of what I expect out of Daniel.  It's got surface complexity and blatant quirk.

3. Mystery of the Cathedrals:  I love when Daniel performs in this style, the sort of dark and minimal thing.  All the percussion of the songs I've heard on this record is really odd, and I think that may turn out to be a redeeming quality overall.  The weird chimey thing on this track is sort of distracting, and it might have been better off without, but the other atmospheric stuff like the feedback is a nice touch.  I like this song.

4. Coo Coo Bird:  I'm generally not so into Dan's traditional and other old covers.  There's not much I can say really.  He plays it well, I just don't care for the song very much, and that's not really anything I can blame on him.  Great guitar part, but the lyrics and vocal line do nothing for me.

5. Health and Happiness:  I completely adore this song.  It's exactly what I hope for from Daniel.  Very melodically strong and it's moods shift seemlessly on a dime.  The arrangements on this, with all the instrumentation and synthetic drums is perfect.  This might end up being my favorite track on the record.

6. Mourning Song:  What would have saved this song is had it ended up being "Pints of Guiness Make You Strong" by Against Me!, because that's what I always think when I hear the intro.  Anyway, musically I like this song, but the lyrics leave me flat.  It's too optimistic and hippy-ish, I can't relate to it.

7. Misadventures in Stride:  Everyone who I've played this song for loves it.  Ragtime fucking rules.  It's gotta be one of the best dead genres there is.

8. Language of the Birds:  Hmm, I don't think I've heard this song before.  I like the relaxed vocal approach.  This is a good track.  I'm less than halfway through it right now, just into a part that I'm going to refer to as a bridge for lack of better knowledge.  The changes in this song are drastic and wonderfully executed.  Sometimes tracks like "Mr. Brown" and "Mourning Song" throw me for a loop, but songs like this one remind me why Daniel Brummel is one of my favorite musicians.  I'm not sure that this edges out "Heath and Happiness", but it's solid none the less.

9. Banks of the Ohio:  Refer to my previous statement about Dan's traditional renditions.  Good performance, I just don't like the song.  I gave the lyrics a hard listen a few days ago, and I found their story appealing, but the style of it's execution in this song turns me off.  The backup vocals are a new addition on this album, I'm not sure what my opinion on them is.  Enjoyable enough track though I supose.

10. Blindman's Song:  I've always liked this song and I'm particularly fond of how it's presented here.  It's a song that benefits from this sort of simplicity and for lack of a better word, emptiness.  I'm happy that he didn't give it the layers that he gave to the rest of the tracks on the record.

11. O Death:  Again, typical traditional song criticisms.  I swear, people could only write like two melodies per song back then.  I like the way the percussion cuts out on some of the "O Death"s, nice dynamic touch.  The long instrumental section in the last few minutes of the track is quite good.

12. Barbara Allen:  My previous traditional song complaints do not necessarily apply here.  I think this is a much better song, melodically, than the other traditional songs Dan picks.  I enjoy it.

SO BASICALLY:

Save for 2 original tracks that I found average, my only complaints are with songs that he didn't even write.  At it's best moments this album is wonderful, and the good songs may be enough to redeem the whole for the moments that fail to appeal to me.  I enjoy it, on the whole, much more than I was expecting to.  The mixing and sequencing was well done and serves the record well.  The art and packaging is also nice, especially the front cover.

[thekoalastampede]

i think its safe to say its somewhere in between a 3 and 3.5 star record. Maybe a 4 if it was the All Music Guide judging.

[Not Jason]

I listened to it on a drive and it made a good nighttime relaxed mood driving record.

[heysarahsarah]

I listened to it on a drive and it made a good nighttime relaxed mood driving record.

Spot on...


Well, which is pretty much what I said, but it totally is.