****Here's the thing ..... let's forget about what we each hear in productions ....... meaning, what I hear vs what you hear ........ we both have different systems, and we both hear different things ....... but I think we have different expectations when it comes to music.Going back to this one after some serious discussion with Larry over the last two days ... while Larry says this album sounds like ass, I think it sounds just fine. We had same discussion in regards to the last Arena album, so perhaps we really want different things out of productions and that's the deal here? I understand the aversion to programmed drums (heck, one of the best written albums this year suffers horribly from programmed drums - Manticora, that is), but on the Pallas album I really don't get bothered by it. There's one song where I kind of feel it would have been better with real live drums, but other than that, the songwriting is stellar and overall production is crystal clear on my system. Sorry, Larry, but this is a wonderful disc.
If you are a band just starting out, and you have no money, no label, etc etc ..... you put out your first disc, and you have to use programmed drums ..... sure it may sound like ass, and some people will complain about it and some may not for different reasons ......from where I'm sitting, you are Pallas. You have a legendary career and you have been around for half a century. You haven't released a disc in ten years ? You get Alan Reed back in the band and you write a great disc ..... and you use a computer for your drum sound ? That may be ok for some people .... but it isn't for me. Not at this stage of the game. No reason for it ......
Put on a previous Pallas disc .... it sounds pretty good. Put on this new disc, it sounds like ass. Plain and simple. I'll headphone it cause I love what they have written, but in the end it won't be a disc I go back to time and again because I don't want to have to do that ..... it may be a wonderful disc - but it is not the total package....
Gonna put this one in the Arena camp and let it be for what it is ......moving on to Caligua's Horse .......