February 1, 2021 Isolate and Medicate, part 1, the trip from home and August 22 update and November 22

 Welcome back.  I left you on a cliff hanger.  Which Seether album did I listen to first.  Well, none of those three.  As it turned out I was back at work after the holidays and had some family stuff so by the time I was ready,  Isolate and Medicate had arrived and I could play it on my way to work and back [about 25 minutes one way].  Why this one?  Because Words As Weapons was on it.  No to mention Same Damn Life and Nobody Praying for Me which I'd listen to on YouTube earlier in December.  You've all seen the front of the album.  Here's the back:

Disclaimer [ha! see what I did there] I listened through to Nobody Praying for me and I had to shut it off because I'd arrived at work.  Work, work, work.  Back with Seether on the return trip.  Started it over then skipped to Nobody Praying for me so I could get to listen through a few more songs before I got home.  Do you know how long it's been since I bought an album and liked every song on it?

It's the lyrics for one. Who writes lyrics with a vocabulary?  Shaun Morgan, that's who.  It's sounds like poetry reading off the liner notes [with my glasses on the top of my head and my eyes about 5 inches from the text. Geezer, remember.]  The lyrics also tell a story.  Most of the songs I've loved over the years have told a story.  Fire and Rain, James Taylor.  And my ultimate, Quadrophenia by the Who.  The whole damn thing was a story.  The Who was my first obsession music-wise [remember Who's Next from Feb 1st].  We didn't have "The U-Tube" or "The Facebook" then.  Record stores.  I either saved my allowance or asked for it for my birthday.  The movie is great as well with with Phil Daniels in the lead part.  I even got the 1979 single "Kill Another Night" that he did.  Yes, the 7" single 45 rpm.  With the funny little plastic round piece you stick in the middle of the hole so you can play it on your record player.  So Boo-Yah.

Isolate and Medicate part 1, the trip from home.

Track1: See You At the Bottom.  Starts with a great rumble of guitar at the beginning, light drums and then the full drums and bass kick in with the other guitar.  The chorus with opposing voices.  Learning moment for me, when Shaun sings "at the bottom", "bottom" is with a scream.  I grew up being a snot about screaming during songs.  Nope, not for me, switched the channel.  Now, do all singers scream on a music note, in key?  Shaun does.  Well, now I like gritty screaming [growling?] as part of the song if it has a real purpose.  It feels right.  

[An aside note and apology: for clean writing I'm using the first names of the band members, as if I've met them.  Nope.  If I was to meet them I'd use Mr. Morgan, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Humphrey, etc. until invited to use their given names.  Sorry for being informal using the first names gentlemen.]

Track 2: Same Damn Life.  What's not to love here.  So cheery and cheeky.  Who doesn't want to sing along with, "Your the one who needs a fucking intervention."  It makes me happy in a sort of pissed off way.  And the last repeat of the chorus starts a cappella and the song finishes with a full stop, quick and sweet.  I can highly recommend the music video and the making of the music video. [Who doesn't like special features.  I've been known to get DVDs just to watch the special features]  August 22.  I watched the making of video and it's only 1:04 long.  I could swear I saw a longer one that had the band members talking about making it and about the actors that played the senior residents, but I can no longer find it.  Maybe I'm mixing it up with another "making of"?

Track 3: Words As Weapons.  Beyond liking every song, there are a few that I really identify with, or understand immediately, from my own experience and this is one of them.  Shaun may have a different interpretation of the lyrics, and as it's his song, he's got the priority.  But I've had a few people I loved try to take over my life and separate me from everyone else.  Those that are very articulate and verbally skilled [which I am not] can confuse me, muddy my perception and certainly use their words as weapons.  The music here is so good and I don't think I appreciate it as much as I should because I'm stuck on the lyrics.  Is he howling like a wolf?  I hope so, it's so great with, "Take what you can and leave me to the wolves."

Track 4: My Disaster. I love the way this sounds from the very beginning.  The intro is a concert of notes that rip through the music.  Had to look at the videos to see if that was guitar or bass.  I'm not really familiar how a bass sounds by itself and how the guitar lows and the bass highs meet.  The repeating of "I believe" at the beginning of each sentence of the first verse has so much power.  Sucks me in.  Music and words together.  I need to listen to this more times.  I understand the feeling until it gets to, "You're key to my disaster."  I'm not identifying what that disaster is.  I'm trying, really trying to get it.  I want to and someday it may just click. Another full stop ending.  August 22. Now that I'm eight months in to listening to Seether daily, I can hear the bass, guitars and drums separately as well as a whole.

Track 5: Crash. Beautiful ballad, but I need to listen much more.  Oh my God, it's about being in love and needing to be out of love.  I think I'm going to cry.  I need to take a break.  [OK, enough with the dramatics--November 2022]  December 2024, there is a lovely version of this on Octane-Sirius FM which will make you cry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBxT1NSBTf0 


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