Originally Posted by TheGorge
I've listened to the album all the way through about 10 times now (as background music, while driving, while listening intently, and while working). Thought I'd join the fray and share my take:
It feels like a team I've been rooting for finally made the playoffs again. Taking the analogy further, maybe CT doesn't represent a championship win for me, but it's certainly a return to form. Yes, the lyrics are cheesy at times. But when taken as a whole, it shines so much more often than it disappoints. I'm proud of Dave. CT is honest. It’s joyful. It's sweet without feeling forced. It strives for innocence in a time when we desperately need it. It’s trying to remind us of who we are. And it sounds like Dave. I think I love it. And if it's not yet love, it's a severe liking at the least.
I first found this band in 1994, as a high school student, when I heard Ants Marching on MTV in the middle of the night. The song literally woke me up from sleeping. I bought UTTAD the next day and I was hooked. Since then, I have bought each of the albums on the day they came out. I was elated by Crash and then BTCS. I was there when the band hit its apex (and what an apex that was). And then I was there with the slide - I was incredibly disappointed with Everyday, confused by the shelving of tLWS, frustrated that BS wasn't tLWS (unfairly, I admit), downright angry about Stand Up, mildly relieved (and annoyed at the same time) with BWGGK, and, finally, by the time AFTW came out, I didn't feel much of anything at all. I liked a few songs, but didn't listen to it much at all.
All the while, I went to as many live shows as I could and loved what they did there (somewhere over 50 since 1996), and I wondered when an album would give me the feeling that the earlier albums did. And this one, at long last, does. When UTTAD, Crash, and BTCS came out, I was able to listen to them free from the peril of expectation. I just put them in and let them play. It was a beautiful thing. They became the soundtrack of my life. For whatever reason, something similar is happening with CT. Now, I'm not suggesting CT is their equivalent. I'm not even trying to compare them. But like the Big 3, I am just letting CT play. It’s easy. I don’t have to think about it. It just feels right. And that’s all I need.
We all know this band isn’t perfect. The band has failed, and the band has succeeded. But this band is, without a doubt, very special. This band's music has brought me so much joy over such a long period of time that, more than anything, I'm thankful I continue to get new music from them that can still make me, at times, feel the same way I did that first time I listened to UTTAD as a fifteen year old, when the world was young and possibilities were endless. That’s a priceless thing. I'm glad I have been on this musical journey with them as a fan. It hasn’t always been perfect. But it’s been one hell of a ride.
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