Don’t know if there are any Ray fans on here but I’ve been a huge fan of his for years and anxiously awaited his latest album as he’s always awesome. Until now.
Supernova has to be the worst album to album decline in music history. It was produced by whatshisname from the Black Keys and it shows. Rays voice is layered with reverb reverb reverb, which is a crying shame because RL’s voice is THE reason he’s loved, and to hide it behind tons of crappy effects ala Black Keys is a travesty.
It also completely shifts gears away from the folksy sound he’s always had to an entirely different, 60’s tripadelic sound that just doesn’t work. It’s awful.
This is probably one of the hugest disappointments for me as far as a single album goes. It’s terrible. The kicker is my wife and I bought tickets to see him in Orlando in July. I’m desperately hoping he doesn’t play much of this album otherwise it will be a long night.
Anyone else heard this thing yet? I know he’s fairly popular.
I’ve listened to it multiple times, and like it. When you refer to “the worst album to album decline in music history” (which, for my money, is Catherine Wheel’s, from Adam and Eve to Wishville), are you comparing to God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise (with the Pariah Dogs) or Gossip in the Grain? Wikipedia and AllMusic have them all mushed together; but Spotify treats them as separate discographies.
I ask because I like *Supernova *better than GWatCDR, but sure: *GitG *is tough to beat (as are the earlier two, *Trouble *and Till the Sun Turns Black).
Just a bit off track, but I was lucky enough to get tickets to Letterman a few weeks ago, and he was the musical guest. I’ve heard some of his songs, but I’m not a huge fan. His performance there was awful. He seemed disconnected with everyone, and forgot the words to the whole last verse! Turned his back on the audience, and barely acknowledged Letterman when it was over. Of course, this was all edited out at air time. Lost all respect for him.
Interesting. Supernova just recently came out and the fan reaction to it has been pretty severe. I’ve read he’s a very introverted person so I wonder if he was reeling from the fan backlash to the album when he had to go on TV to play it.
It’s pretty bizarre actually. Most of the critics have written good reviews of the album but fan reviews have been extremly polarized with everyone either loving or hating it. I get the vibe from Amazon that alot of the 4 star reviewers only gave it 4 stars because they felt bad for him or something.
must say i am a huge fan and think he is 1 of the best singer songer writer for decades his songs are like storys, but i couldnt even finish listening to this awful crap called supernova it is just 1 of the worst things my ears have ever herd, i first found the black keys a long time ago when ray said he would like to work with them what a big big mistake i mean i love the black keys older stuff and think the new stuff is quiet good but every one i have ever herd dan auebach produce is just awful, and for ray to think that he is that bad that he needed the black keys on this 1 well he needs that genius head of his testing because this is 1 album to forget its just awful awful music i think he was on lsd when he made it…ray get the hell back in the studio quick time and make another album with the pariah dogs will ya because thats what your best at, your a bloody genius so if it aint broke dont fix it ray
I am a fan of his work, but have been super busy so haven’t rushed out to get his new CD. Unfortunately, I can immediately hear in my head what is being described - Auerbach often likes a very “wet” vocal sound - with reverb and other effects to make it sound vintage or something. Can get very tiresome. I also agree that Ray’s voice is amazing, so the more stripped-down to feature it, the better…
Well just got back from the concert. He pretty much played the entire new album. Threw in a short 3 song acoustic set in the middle which was obviously the highlight.
Imagine waiting ten years and 5 albums to see one of your favorite musicians. His music has been the soundtrack through many good and bad periods of your life. You can’t wait to finally see him play some of these songs live. You show up and instead of playing the music he’s known for he spends the entire show playing his critically panned experimental album. Bummer.
It’d be like going to see Metallica and them only playing tunes off St Anger.
You’ve made it abundantly clear you don’t like the album. But when you make the leap from your subjective opinion that you are perfectly entitled to, to calling it “critically panned”, the latter is an assertion that can be evaluated for validity. And I don’t see much evidence for the proposition. When I Googled just now for “lamontagne supernova review”, the first five hits were all positive reviews, from top-tier sources:
The Guardian calls it “perfect summer psych-pop” in the headline, and concludes the review by saying “Lamontagne has crafted an unlikely perfect summer soundtrack.”
The Current (a great Twin Cities MPR radio station) says “this album might be the freshest and most adventurous of LaMontagne’s career…*Supernova *is an enjoyable ride start to finish!”
*Rolling Stone *says “it’s a blessing that he connected with producer Dan Auerbach for his fifth album. Predictably, Auerbach helps the singer pull bright colors from the Sixties’ crayon box; less predictably, he makes it seem a perfectly logical progression of LaMontagne’s 10-plus years of cozy vibes.”
NPR: “For a guy who made his reputation as a morosely troubled, soulful crooner, [*Supernova *is] a welcome departure…The achievement of *Supernova *is that, five albums in, LaMontagne hasn’t settled into a formula or a fall-back recurring mood…The result is headlong music that keeps LaMontagne chasing after his own melodies, which mitigates a flaw in his earlier recordings — a tendency to become dolorously languid.”
Allmusic: “*Supernova *is unapologetically and indulgently retro; a casual listen might dismiss it as mere nostalgia. But pairing Auerbach’s detailed, careful production with LaMontagne’s open, expertly crafted songwriting and breezy, sensual, emotionally unburdened singing, that boundary is shattered.”
Even so. Ordering the Amazon reviews (as I always do by default) by “Most Helpful First”, which gives a good sense of how others feel, even if they don’t write their own reviews, here are excerpts from the first five listed:
(5 stars, 21 of 23 found helpful) “Now, upon hearing the whole album, I gotta say that this is CLASSIC Ray and brilliantly done.”
(5 stars, 19 of 21 found helpful) “For those that can go on the musical journey this CD will be a joy, and for those that like artists to remain the same this CD will require multiple listens before you can appreciate the creativity that went into this release.”
(4 stars, 22 of 27 found helpful) “A few of my initial thoughts were ‘Ray has sold out’ and ‘This sounds too sugary sweet to be a Ray album.’ But as I have listened to ‘Supernova’ more, I realize the songs are well crafted as usual.”
(2 stars, 32 of 42 found helpful) “Because it’s Ray alot of people automatically give it the benefit of the doubt but frankly this is not very new, not very inventive, and just not very good.”
(5 stars, 8 of 9 found helpful) “This album is one tasty piece of music.”
So your opinion is represented, but not by the majority of the top-rated reviews. If there’s negativity even in the positive reviews, it’s the acknowledgement that a vocal minority is disgruntled about the change in sound, in the context of arguing that this minority (you) are wrong in their (and my) opinions.
I’ve got his first 3 albums and while I don’t think everything on* Supernova* is a gem I think there is an awful lot to like about the work. I think the arrangements and the vocal production are nice differences from his previous stuff without sounding at all alien to me. However being an old fart I love the production values and sounds to which Auerbach is making nods. But then I love Auerbach’s solo stuff too.
Can you recommend Auerbach songs/albums that are on Spotify? I’m listening to *Supernova *now (second time through this morning) and enjoying it more and more all the time.
Albums Brothers and El Camino sold well and won awards like Grammys for The Black Keys. They also did Attack and Release, produced by Danger Mouse. Auerbach produced the most recent Dr. John album and also the new Lana Del Ray album called Ultraviolence which has been getting a lot of advance buzz.
Top rated reviewers? You’re reading too much into my posts and not enough of the reviews on Amazon. You’ve cherry picked a few reviews there but a reviewers “status” on Amazon is mostly meaningless to me. Read through the reviews and you’ll see exactly what I described, most of the reviews that are 4 star or lower describe this as a step back for Ray with many expressing total disappointment.
I did the opposite of cherry pick. I quoted from the first five reviews listed (and if I were cherry picking, why would I include the two star review?). If you leave your Amazon settings in the default position, those are presumably the same first five you will see as well. If you change your settings to show the five most recent first, then you will get a different five that will vary by the day.
Upthread, you called the album critically panned, so I quoted from the first five critical reviews on Google. Then you said “wait, I meant Amazon reviews and those are all negative” so I quoted from the first five user reviews listed on Amazon. Now that is not valid because it does not fit your thesis. I get that you are butthurt about this album not being what you expected it to be, but c’mon: the goalpost-moving is getting dizzying here.
I loved the new direction he went in for Supernova, even if the actual results were somewhat mixed. There are great songs there, and “Drive In Movies” in particular is one of the best he’s written — but it’s also the most “classic,” old-school LaMontagne. Still, I hope he keeps pushing himself and taking risks; it’s something every artist needs to do.
He pretty much played the entire new album. Threw in a short 3 song acoustic set in the middle which was obviously the highlight.