HIGH: 15 years later...

[sozbot]

Absolutely love High - my fave tracks being One of the Chosen, the Title Track (of course!) and, probably most of all, Sky in your Eyes. The whole album is incredible, though - I had it on very high rotation just before BDAW came out, and feel as though there's a real link between the two - more so than between either album and TIAGD.

[Alicat]

I've only kind of caught up on High fairly recently -I can't remember why I didn't immediately get it at the time of it's release, as I was still catching the band live when I could even though for a while I wasn't listening to the CDs as regularly- but now I have I love it. 'One of the Chosen' in particular is awesome, sends shivers down my spine everytime, especially that wailing guitar (for want of a better description!) after 'I can hear chanting'.

But it's this line from High that I keep coming back to recently:
                      'All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision'

I'm under a lot of stress at the moment with caring for my very elderly parents who both have memory problems making the simplest things very difficult, and when I'm in danger of getting really down about it I just keep thinking of this song in general- it kind of ties in with the other thread asking if the band's music has gotten more melancholy (I would agree it has) but I actually find High very uplifting- maybe freeing would be a better way of putting it, it reminds me indeed that in the great scheme of things all my problems 'look like nothing'.

[Guillaume]

But it's this line from High that I keep coming back to recently:
                      'All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision'

I'm under a lot of stress at the moment with caring for my very elderly parents who both have memory problems making the simplest things very difficult, and when I'm in danger of getting really down about it I just keep thinking of this song in general- it kind of ties in with the other thread asking if the band's music has gotten more melancholy (I would agree it has) but I actually find High very uplifting- maybe freeing would be a better way of putting it, it reminds me indeed that in the great scheme of things all my problems 'look like nothing'.

"High" is certainly an uplifting song, it elevates our perspective, point of view on our life

[DannySan]

I listened to High yesterday. I really enjoyed it and I think as someone else mentioned there does seem to be some musical flow or natural progression from High to BDAW if that makes sense? 

[Pumpkin]

Easily one of their best albums, although I didn't quite think so when it came out. I agree that it has interesting parallels and is best enjoyed in combination with BDAW and Justin's solo work.

[wrbones]

Really? I don't get that. I think TIAGD is a good follow-on from High but BDAW is probably the biggest change in their sound ever. The drumming on BDAW is really different, there are no up-tempo songs and not much in the way of big guitars. I really like BDAW but I don't hear much in common with High (which I also like immensely).

I think High is one of NMA's best, especially after Eight and Carnival, both of which feel a bit like NMA-by-numbers to me. That said, I have only recently come around to that point-of-view. When it was released I really didn't get into it. I think that is partly because the opening track, Wired, is not one of NMA's stronger fast rockers and I'd come to expect every NMA album to kick off with something massive. These days, though, High is probably the album I listen to most regularly, along with TIAGD. I think that' is partly because I ignored them for so long so they still feel fresh.

[Guillaume]

Listened the cd again yesterday night, in my car  ...brillant album, still my fav NMA album from the last decade ("Between dog and wolf" close behind "High" though, BDAW is a bit less even but also more experimental than "High") 

[eccentric]

Wired is great album opener indeed, I also revisited this the other night it's entirety after close up at work,,,I like that album a great deal more now than when it was released, some of the best lines are on this ,,,and I really love the use of strings on some of the tracks. Wired, Sky in your Eyes and Into the Wind are the standout tracks for me personally.
Although I much prefer the Carnival album this one has really grown on me. Pity these albums were not available on vinyl.
Does anyone know what the sample opening High is from?

[Willard]

Does anyone know what the sample opening High is from?

I think it's a recording of a street preacher, somewhere in the USA, if I recollect.

[Jimmy M]

I had forgotten just how great that album was.  After seeing the band on their last tour, I dug out all my NMA albums, and High is a gem of an album.

In fact you have put me in the mood for listening to it again. 

[Guillaume]

TIME PASSES SO BLOODY FAST.......................

Indeed! "I need more time"!!
Now HIGH was released...10 years ago!
Summer 2007!!

[Pol]

Now that the initial rush of winter is over,  high is still my favourite of the "newer albums " .

[Master Ray]

Glad to see this thread reactivated!  I love 'High'.  A few years back, when this thread first started, I said that 'High' was the one I would recommend to a newbie who wanted to get into NMA.  'Winter' or my eternal favourite 'Impurity' might just pip 'High' to the post, but it's a close thing. That's my 'big three' of NMA abums.   

[Guillaume]

high is still my favourite of the "newer albums " .

For the 21st century indeed! but i have a fondness for "Eight" ("Orange tree roads", "You weren't there", "Someone like Jesus", "Leeds road 3am", "Snelsmore wood": true NMA classics!!),"Between wine and blood" (i like all the 6 tracks!!) and i like "Between dog and wolf" too (a few "fillers" but also some very good songs: "March in September", "seven times", "i need more time", "pull the sun", etc)
"Winter" is maybe the one i like the least despite some good tracks here and there ("born feral", "strogoula", "burn the castle", "winter")

[Rusco]

I think there's really something special in that album. When it was released it felt somehow like the NMA had been incarnated or something like that. With full of emotion, new songs, themes, energy and all that. And after that I've felt they're really keeping going ever since. Wired is really a great opener, No Mirror No Shadow a top track, and actually I think Rivers is a song that should still be in their gig lists. Bloodsports brings always a similar feeling as Bad Old World does. Lovely album.