BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF, 2 years on... how do you feel about it?

[Anna Woman von NRW]

hearing new bits on records that i have been listening to for 30, 40 years blows me away.

Me too -  love those moments  It's also surprising how much difference it makes using proper hi-fi stuff. When I hooked up my old Pioneer again the difference in sound quality was amazing.

One of my favorites recently (well, a few years back) was the things that you hate in the back ground of RnR

Stuff pops up all over the place don't it  , I quite like the swirly pipe organ bit that appears in Angry Planet 

Must confess though that i don't think I have clocked everything going on in BDAW, my ears can't seem to stay in one place long enough 

[Voidship]

I hardly ever post on this board, but I've had a pint too many and I feel like writing something.
BDAW always stirs in me very confused (bleak, mostly) emotions because it came out in 2013 (on my birthday, heh) which was a year of turmoil for me. Back then I was madly in love with this girl  - it was mutual, I might add - who was the lead singer for a deathcore band and we shared this magic friendship that went beyond friendship and bordered on otherworldiness but sadly nothing came out of it in the end because frankly I was an idiot. I could've ended up on stage once more like I've always wanted, fulfill my dream of being a singer, but I fucked up. She could've been my Joolz and save my life from this.
I think BDAW is the saddest NMA album so far. I will never forget the endless walks late at night through rain and fog and snow listening to it and wishing for more time or trying to pull my own sun out of the sky and failing every single time. I don't know JS personally but I've always felt that this album is some sort of a crossroad in his life and him coming to terms with his own mortality, like we all will someday. Some sooner, some later. I've never quite understood why they insisted on veiling the guitars on this album. For the record, I absolutely love Carnival and I consider it to be the peak of NMA's career. BDAW to me is derivative of Carnival but with its majesty turned into existential fog. Stormclouds is particularly frustrating: it's like they trick you into imagining you're about to have the best sex of your life only to realize you will never ever reach the climax. Why? Just because. The gods of fate must be laughing at you. Ghosts will stay with you for a long time but I can't help but feel that it's a bleaker version of "Fireworks night" without the guitar lead inspired by ND's "Un jour en France". To make things worse, a friend of mine died in 2013 a month after his wedding because of a damn blood clot. He was 28 I think.
I have no idea how to wrap this weird post, so I'll just throw in a full stop and get outta here.

[Master Ray]

I hardly ever post on this board, but I've had a pint too many and I feel like writing something.
BDAW always stirs in me very confused (bleak, mostly) emotions because it came out in 2013 (on my birthday, heh) which was a year of turmoil for me. Back then I was madly in love with this girl  - it was mutual, I might add - who was the lead singer for a deathcore band and we shared this magic friendship that went beyond friendship and bordered on otherworldiness but sadly nothing came out of it in the end because frankly I was an idiot. I could've ended up on stage once more like I've always wanted, fulfill my dream of being a singer, but I fucked up. She could've been my Joolz and save my life from this.
I think BDAW is the saddest NMA album so far. I will never forget the endless walks late at night through rain and fog and snow listening to it and wishing for more time or trying to pull my own sun out of the sky and failing every single time. I don't know JS personally but I've always felt that this album is some sort of a crossroad in his life and him coming to terms with his own mortality, like we all will someday. Some sooner, some later. I've never quite understood why they insisted on veiling the guitars on this album. For the record, I absolutely love Carnival and I consider it to be the peak of NMA's career. BDAW to me is derivative of Carnival but with its majesty turned into existential fog. Stormclouds is particularly frustrating: it's like they trick you into imagining you're about to have the best sex of your life only to realize you will never ever reach the climax. Why? Just because. The gods of fate must be laughing at you. Ghosts will stay with you for a long time but I can't help but feel that it's a bleaker version of "Fireworks night" without the guitar lead inspired by ND's "Un jour en France". To make things worse, a friend of mine died in 2013 a month after his wedding because of a damn blood clot. He was 28 I think.
I have no idea how to wrap this weird post, so I'll just throw in a full stop and get outta here.

Voidship.  A brilliant and emotional post.  You have a fine way with words, Sir.  Yes, I am also familiar with what you're saying about a past relationship.  That shit can still get to you after a long period of time.

Please post more often!  We need fine wordsmiths like yourself...

[Anna Woman von NRW]

Nice post Voidship - have a pint too many whenever you like 

[lupus225]

I think it's a great album - I just love all those drums 

However, the best part of my BDAW experience was our mini tour Hamburg > Berlin > Hannover > Rostock.
Those gigs were really special and the band got better and better every night.

[Guillaume]

BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF, 11 years on...how do you feel about it?

One of NMA's best albums?
One of NMA's weakest albums?
Mixed artistic results?

I find it interesting that most people who don't like the album, like my least favourite songs the most (i.e. Storm Clouds, Tomorrow Came etc). I guess it is because these are the songs that most resemble the typical NMA sound. I like them too but to me they are the least interesting ones on BDAW.  I'm glad the band took the risk and released tracks such as Did You Make It Safe?, Ghosts, Pull The Sun or Qasr Al Nil Bridge. Some of my favourite NMA songs.

I am very curious to see which way they will go from here.

I'm bringing this topic back up because I've been surprised this year, these last months, listening to songs from BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF, it's an album that's perfect when you're in meditative and melancholic moments, and then the production/sound is superb. I remember that the album had a bit of a divide in the NMA "family" in 2013, probably because it wasn't a classic and energetic Rock album, but something more atmospheric and hypnotic, almost like a movie soundtrack at times. Now, more than 10 years later, I still think it's one of NMA's most "mature" albums and one of the best...alongside of course the timeless THUNDER AND CONSOLATION. "I need more time", "Pull the sun", "March in September", "Seven times", "Knievel", "Between dog and wolf", "Qasr El Nil Bridge", "Summer moors" and "Ghosts" are beautiful songs for me.

[Master Ray]

11 years, eh?  Someone should write a song with that title... 

I'm going to say that it's one of my top five NMA albums (as to todays thinking, this could well change tomorrow, NMA favourite lists are always a moveable feast!).  And yet, in keeping with my original concept when I started this thread, I still don't listen to it all that often... but when I do I love it.

It's also interesting that NMA played six tracks from it live at last years Nottingham Rockers gig when tracks from BDAW haven't been played all that often in recent years.  They always sound fantastic live.

[ruckedout]

I have the album cover on my back.

[Shush]

I confess, this is an album I seldom visit. I prefer the one that came before it, and the ones that followed it. I think it is down to the production. It has smoothed the sound down too much.I know much effort and expense was made in the production in the States, but for me  I like all of the songs much more when played live. Maybe to some extent, the band thought the same, the sound of Winter, very different. 
That said, one of the NMA songs I connect with the most, the last song on the album, "Ghosts". Every time I hear that song, it reminds me of friends and people I knew who are now gone. It is a lovely, gentle sounding song. When I hear "the ghosts are part of us", it gives me a little comfort as I think of friends now gone. They are part of us. If you have spent a lot of time with someone, their personality has rubbed off on you. Their sense of humour, you now laugh at things they found funny. They are alive in your memories, and although that is just a little personal thing, they are still part of who you are..