The Love Of 'Eight'....

[Master Ray]

SO... there have been a couple of long-forgotten threads about 'The Love of (insert album name here)...'  And I did challenge folks here to reanimate old threads about NMA, seeing as there was talk about how we should all be talking a bit more about NMA, which I agree with 100%... so perhaps I should lead by example?

So.  Whose got some love for 'Eight'?

Now, I'll admit something here... it wasn't one of my favourites when it first came out.  I can't imagine why after listening to it recently after letting it gather dust on my shelf for a long while.  I dunno... it just seemed to be 'just another NMA album' when it first came out, especially after how much I loved the (still somewhat under-regarded IMO) Strange Brotherhood.  And yes, I have dipped into it occasionally over the years, and liked it a lot (sometimes) but never enough to regard it as a favourite.  Yes, I am an idiot.

Because, recently, this great album finally and truly clicked with me for some odd reason that I can't explain.  I now regard it as one of NMA's top 5 albums.  I mean, what's not to like?  You've got the usual live bangers (R 'n'R, Stranger, Orange Tree Roads), Justin channeling Tom Waits (Someone Like Jesus), political stuff (You Weren't There) mellow stuff about world travel (Paekakariki Beach) and everything you would want from an NMA album.  Maybe there a track or two that were a bit 'filler', but that's bearing in mind that NMA throw away 'filler' tracks that many bands would kill to have on their albums...   

I think that this album came out as I was drifting into my 30's and I subsequently and slightly dis-regarded it because I was feeling old (yeah, I fuckin' DREAM of being 30 these days!    ) and was listening to a ton of music from various genres whilst trying to regard myself as 'relevant' and 'hip' and some such bollocks.  I know, pathetic, right?

I'm so happy to listen to 'Eight' now and think of it as one of my NMA favourites.

SO... your opinions about this or any other NMA stuff?  Let's get this Forum talking about NMA stuff again!   

[8]

So.  Whose got some love for 'Eight'?

Now, I'll admit something here... it wasn't one of my favourites when it first came out.  I can't imagine why after listening to it recently after letting it gather dust on my shelf for a long while.  I dunno... it just seemed to be 'just another NMA album' when it first came out, especially after how much I loved the (still somewhat under-regarded IMO) Strange Brotherhood.  And yes, I have dipped into it occasionally over the years, and liked it a lot (sometimes) but never enough to regard it as a favourite.  Yes, I am an idiot.

Because, recently, this great album finally and truly clicked with me for some odd reason that I can't explain.  I now regard it as one of NMA's top 5 albums.  I mean, what's not to like?  You've got the usual live bangers (R 'n'R, Stranger, Orange Tree Roads), Justin channeling Tom Waits (Someone Like Jesus), political stuff (You Weren't There) mellow stuff about world travel (Paekakariki Beach) and everything you would want from an NMA album.  Maybe there a track or two that were a bit 'filler', but that's bearing in mind that NMA throw away 'filler' tracks that many bands would kill to have on their albums...

This is a bit difficult.  You bring up two very different NMA albums, 'Eight' and 'Strange Brotherhood'.  Between the two, the one I play more often from start to finish, I should add, is in fact 'Strange Brotherhood'.  There's just SO much happening on that one, both in musical and emotional terms, that you can pick it up quite instantly, just by listening to it.  It's also an album where the vocals, and delivery of them, differs very much from song to song... and I fcukin' LOVE that!

Mr. Sullivan has some gorgeous pipes on him!!  He should continue on this path, the path of testing out the waters with it / of it... maximize his voice's complete, fullest and truest potential, capacity, capabilities.   Mr. Sullivan should never worry and fear about how he might think or feel it comes across, because, all said, there's a genuine and sweet purity naturally built into his voice... not many people of this earth were blessed so greatly, in that way.     He should just sit back, so to speak... relax, close his eyes and "go with the flow", with his instinct, heart, and just fcuk the rest!  He has to let it go and let his voice do its thing naturally and not fret or think twice about it.  He has to trust and have greater faith in himself.  I believe in you, and I'm certainly not the only one either.

"Use  the force"  Justin.   "Use  the force".

(uh, that was a  Star Wars reference... y'know, just in case it wasn't understood by folk)

All that said, I do love the stuff on 'Eight'.  My personal favourite tracks are  "Stranger",  "Orange Tree Roads"  and  "Paekakariki Beach".  I love the others too, but those other ones I much prefer to hear only in a live setting, rather than off a recording... whereas the afore mentioned three songs, I adore both on record and in a live setting.  Actually, "Stranger" is one of my top 20 NMA tracks, to date.  In lyrical terms, it resonates quite profoundly with me.  For the most part, I'm a real sucker for  confessional  type lyrics rather than  story telling / story recounting type lyrics.  And, the opening guitar riff, just fits the song so perfectly!!

Stranger
(Sullivan)  1999

When it comes down, we know we're alone
You could scream and nobody would hear
Today my face in the glass is a stranger's
Furrowed with the lines of fear

All the little truths denied, all the little deaths we died
I always thought that it was worth something
All the little rays of hope, always coming back when we needed them most
I always thought that it was worth something

Once we went back to the house we were born in
The glass was smashed and there were boards on the doors
and it seemed so right that the past was all laid to waste
and our trail covered up and lost

All the little deaths we died, all the little truths denied,
I always thought that it was worth something
And all the battles leave their scars
and the gods of Fate still laughing at us
I always thought that it was worth what it cost
Let everyone else decide who's right - I don't care any more tonight
I only know that it is worth something.

xXx

[Ghosttrain]

I really love Eight,an excellent album one i play a lot.Brilliant songs in my opinion...........Plus i love the cover 

[Master Ray]

Great post, 8!  I do think that Eight and SB were when NMA were really stretching their talents in new directions, everything might not have quite hit with everybody, but I guess that's to be expected.  I'm just embarrassed that I under-regarded this fine album for so long...

Love to hear any more opinions here...

[Pol]

Said it before I'm not a huge fan.  Yes it does have a few excellent songs but not that keen on rest . Maybe I should listen again tho my patience is lacking.

[lotus]

I`m a fan of Eight and SB from the first time listening,
only one song (on Eight and all other cds) I don`t like is Paekariki Beach ...

[8]

...love the cover   

It is quite beautiful to look at, I very much agree, Ghosttrain.     However, upon closer inspection, (for me) I find it a bit disturbing, worrying, uncomfortable, scares me even.  Perhaps I'm seeing something that isn't even there, which definitely wouldn't be the first time either.  Wonder whose call it was to go with that cover though, it'd be interesting to find out.  I'd also love to understand what all the imagery, symbolism alludes to / represents.  Maybe in having that explained to me, it might put my mind and heart at ease, to rest.  Or, if it ends up being exactly as I'm perceiving it in my mind's eye, then it swings the pendulum, so to speak, into way way darker waters, for me.  And, that's where it begins to get too distressing,    unsettling, uncomfortable for my liking.  As I said (at the top), esthetically, the album cover for "Eight" is visually pleasing.
 

...Eight and SB were when NMA were really stretching their talents in new directions...

Totally agree with you, Master Ray.    That's when the real changes began to unfold, manifest themselves, surface.  It is my opinion that both "Strange Brotherhood" and "Eight" were most definitely, crossroad  type albums for NMA, from a musical, lyrical, personal perspective / standpoint.  Perhaps, especially for Mr. Sullivan, himself?

…does have a few excellent songs but not that keen on rest.  Maybe I should listen again tho my patience is lacking.

Which are your favourite songs off "Eight", Pol ?  Also, not sure whether you'd be up to trying this, but have you ever thought of playing the album right before falling asleep, while lying in your bed?  I find that just a simple change in the way (be it setting, position, volume, time of day, etc.) that I listen to music, particularly a new recording, or one that still hasn't registered with me yet, instantly modifies the outcome of my overall experience, findings, likability, etc., of the material at hand.   Give it a go, at some point.  It  might surprise you, finally  click  with you. 

...I don`t like is Paekariki Beach ...

Now this, baffles me!  Are you willing and able to pin-point and elaborate, lotus?  What things about it, in it, specifically, don't you like about  NMA's  "Paekakariki Beach"?  I wonder if they are the very things that I love in and about the song.  Would love to hear further fleshed-out thoughts regarding this NMA track, as it's a favourite of mine. 

[Ghosttrain]

I was also pleased to get a copy of the cover for Eight as a poster in my Anthology Box Set.........

[Shush]

I think Eight is Great.

Stand out songs like Orange Tree Roads, and the mesmerizing S/L/Jesus plus  Paekakariki Beach show how diverse the band can be and adds to the ever impossible job to categorize the band into one specific genre 

[MARKXE]

Eight is a fantastic album. Love every song on it.

T Shirts a belter aswell.

[Master Ray]

Eight is a fantastic album. Love every song on it.

T Shirts a belter aswell.

Nice... another reason why we need some reprints of old T-shirts... please, NMA people, pretty please?   

[8]

Nice threads there, MARKXE. 

But, does anyone here know what happened, there?     The actual lyric / last word, appears to have been intentionally misquoted... but why, though?  Check it out for yourselves...

Orange  Tree  Roads
(Sullivan)  1999

It was late, we were driving home in the rain
I thought I saw something, flying across the two-lane
It was, white like an angel - or like curse
There and gone, in a second, in front of us

In our house, all the trophies, are gathering dust
All the things we remember - but only just
We won't need them anymore

Once we were lost, but we can be found
On the Orange Tree trail, on the roads heading south
Standing in the sun, in the fields of grain
Will you still love me, when everything is changed?

In the shadows of the mountains, we were watching the sky
Hale Bopp flying motionless, out across the night
You turned to me and said with a smile
Everything these days seems to be some kind of sign
No one cares anymore, where you've been
So you find a quiet place, to shed that old skin
You won't need it again

Once we were lost but we can be found
On the Orange Tree trail, on the roads heading south
Standing in the sun, in the fields of grain
Will you still love me when everything is changed?

Would've been a slightly better touch, I think, if the font chosen for the t-shirt's back print had been done in JS' own hand-written style.  Would've made the words / question rub off much deeper, heavier, no?  Hmmm...     I'm not sure what I am trying to say, is being related / articulated properly.  Damn, I really should've paid more attention during English, while at school.  Sucks big time, when I can't express my thoughts and such, verbally or written-wise.     Hopefully, folk can magically understand what I am trying to relate, say... just the same.

[Master Ray]

Possibly the T-shirt was made-up before the final version of the song was recorded...?  Lyrics do sometimes get changed before 'the final cut' and perhaps the band needed to get the designs to the T-shirt company before the tour... 

Just a guess...

[Ghosttrain]

I am not one to pester / badger people who have more than enough to do,but can we please start a (polite ) petition if such a thing exists to do a re print of this shirt even with the back print as it is........i have vowed never to buy another t shirt again.(i am 60 years old) and if i lived to be 100 i could never wear all the shirts i have.........but for this i would make an exception   

[MARKXE]

I am not one to pester / badger people who have more than enough to do,but can we please start a (polite ) petition if such a thing exists to do a re print of this shirt even with the back print as it is........i have vowed never to buy another t shirt again.(i am 60 years old) and if i lived to be 100 i could never wear all the shirts i have.........but for this i would make an exception   

What size T Shirt are you.