what can I say that hasn’t already been said about the Weepies on the blogosphere? the darlings of music bloggers worldwide, The Weepies, released their latest album, Hideaway about a month ago. the CD has been playing practically non-stop in the car ever since the official release date. you know, I consider the album “easy-listening” ..and not in a derogatory way as in “Barry Manilow” or “Engelbert Humperdinck” but for it’s immediacy and melodic tunefulness. Deb Talan and Steve Tannen make it all seem easy the way they come up with catchy hooks and sweet sounding harmonies. and even though they seem effortless, the songs are actually well thought out with marvelously intricate arrangements that blend perfectly with one another. and I absolutely love the way some of the darker lyrics balance out the pleasant sounding melodies and harmonies in songs like “How You Survived the War” and “Wish I Could Forget”. the only thing negative I can say about the album is the production/mixing. all the instrumentation and vocals seem to be highly compressed and mixed to the foreground so that everything that’s going on the mix is right in your face. I suppose that’s the “modern” way of mixing these days but I would have liked a more “subtle” approach to the mix to compliment the gentleness of the songs. with everything being compressed this way, we’ve lost any sort of “dynamics” in the songs. but fortunately, the writing and the performances captured here transcends the claustrophobic mix.
1 Orbiting (Talan, Tannen) 2:55
2 Hideaway (Talan, Tannen) 2:46
3 Wish I Could Forget (Talan, Tannen) 2:56
4 All Good Things (Moore, Talan, Tannen) 2:55
5 Little Bird (Talan, Tannen) 3:33
6 Antarctica (Talan, Tannen) 3:14
7 How You Survived the War (Talan, Tannen) 3:35
8 Not Dead Yet (Talan, Tannen) 3:19
9 Old Coyote (Talan, Tannen) 3:38
10 Just Blue (Talan, Tannen) 4:04
11 Lighting Candles (Talan, Tannen) 3:07
12 Takes So Long (Talan, Tannen) 3:06
13 All This Beauty (Talan, Tannen) 3:19
