Song Cycle - Yeah this album was seriously disorienting to me when I first heard it. Like what the hell is this album doing? Where is it going? What is the point of this and what song is what?

A soundtrack to a nonexistent trippy movie is a really good comparison, that is how it comes across. It grew on me heavily with more listens over time and I really love the vibe and can discern the melodies and random changes on the songs now. I like Van Dykes dorky weedy voice too and I am a sucker for vocals with leslie speaker on it lately for some reason. Not something to put on all the time but a few songs are really cool like “Widows Walk” and those short “Laurel Canyon” songs (which really went heavy on the Leslie speaker vocal thing). By The People is the most unhinged weird ass thing on the album still to me. Like a weird fever dream of a song.

Room On Fire - Yeah i realized during 2020 Pandemic era how awesome this album is. I put off hearing that album for years until then, because i thought only Is This It was worth hearing. Not a bad song on there to me either, they’re all catchy and fun. I still like Is This It (I like Room On Fire more actually though) too but they got even more generic and uninteresting on their album after Room On Fire called “Impressions Of Earth” or whatever its called. I do like them in general but they are mostly worthwhile for those first 2 albums. They still have some cool songs here and there after Room On Fire like “You Only Live Once” and that last album they released in 2020 sounded pretty good. For a rock band from the 2000s when rock started getting stale, they are one of the better bands I think. They usually can have good riffs and melodies at least.