Goodbye Youth

My life is crazy. A new Ferrick cd came out (sort of) on Tuesday and I’m just now blogging about it. Crazy I tell ya. Heck, I didn’t even download it til mid-day PT due to the fact that I was on a damn plane in the morning. There was a time when I would have scheduled biz travel around a Ferrick cd release. (Not really, well, maybe.) And then, after I downloaded it from iTunes, I didn’t even LISTEN to it until the next day on the trip back from California. What has happened to my priorities?

Let’s get the basics out of the way first – the cd, Goodbye Youth, has been available only at Ferrick shows since the 10th. On the 16th it was released on iTunes ONLY. Weird but I think I like that a heck of a lot better than trying to pre-order from Goldenrod. That never worked out for me.

So how is it? Well… Mid-life Clarity says it is her best album – ever. I’m not willing to go that far. In fact, I don’t think I can put it in the top three. A few of the songs on it are excellent but the whole album – her best ever? Nah. That’s still Valentine Heartache, I think. (Leaving out Skinnier, Faster, Live which is REALLY the best because Melissa live can’t be beat.)

In no particular order – just as songs pop into my head:

Glycerine – love Melissa’s version.
House on Fire – LOVE.
Hypocrite – makes me laugh my ass off because that is so Melissa.
John’s Field – really nice work with this one Melissa, I wasn’t sure I’d like it on an album that wasn’t live. I do.
Bad Habit – I don’t love this version. I’ve heard her do it live several times and like it better in the old “still a work in progress” version.
Real – I’m surprisingly happy that this “old” song is on this “new” album. I think it works well with this mix.

The other songs on the CD, I’ve got thoughts about them but they aren’t the songs that pop into my head quickly when I think about Goodbye Youth – ok fine, except Goodbye Youth – this one had a lot of potential but something is missing. I don’t know what that something IS, but it’s something. I’m betting I’ll like it better live, I’ll let you know in a few weeks. And something tells me I’ll like it better in the live versions she performs a year from now. She’ll twist it just enough to find that “whatever it is” that’s missing. That’s what she does and part of why I love her.