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megamanda
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I agree with Caley and JBarker! I love how RN flows and rarely skip a song when I listen to that album but Combinations I felt as though it was lacking or something like that but I do like the album and I love the Valley so far it has a nice vibe to it Smile
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mr pine
Vintage Newbie


rn does flow for sure.

also i knew (as did most of hte posters on here) of almost all the songs on RN before it was out.
I mean that was the third TE. Second Memories and I Wasn't Prepared.

Combinations was all new. And all grown up.

The content of each album is so different. It really is hard to compare the two.

I just find myself listening to combinations more than RN.

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oathmeal
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mr pine wrote:
rn does flow for sure.

also i knew (as did most of hte posters on here) of almost all the songs on RN before it was out.
I mean that was the third TE. Second Memories and I Wasn't Prepared.

Combinations was all new. And all grown up.

The content of each album is so different. It really is hard to compare the two.

I just find myself listening to combinations more than RN.


I can see where you're coming from there. I started listening to Eisley after Room Noises release though so I didn't have the privilege of listening to them back in the pre-Room Noises days. I wish I could have though because the pre-Room Noises stuff is some of my favorite. This is the first album that I've known songs on pre-release. With Combinations I hadn't heard a single track before they started streaming it on their myspace so I can relate after knowing all the songs off this album ahead of time. Although I still don't like either album as much as Room Noises (even though they matured so much after each one).
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mr pine
Vintage Newbie


also RN was the second Marvelous Things.
And had the inferior Lost At Sea (compared to the demo).

While three great tunes (HATS, The Escaping Song, They All Surrounded Me) were delegated to digital EPs. There was plenty of room on the cd to fit them. and the last two certinaly fit in with the theme of RN.

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drenchedecent
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JBaker wrote:
I just don't think Combinations was tracked very well. LTA and MKD are both better than most of the songs on Combinations. If You're Wondering just really doesn't belong on any album.


I agree with all of this 100%. Drop If You're Wondering, add LTA and MKD and you have a terrific album. I love the first 9 songs, they just need to be in a different order.

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wilsmith
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JBaker wrote:
mr pine wrote:
Combinations blowes room noises out of the water. That is for sure.


Disagree there big time.

Combinations is too short, ends so weakly it's unbelievable, and only has 3 really good songs on it.
Room Noises is longer, has a great closing track, and 6 or 7 really good songs.

I just don't think Combinations was tracked very well. LTA and MKD are both better than most of the songs on Combinations. If You're Wondering just really doesn't belong on any album.


I chalk that up to personal taste cause I don't really care that much for either of those songs in terms of what I would like to hear in an Eisley song. But that's just me. They fit the mold of Room Noises in their whimsy, so maybe that's why they appeal to you.

I'm with Mr. Pine that I had both EPs for nearly a couple of years before I had Room Noises, so the measure of that album for me was the new songs, and I didn't find any of them as compelling as the ones from the EPs. Winter Song, Memories, and Tree Tops were hold-overs from the EPs that I really dug, and even Sea King.

I didn't hear the original EPs with Heads Against the Sky and the slower heavier (more Radioheady) Telescope Eyes until after Combinations, cause if I had, I'd been even more confused by Room Noises than I was when it came out. The newer songs felt like they were from coming from a completely different place tonally. Like it or not, early Eisley was pretty moody stuff for the most part, with bursts of exuberant joy now here and there. The Valley is actually more in keeping with that tradition in the grand scheme of things. That said, the heavier, moodier parts of Combinations were more reminiscent of the Laughing City and Marvelous Things version of Eisley I sort of anticipated.

It's really like the 1st 4 Cardigans records. Emmerlade and Life are these odd little mixes of kitsch and mood that work REALLY well, and First Band on the Moon made it a little more modern and in a way that might put old fans off, but was loaded with appealing songs of varying types mixed. Then Gran Turismo ratcheted up the modern appeal and edgy mood, so the album literally snatched your attention and emotions, and held them hostage till it was done. I think this is Eisley's Gran Turismo.

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Last edited by wilsmith on Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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olimario
Laughing Citizen


drenchedecent wrote:
JBaker wrote:
I just don't think Combinations was tracked very well. LTA and MKD are both better than most of the songs on Combinations. If You're Wondering just really doesn't belong on any album.


I agree with all of this 100%. Drop If You're Wondering, add LTA and MKD and you have a terrific album. I love the first 9 songs, they just need to be in a different order.


But think about it.
How many albums in your life have you LOVED 85% or more of the songs on it?

For me it's a handful that includes 'Room Noises' and 'Combinations'.
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princesstripandfall
Lost at Forum


Apparently there was a choice between LTA and Ten Cent Blues. Why not both, I wonder? BUT, TCB is my favorite Eisley song (well, until yesterday when it got slapped upside the head by most of The Valley.)
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ks1990
Lost at Forum


Combinations is great. I think 'Like the Actors' easily could have been slipped into the final tracklisting somehow. Oh well. MKD, probably would have sounded out of place, however. Overall it was a solid album, though there were a few I tend to skip (title track + AStB).

Anyways, ICBT4U is one of their greatest songs ever, so...
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happyface
Sea Post King


Well, when I got into Eisley about two yyears ago, the first album I heard was Combinations even though I actually downloaded Room Noises right with it. I had heard Marvelous Things much before the LPs and I had also heard Becoming You so, either way, Eisley was pretty unknown to me, even when I heard Combinations. It wasn't till I actually heard all of those pre-RM songs and Aristicats (e-hem) that I finally understood Eisley. Still, Combinations being my first ever heard album, I still fell crazy in love with Eisley's music. I went hystericall when I heard RM, of course. But, for some reason I can't help listening to Combinations much more than RM. It just seems more natural(?) to me maybe because it was my first costum refering to Eisley.
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oathmeal
Sea Post King


happyface wrote:
Well, when I got into Eisley about two yyears ago, the first album I heard was Combinations even though I actually downloaded Room Noises right with it. I had heard Marvelous Things much before the LPs and I had also heard Becoming You so, either way, Eisley was pretty unknown to me, even when I heard Combinations. It wasn't till I actually heard all of those pre-RM songs and Aristicats (e-hem) that I finally understood Eisley. Still, Combinations being my first ever heard album, I still fell crazy in love with Eisley's music. I went hystericall when I heard RM, of course. But, for some reason I can't help listening to Combinations much more than RM. It just seems more natural(?) to me maybe because it was my first costum refering to Eisley.


Yeah that's the same way I feel about Room Noises. Those songs are 2-13 in my top 25 played on iTunes.
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Mylovelyislostatsea
Sea Post King


I agree with what most of what everyone else has said, but here is what I think.
I think Room Noises flows better and is better 'theme' wise than Combinations. There isn't a song on Room Noises that sticks out or feels weird in the flow.

I'm not saying any of the songs on Combinations are bad or weird, but they don't all flow together like Room Noises. I do not dislike Combinations either, I love it. But if I had to rate the albums in order Combinations would be the lesser album.

Usually when I listen to Combinations I skip If You're Wondering and Ten Cent Blues. I love those songs, If you're wondering is gorgeous and I love the dual singing in Ten Cent Blues, but the album just doesn't sound 'together' as a whole. I feel like there are many types of great songs on Combinations, and they are all different from eachother in their own unique way.

Litstening to The Valley, it feels like the 'wholeness' of the album is there, all the songs flow together and nothing sticks out. (sticking out is not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation of a listener). It gives me the familiar whole, themed feeling like Room Noises did.

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Mystic210
Laughing Citizen


olimario wrote:

But think about it.
How many albums in your life have you LOVED 85% or more of the songs on it?

For me it's a handful that includes 'Room Noises' and 'Combinations'.


GREAT point, as that's probably one reason why I consider Eisley a favorite band.

It seems like with almost anything, it depends on when you got into the music and which album/song was the one that got you "hooked." I'm a "towards the end of Room Noises rotation" fan that got REALLY hooked when I backtracked to the EPs and early songs/b-sides.

So it's funny: in my heart I loved "Room Noises" and the dream-pop era, but I actually find myself skipping A LOT less on "Combinations."

Even with each album, they are so stylistically different that I find it hard to compare with an absolute "better" or "worse" album w/o personal preferences for style getting in the way. There are positives and negatives one could find about either.

On a side note: Seriously, all the hate for "If You're Wondering"? I know it's a slow one, but I love the overall feel of it! I liked how they could make pop love songs without beating you over the head with the word the whole time. I also love "Lost at Sea" (yes, the album version) so maybe I'm the outlier. Laughing
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The Man In The Moon
Lost at Forum


my first listen to eisley was room noises my junior year in spring 08' and i hated it. at the same time i couldn't stop listening to it cause of the perfect vocals lines. weird i know. i read a review in rolling stone that eisley was still coming off like a talent show entry during the room noises era and i agreed. then one day i was on myspace and decided to add eisley and invasion was the first song on the player and from that moment forward i was hooked. the next day i went to mckays and bought the album.

now initially i liked combinations way more than room noises, and then i discovered the pre-room noises era and like that a lot too. the next summer after i graduated high school, i got more into room noises than combinations and realized it was the better album, but if it wasn't for combinations i wouldn't've ever got into eisley.

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CBmp3
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Mystic210 wrote:
On a side note: Seriously, all the hate for "If You're Wondering"? I know it's a slow one, but I love the overall feel of it! I liked how they could make pop love songs without beating you over the head with the word the whole time. I also love "Lost at Sea" (yes, the album version) so maybe I'm the outlier. Laughing


I was thinking the exact same thing while reading this in regards to "If You're Wondering". Never heard the earlier "Lost At Sea," but I've always loved the Room Noises version.

Really, "If You're Wondering" is one of my favorites off of Combinations. And I also have always loved "A Sight To Behold," which I see a lot of people mentioned as skippable.

different strokes.

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