I always like seeing new albums, fun to hear some new sounds.

As for Buff's new album, bring it on !

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Sailin' on a BW midnight boat, their were no questions asked.
Waters so green and the air was so clean Matt stuck right to
his task.

Oh I'm just dreamin'... my life Away

If you compare anything to some of the 70's records, it's going to be lacking. Evaluate each record on its own merits, not against seminal works that are among the best ever recorded.

It's next to impossible to listen to anything he's done post-70s and not compare it to his albums from that time. It would be nice if he had been able to maintain some level of consistency as other artists such as John Prine and Guy Clark have done but I believe the success of "Margaritaville" and the rise of the Parrothead nation (for better or for worse) changed all that. Eventually he started to focus more on his empire than on his songcraft which ultimately caused his art to suffer in the end.

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Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

I thought We Learned To Be Cool on the last album was one of the best things he's written in quite some time. It's the kind of Buffett that should be around more often in the writing - the veteran reflecting on his life now with the sound of his old classic self music wise. He's really done great, I think, with this style of writing the past few years. Beach House On The Moon, A Salty Piece Of Land, Far Side Of The World

Beautiful Swimmers was another one.

It's almost as if he relaxes just enough to write something and then says 'Ahhh, that's enough' and we get Turn Up The Heat, Party At The End Of The World and Wings etc... not even third rate songs.

It's entirely possible, unless you're just looking for a reason to complain. Personally, I liked parts of Buffett Hotel, there's nothing wrong with an artist trying different things from time to time. Hell, if he wasn't trying something different there would be a lot of people bitching about him milking a "formula" or being too lazy to get out of the hammock and write something new.

Since I'm a long time Buffett fan and have those old albums etched into my collective conscious it is impossible to listen to his newer material without thinking of his earlier stuff. That's not just true of Buffett, it's also true of other artists who did work early on in their respective careers that they've never been able to surpass. I'm all for Buffett trying out new things but when he ventures into kitschy territory I find much of that very cringeworthy and downright embarrassing. As for Buffet Hotel, I like a great deal of that album myself but it's still a far cry from his peak material. Meanwhile, artists such as Clark, Prine and other Buffett contemporaries are still releasing solid albums that I have no desire to skip through. Buffett hasn't been that consistent in his career in a very long, long time and it's extremely doubtful at this point that he every will be again. However, I'll keep listening and buying his new records in hopes that he will eventually prove me wrong.

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Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

Hence why I renamed the song, which I refuse to listen to, Turn On The A/C And Throw This Shit Out. There is not one good reason for him releasing that song, yet alone the others I mentioned. Just horrible. What happened to JB being anti-DRALS?

With a few exceptions I hear very little Disco or Rap in Buffett's music and if he's lip synching that's news to me. I was referring more specifically to the "Trop Rock" type of material that seems more like pandering than anything else. I know some fans really love that kind of stuff but I'm not a fan of a lot of the songs that enter into campy territory. I'm more of a fan of the tunes where the emphasis is on songwriting. They may also incorporate elements of folk, country, reggae, calypso, rock n' roll, zydeco, etc. but he's shown on more than one occasion that's he's capable of doing so without coming across as a cheesy lounge singer.

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Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

DRALS is outdated. I don't even know where to begin to describe some of those "songs" I mentioned other than just plain 'ol bad! Perhaps they maintain the essence of DR of DRALS without really meaning to.

Regarding the announcement of the new live CD/DVD in the works...I really hate to be a downer here..but I hope they actually release it. The past few years have had a lot of hints at new projects & releases by Jimmy, but nothing has really come of them. I really got my hopes up for some more of his diaries on MVille.com, and the Treasure Chest/Box/Buried Treasure release he was talking about last year. I also wish they would release some of his more rare and intimate shows (Le Select, etc).

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"Taste for the good life, I can live it no other way"

"a little Cape Cod sand oozing out of my shoes...it's been a Lovely Cruise"

I would imagine a lot of people hate it but I actually like "Autour Du Rocher" from Far Side of the World. I think this is a prime example of Buffett performing a style of music that's well out of his usual comfort zone yet he somehow manages to excel at it.

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Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor
From "Cartoon Gold" by the Drive-By Truckers from the album Go-Go Boots

I agree with you. That song is very un-bad the way he did it. It's a tad bit mushy here and there but overall it's pretty good considering how he did it.

But the PATEOTW/TUTHACTR kind of songs is quasi-DRALS with the stupid beats/production.

well, the good thing is..with each album comes a tour...

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Garrett who?