I am not excited about the new album. I thought Buffet Hotel was terrible, only a few good songs and these songs were overplayed live before the album was even released.

In my opinion, Buffett would please his fans so much more if he played more old songs that he doesn't play often and mixed up the set list night to night. Instead, he plays the same 25-30 songs night in and night out.... and this year it will include some new crap.

Sorry to hate, just venting.

after a month of having Bruce Springsteen's new album.... It's gonna take a lot to beat this disc.....

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Here's the deal I'm the best there is. Plain and simple. I wake up in the morning and I piss excellence.

I kinda feel the same, at least about the new album. I don't really think Buffett has had a good album since Fruitcakes. And I agree about Buffet Hotel.

I hope he's still planning to do this... because it could be pretty good:

http://www.buffettworld.com/2011/05/26/ ... arly-days/

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Sorry to rain on the hate parade guys, but I'm always excited about a new Jimmy album. I'm an eternal optimist and I believe that each new album has hte potential to be great.

Josh, "Far Side of the World" was a great album in my book. There are three songs I don't particularly care for, but the quality and beauty of about 7 songs on that album rank it right up there in my book, including the title track which has given me a lot of inspiration to get my butt out of South Carolina and travel around the world, which I'm fortunate to have been able to do.

Hey, the bright side is, if you go into it with low expectations, then maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised!

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Bless me father, yes I have sinned. Given the chance I'll probably do it again.

I would be excited about a new album if the songwriter on each song was Jimmy Buffett and Jimmy Buffett only. It's been what 4 years? Surely he has managed to write 10 songs during that time. I also would hope it's actually played live, like was said, Buffet Hotel came out and the only song he added that he hadn't done before the album was "Big Top" and that only lasted about half a tour.

I have no interest in hearing them do old albums because he can't resist changing the arrangements so much. I am not saying do it exactly like the album but it would be nice if sounded similar. Also, there is no harmonica and I really don't wanna hear the albums without it. Fingers is never coming back but find someone else, it can't be that hard.

I think the most interesting thing he could do right now would be a solo acoustic tour. Remember the East Hampton shows? He could still play arenas and even amphitheatres but also mix in some smaller venues that he use to visit.

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Hey Mr. Moustache look what we’ve done
Lived longer than they thought we could do
Through all of the games and all of our fame
We learned to stay cool from you

Buffet Hotel is more like a good big EP with five extra really bad tracks on it (Turn Up The Heat, Wings, Big Top, the title track, Surfing In A Hurricane) so it's OK. The good songs, for the most part, are great, and when listening to the album those are the only songs I listen to. It's very much like Coconut Telegraph ionly more so- if you don't listen to the boring lame tunes (two on CT) it's actually a good album.

Point taken though. JB does need to get back to writing more songs on his own. Far Side Of The World is a pretty damn good album but yes, very few JB only songs . Every time I play it it surprises me. Same with Take The Weather With You.

None of them are as bad as Last Mango In Paris though. He'll never top that one in the crap department.

If you actually check the main page, there clearly states that Buffett is going to focus on lesser played songs this upcoming tour.What are you talking about? He's played over 90 different songs on this tour alone. This is one of his most unique tours yet.How do you know it'll be crap?The world doesn't need another opinion based on nothing. Maybe Buffet Hotel wasn't his best work, that doesn't mean what follows can only be worse. Buffett does play old songs that aren't well-known, almost the entire albums of White Sport Coat and A1A have been played this tour, not to mention the entire Volcano album on this tour… not to mention "Livingston's Gone to Texas" which hadn't been played in almost 37 years. Better yet, what song would you prefer him to play that he hasn't yet? He's done so many old songs this tour, how could you possibly complain? "Railroad Lady", "Peanut Butter Conspiracy", "God's Own Drunk", "Havaña Daydreamin'", what are you venting about?

Sounds like someone would prefer Buffett to not release any new music and become a nostalgia act. At this stage of the game I sincerely doubt he's ever going to release anything I like as much as the first few albums on ABC/Dunhill but I've been surprised before so I'm not ruling out the possibility of a return to form. I would love to see an album of nothing but Buffett originals myself but not if they're going to be shit songs. He seems to have lost the knack he once had as a songwriter. Same thing for making other people's songs his own. Still, I also remain excited about the prospect of a new Buffett record. I'd also love to hear those old songs he unearthed last year. Unfortunately, I get the impression that he's less concerned about music these days and is much more focused on expanding the Margaritaville, Inc. enterprise. I'm not sure what it will take for him to find his muse again or if it's even possible at this late stage in his career but at some point, I would think he would start scaling back on the large tours (meaning from a production stand point) and start hitting smaller venues with a stripped down version of the Coral Reefer Band. I don't know that ties with Fingers are permanently severed as he has appeared on some of Buffett's records since they split. If smaller, more intimate tours ever became a reality I would love to see Fingers be a part of 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

Between the summer tours with big productions, all the Margaritaville restaurants, merchandise, etc., beer, food, and the like, it's a wonder he ever finds time to write any music, good or bad. I enjoy his summer concerts, but I think maybe he needs to take a year off... from everything. And just focus on writing. Just take a break from all the distractions and get back to what he's really good at: telling stories.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Albright

The trouble with quotes from the internet is that you never know if they're real or not. - Gandhi

I've said it before but I'll say it again. I loved those Outer Banks diaries he posted on his website a few years ago a hell of a lot more than I've enjoyed most of his original material in recent years. They weren't particularly deep or meant to be "literature" but perhaps that's what I enjoyed about them most.

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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

Yeah I think the same thing. His life is a lot different now than it once was. What others have said about the business ventures is true... he devotes a lot of time to that. Probably not much writing inspiration there.



As do I. I may have sounded like before that I'm not excited but I'll always be excited for a new record.

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Follow me on Twitter! @joshdmartin

Yes that was great. I, too, wish he'd do more of that. But think about what that came from... a trip driving and flying down making his way from his summer home in NY to his winter home in Florida. Surfing, boating, flying. He didn't just hop in the Falcon and fly from NY to Palm Beach. I just don't know how much of those kinds of trips he does anymore.

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That's the beauty of having the print - it doesn't change.

Want to hear Jimmy when it mattered? Anything between 1970 and 1983. That's 14 years that it mattered.

Want to hear someone a bit bored and attempting something different? Anything between 1984 and 1989.

Want to hear someone that's paved their road and has found where to cruise (or found his own wake to cruise in) while doing what he does with some glimpses of what got him there? Listen to anything from 1993-1996.

After that it's up in the air. I really like Island Fever, BHOTM, FSOTW, LTC and TTWWY - partially because my expectations changed. I know he's never gonna sound like he did in the late 1970s. He's still doing good material - but the bad material is getting a stronger foothold. So...whatever. That's why something like We Learned To Be Cool was worth buying the record for - I'll take it. The bonus tracks were Beautiful Swimmers, Life Short Call Now, Nobody From Nowhere and Summerzcool.

So what he does for the rest of his career doesn't really matter artistically. He's 98% business man, 1% musician, 1% artist. Those old records sound better and better every year (except for the mastering, of course).

He made his mark with those early albums and it was a pretty significant one, especially when you have someone of Bob Dylan's caliber mentioning Buffett as one of his favorite songwriters alongside Guy Clark, John Prine and Townes Van Zandt. I know it's extremely doubtful but I never rule out the possibility of a late career comeback with anyone, especially Jimmy Buffett. He's done several songs I consider to be downright embarrassing but at least he had the balls to put them out there. I would love to see him pull off an album that focused again on his once formidable songwriting prowess rather than one that capitalizes on his cheesy "trop-rock" image. Much of his latter day work isn't worth even mentioning in the same breath as Clark, Prine or Van Zandt but I'd love to see that change. Like I said, there's probably not much chance of it happening but in the world of music you can never say never.

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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 completely agree with you on this. I was also very excited when he mentioned he was going to publish his diary on his time in Hawaii a couple of years back, or at least continuing the diaries on Margaritaville.com. He is an amazing storyteller. I wish some of his projects he mentions in interviews come to fruition.

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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"