Goodbye Blues

Goodbye Blues

It might break your heart to know that The Hush Sound's third album,
Goodbye Blues, almost never existed. Nearing the end of 2006, the
Chicago foursome which formed in the very beginning of 2005 and
released their debut album, So Sudden, in October of the same year
was on the verge of bidding each other and their band adieu. They had
just released their sophomore effort, Like Vines (which has sold over
60,000 copies to date), through Pete Wentz's Decaydance imprint
on label Fueled By Ramen, but thankfully had embarked on a sold-out headlining tour which came to its pinnacle during a packed show at
Philadelphia's Theater of the Living Arts. Suddenly the band realized
that people cared, and then, even more importantly, that they did too.
Once we did the headlining tour, we realized there were all these people
coming to see us and saying how much they genuinely appreciate the music, says vocalist/pianist Greta Salpeter. We realized that we were part of something greater than all these little problems we had.
Goodbye Blues was actualized over the course of two months in Kevin
Augunas (Cold War Kids) North Hollywood studio, beginning in September of
2007. The album bridges an expanse between invitingly catchy pop buoyancy
and a certain emotional and intellectual depth The Hush Sound has never
fully explored before. Standout tracks like Medicine Man , Honey and
Hurricane reveal not only the group s new sense of maturity, but their
burgeoning skill for sculpting emotive, relatable songs that exist not just
as moments of music but as, what Greta sees as little pieces of art.



Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075678995286
Label: Atlantic
Manufacturer: Atlantic
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Atlantic
Release Date: 2008-03-18
Studio: Atlantic



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Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: The Hush Sound don't hush up just yet
Comment: The interesting thing about The Hush Sound is they almost broke up due to a lack of publicity/press placed on them by record head Decaydance. Ironic considering who some of their label mates are, promotion doesn't appear to be much of an issue. Proving though you got to give things a slight chance before you entirely toss up the towel The Hush Sound embarked on a final tour and after sell out shows and great fan reaction they decided it wasn't time to close the curtain just yet. Thank goodness for that as I truly do believe even being in a shuffle of Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy there could still be room for this great foursome.

Let me place The Hush Sound in perspective to you like this, ok. releasing CD's is somewhat like a dating relationship. A band's debut is one that can be full of infatuation and over looking the flaws because that's where it all begins. The 2nd release from a band is a bit more sobering and the different issues you have with each other begin to get fleshed out. When a band puts out a 3rd CD your relationship is then taken to the next level and you may feel the need to either commit or get out by this time, hopefully gents and ladies it won't be the latter. `Goodbye Blue' is the 3rd release from The Hush Sound prove there is still some romance that can blossom but there is some considerable improvements that CAN STILL be made.

The band's last album `Like Vines' was a fork in the road with both singers contributing on an almost equal number of tracks. Female Vocalist Greta Salpeter is path A while male vocalist Bob Morris is path B. They decided to spend more time and energy walking down the first path, I can tell. The same spunk as well as thoughtfulness that made people sit up and take notice back in their sophomore album is still present and improved upon. The band also relies heavily on the piano, and drums (in particular the bass drum) to create a jazzily bounce which carries through out the entire album.

Now I personally feel there is less Bob just period, he had a very competent voice that allured a great sense of style and his buzzing guitars loomed very imaginative pieces before, he still appears from time-to-time and even offers a guitar solo in leadoff single "Honey". What I really miss is their relying upon each and trade-off of vocals that complemented each other so well is gone. That's what kind of made them `different' in the genre of groups they are not-by-choice thrown into. With the mild exception of "The Boys are too Refined" you won't find any of their cooperation intact. But that's ok I guess because Greta's angelic voice which was once as sweet as nectar as grown more mature and confidence dealing a great amount of vocal range on many of the tracks. Her lower keys also assist in giving the songs some bite and that bounce-feel I mentioned earlier.

There are a handful of songs which stand out beyond the rest such as "Medicine Man", "Honey" and "The Boys are too Refined". When they do decide to slow things down it gives time for them to relax with the amply cool musical interlude "Six" and the dreamy "Hurricane" which made me think of unicorns on the beach. I know strange.

The main problem here is that they don't allow Bob Morris to show up enough, had their two singers exchanged with one another more often accompanied by this much more mature take and very thematic approach they could've easily scored higher on the dance sheet. Let's take all this and sum it up. `Goodbye Blues' is a nice follow-up to `Like Vines' which was hard to top from the start. Funny that they still haven't really received the time of day, considering what label they are stamped on. Perhaps that lack of publicity/promotion that almost caused The Hush Sound to hush for good will be more of a reason to sound louder.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: The Hush Sound
Comment: I listened to all the sample songs before buying and I really love both the singers voices. It's my favorite cd now.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Solid album, can't wait to hear what's next
Comment: I was impressed by this album.

Gretta sounds fantastic. She has this deep, edgy, tone that didn't come through in "Like Vines."

They're still definitely a rock band, but there also seems to be more jazz influence. I'm sure this doesn't sit well with everyone, but I really like it.

I thought Gretta's songs were considerably stronger than Bob's, but I really liked "Not Your Concern"...but I thought "Hospital Bed Crawl" was the weakest song on the album, but still not bad.

I would have liked to hear the interlude develop a bit throughout the course of the song. The intro is a cool idea, but I didn't like the way it was produced, it sounds kind of tinny and underdeveloped. It would have been better to cut right to "Honey".

Despite a few minor flaws, I still give this album 5 stars. It has been a while since I've enjoyed an album this much. The band has a unique mix of sounds, and I am impressed at the way this band has developed.






Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Still a great album, however ...
Comment: I love the hush sound, their other two albums will never leave my MP3 player, because I always seem to want to return to them. This one is different, however. While still an awesome CD, it's not the same hush sound. Greta has started singing differently, with a deeper voice, which works well for some tracks, and not as well on others. I can't imagine seeing her in concert and hearing "Lighthouse" with this voice. I'm also bummed that Robert doesn't sing as much. My favorite tracks were always the ones they sang together on, like "Wine Red" or "Sweet Tangerine". At least on this one there's "The Boys are Too Refined" (which I love, may be my new all time favorite), but other than that, there are only two songs he sings alone, which was depressing, even though they're good. Buy it, enjoy it, but don't expect it to be as great as the last two.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Beautiful CD
Comment: This is the first CD by The Hush Sound that I've ever heard. I bought it after hearing it played in my local CD/Record store. I absolutely love it. The first and the seventh songs I skip over everytime (the seventh reminds me of elevator or videogame music), but the rest of the songs are powerful and beautiful.


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