Search - Powderfinger :: Dream Days at the Hotel Existence

Another fine effort

Juz Man | Hobart, Australia | 08/05/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Powderfinger's latest is another worthy addition to their high quality catalogue. To compare to previous albums, it's tighter and more polished than the first three albums (of course), weightier but softer than the rock of Vulture Street and perhaps closer in sound to the elegant Odyssey #5 with the strings and melodies stripped away.



My favourite PF album is Internationalist. While the follow ups, Odyssey #5 and Vulture Street may be more sophisticated and professional, they don't have the variety and charm of Internationalist. Dream Days is likewise. PF know how to deliver high class product and it's again evident here.



Head Up In The Clouds borders on bland as the opener. Listening to it you just want it to go somewhere, rise above just a stock standard song. It doesn't. Traditionally the opener on PF albums aren't strong - with the exception of Rockin' Rocks.

I Don't Remember has more classic PF sound. A catchier song and the second single.

Lost And Running gets going in the third act. First listen doesn't offer much and one could be excused for thinking it a bit boring. After a listen or two though the melody hits you and when the rousing final verse and chorus kick in it makes it worth the wait. Perhaps shouldn't have been the first single due to its early inaccessibility.

Wishing On The Same Moon sounds like an Odyssey #5 lost track. The guitar is straight from Led Zeppelin's All My Love. A highlight from the album.

Who Really Cares is really familiar sounding sound - and that's not a compliment It's another standard track that any band could have done and is the albums weakest song.

Nobody Knows is best track here. It's the early standout. Unfortunately sounds like a Pink song of the same name.

Surviving is another standout. Like Lost and Running it builds to a final climax but is more intense.

Long Way To Go is good without being great. It's perhaps the least memorable song here perhaps on par with Head In The Clouds.

Black tears has a different producer and sound (feel and quality) to it. Relates to Ayers Rock/Uluru and is probably the most talked about song (in Australia) on the album. It returns PF to the more political themes of Internationalist. Good song. Maybe doesn't fit with the rest of the album but a nice inclusion.

Ballad of a Dead Man is PF in typical second last track epic mode. Another song that builds and this ending is also awesome. The song has brilliant parts but lacks as a whole. It's perhaps the only song that overstays its welcome. The climactic ending, while excellent, goes on for too long.

Drifting further away is classic final track. Slower, still epic. What you'd expect as the final track on a PF album. PF are very predictable in their track listings.



Give it time. It needs many listens. The songs will grow on you as you discover more about each one - there's a lot going on here. The downside being, because I had to listen to it so much it has gotten tired quicker than any of their other albums. After a few weeks of solid listening I find myself only going back to a couple of songs with any regularity - Nobody Knows, Lost and Running, I Don't Remember, Ballad and Surviving.



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