In 1965 at the peak of their popularity and in anticipation of exploring new territory with their up and coming album entitled "Why should the adoration expire?", the Beatles ditched their long time musical companion, mate and producer George Martin along with the original title "Rubber Soul" in order to go for that groovy sound that Sam the Sham and the Pharohs had been so successful In 1965 at the peak of their popularity and in anticipation of exploring new territory with their up and coming album entitled "Why should the adoration expire?", the Beatles ditched their long time musical companion, mate and producer George Martin along with the original title "Rubber Soul" in order to go for that groovy sound that Sam the Sham and the Pharohs had been so successful with("Wooly Booly") in winning the favor of Teeny Boppers the world over who preferred listening to music on those nifty little hand held transistor radios instead of their parents old HI-FI rig. The loss of the "5th Beatle" along with the supurb engineering staff resulted in a dull and uninspired reflection of their previous creative prowess. The recording initially sold well carried by the momentum of the past, but soon languished and fell into obscurity along with successive efforts, having lost the bulk of the the original fan base that included many parents who were turned off by the terrible sound and weak compositions. It seems that the lads listened to and believed all the hype about them being geniuses and such. George Martin was this old guy who apparently didn't praise them sufficiently, so they parted ways and unwittingly sewed the seeds of their own undoing. Who knows the musical and creative heights that may have been reached if the Beatles would have stayed with what worked for them and remained focused on the sincere exploration of the artistic process rather than succumbing to the seductive allure of self adoration. Well anyway that could have happened. I am a devoted fan of Nickel Creek and consider "This Side" to be one of the greatest recordings ever made. To enlist the producer of Smash Mouth to carry them down their new path has to rank as one of the worst decisions a musical entity has ever made. The recording sounds like it was done by an amatuer with blown ears using a cheap consumer digital recorder and monitoring on his computer speakers. It may be the worst I've ever heard. Clearly targeting the MP3 generation, this "Production" is nothing short of offensive on a decent system and quite unlistenable. The song writing is sub par for these guys and the dominance of Thile doing paradies of himself is unbearable. Even Sarah is now affecting her voice to sound like all the other hep female artists out there. The Sean Watkins solo piece is trite and unworhty. They have become a mediocre rhythm section with hardly any of their usual instrumental brilliance. The leap from the wonderful "Nickel Creek" album to the astounding "This Side" was hoped for this time as well, but instead was a shocking fall from grace and a dive into the sticky quagmire of ego-laden bad taste from which few recover. I hope they do however, for they were may favorite and such potential is tragic when lost. I haven't given up, but I do feel it's important to hold artists feet to the fire so that they know for certain when it begins to die.… Expand
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