the tea party – seven circles
1. writings on the wall – am i listening to the tea party? this is not a tea party song. as eric said, it sounds like a stone temple pilots song. that’s not what i thought first, but i can hear that now. what captured me immediately is the guitar sounds like it’s a rage against the machine riff…it’s not a bad song, it’s sorta rockin, but it’s not the tea party
2. stargazer – this is not a tea party song either. wtf. i really wonder if someone else wrote these songs…it’s ok
3. one step closer away – again…it sounds like a stone temple pilots song. well at least the beginning…the chorus…back to rage guitars…and i dont like the chorus. it would be a cool song, creepy, haunting if they didn’t go into a fast lame chorus.
4. oceans – i hate slow sappy tea party songs, but this one is not as bad as the ones on interzone…er well…the chorus is as bad, but the rest isn’t haha.
5. luxuria – 
best song on the cd. it just is so cool. classic tea party right from the start.
6. overload – another good song. yay. but back to rage guitars. jeff martin found a new guitar tone and used it way too much. and still has that weird STP sound during the chorus…
7. coming back again – a bit creepy sounding, like a godsmack song. decent
8. the watcher – ug slow and sappy again. they all sound the same…
9. empty glass – one giant bowie tribute…major tom, ground control, starman, diamond dogs, golden years…it’s decent as well
10. wishing you would stay – i like it. it’s different, again. features holly mcnarland as well. ok i really like this song. yeah, this is my fav song on the album. it makes me overly emotional haha.
11. seven circles – boring. instrumental at the end is nice though.
overall impression: disappointing. this is not a tea party record. it’s really not. of all the songs, in my opinion only 1 holds to their “sound”, and that’d be luxuria. the slower songs keep in form with their other slower songs, but i never really like them. as eric put it, it’s not like they can’t grow and change and evolve, but they do have a distinctive sound, and we expect an evolution of that, and not just an evolution into crap. as of now, i find the whole package rather boring. it lacks the cohesiveness of their other albums. there’s no grand epic largeness. it’s just a bunch of random songs thrown onto an album. it doesn’t tell a story, or seem to go together at all. so yeah…it’s not awful by any means, just not what i was expecting, and doesn’t meet my high expectations of the band. i’m sure it’ll grow on me, but….not all that great.
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in other news. i have a really bad sunburn on my neck from sunday, and wearing clothes kills it lol. the collar on my uniform is going to murder me tonight at work.