I, too, don't have much of a problem with the sound of FY.  I can certainly hear the problem in a song like Telepath but I can forgive that.  Sealine, on the other hand, just has some ungainly lyrics and actually comes to a homely halt at one stage, so that was never really a loss for mine.

I look at this new one differently, however, as an album of highlights over cohesion. Sure, the production binds it all together but it's a fairly disparate set in terms of styles. I think it's understandable for a band with such a long history to kind of fragment in terms of unified vision.  A band starts off as a kind of a cross between its immediate influences and its internal inspiration or 'muse' (if you like) and then goes on a little journey gathering new influences and skills on the way. I think, in that way, they can become too big to contain themselves and are prone to grow apart from some of their fans. Too many ideas to fit into the one container, in other words. It stands to reason.  It's a credit to the band that they have spread it amongst the songs, this time, rather than created a bit of a hodgepodge like ULTC. In that way, I haven't been as impressed with some of individual songs as much since Heyday yet I find listening to it as a unit a bit of a mixed experience. Give me The Blurred Crusade or AENT for albums that don't leave me restless and Heyday and F/D for blasts of ear candy (if you'll forgive the expression).  

For what it's worth, P=A is well put together but it's too darkly prog to withstand the years for my tastes, I'm ultimately a 'song' person and paired down I'm only left with 'Feel', 'Dome' and 'Old Flame' that work in isolation. 'Dome' and 'Chaos' are the only songs that F/D recalls, IMO.         

Last Edited By: The Ravine Jan 18 15 5:21 AM. Edited 4 times.