[quote="GoldenRhino"]Cool write up, Spike. I really really hope they put in some more effort into the polish of this thing. Not that the Happy Bivouac album art is an art masterpiece, but...it would be great if they could do justice to the album by using the art at a decent resolution.[/quote]

Yeah. As silly as it sounds it's possible they don't have access to the original album art anymore and had to blow it up from the CD cover. Maybe HB will fare better.

It doesn't have the same style as say, the Runners High cover (which looks like a Dinosaur Jr. cover) but I miss when they actaully went out and staged photos for album covers like PML and HB. I think it's the Wake Up! DVD that has some old behind-the-scenes footage of them shooting photos of the dude in the shopping cart for the Tiny Boat single, I miss their theatrical side.

[i]edit: It was the Walkin' On The Spiral DVD. [/i]

[quote="rockman240"]What do you guys think about the difference in sound between the originals and the new remasters?[/quote]

It'll be interesting. The original CD release doesn't suffer as much from brick-walling which was super common around the time this came out, but with the shifting dynamics on this album and the abrupt quiet/loud transitions during songs it will be interesting to see if the LP release sounds a bit more "opened up." I'd buy it wether it was a remaster or not, but the fact that it [i]is[/i] definitely has me curious.

They're remastering (remastered?) Happy Bivuoucouaoucacoc? Now I'm interested.

Edit: Also, seconding that Happy Kerouac is perfect. Though Kool Spice is also great.

[quote]Happy Kerouac is perfect.[/quote]

What about somber Kerouac?

[quote="Marekenshin"][quote]Happy Kerouac is perfect.[/quote]

What about somber Kerouac?[/quote]
I did enjoy Tristessa.

[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/q7rwxsu6eb0kcvw/hb1.png?dl=0[/img]

[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/11thgb84dlqqowp/hb2.png?dl=0[/img]

[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/1prs14s6a8eu52y/hb3.png?dl=0[/img]

[quote="Spike"][quote="GoldenRhino"]Cool write up, Spike. I really really hope they put in some more effort into the polish of this thing. Not that the Happy Bivouac album art is an art masterpiece, but...it would be great if they could do justice to the album by using the art at a decent resolution.[/quote]

Yeah. As silly as it sounds it's possible they don't have access to the original album art anymore and had to blow it up from the CD cover. Maybe HB will fare better. [/quote]
Honestly, I don't think that Please Mr. Lostman and Little Busters are upscaled. I'm gonna do some comparisons.

Seeing old golden age pics of the pillows still brings a fanboy smile to my face.

[quote="MyFoot"]Seeing old golden age pics of the pillows still brings a fanboy smile to my face. [/quote]
[i]Same[/i]

Happy Bivouac is one of those albums that just hits you like a ton of bricks the first time you hear it. I'd listened to plenty of rock music before encountering The Pillows in 2004 but nothing ever struck me like Last Dinosaur, Carnival, and Crazy Sunshine. The Pillows just have this great command of melody and melancholic longing that come together really well on this album.

I wrote a review of Happy Bivouac a while back, check it out [url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/63566/The-Pillows-Happy-Bivouac/]here.[/url]

I noticed that you made the same distinction between the first half and the second half of the album. It's 11 tracks, so the mid point could be seen as either before or after Crazy Sunshine. 'Our Love and Peace' provides an interesting shift to the tone of the first half, and in my opinion would have fit better between the songs on the second half, so I always found it interesting that they placed it so high on the album. To me, that ends up being more endearing than the song itself.

If it swapped places with Kim Deal, the tonal difference between the two halves of the album would have been a lot more distinct. I think they might have put it after Carnival specifically to avoid that, to keep the [i]overall[/i] tone of the album more consistent and flowing, less divided.

I think we'll see the same split on the record, with Side A ending on Crazy Sunshine and Side B starting on Back Seat Dog.

It is without a doubt in their top three records, the other two being Please Mr. Lostman and Little Busters. For me no other record from the band comes close to these three.

Now, which is the best it's up for debate and down to personal preference. I've always had a soft spot for Little Busters, but I regard Please Mr. Lostman as more complete and challenging. So, I guess you could say I rank Happy Bivouac after them. But that doesn't make it a worse album by any means.

[quote="Revol"]It is without a doubt in their top three records, the other two being Please Mr. Lostman and Little Busters. For me no other record from the band comes close to these three.[/quote]
I actually completely agree. Plenty of other fantastic Pillows records but those are definitely a cut above the rest (my only 9/10 picks from their discog).

HB is definitely my #1, though. It's the only one out of the three where every song is consistently on the same level imo (except "Our Love and Peace"). That's kinda true of PML as well but I think the singles kinda overshadow the album tracks, and the album's a little sonically homogenous as well. Same goes with LB - some tracks are just head-and-shoulders above others.

[quote="dimsim3478"] That's kinda true of PML as well but I think the singles kinda overshadow the album tracks[/quote]

I have to agreed on you on that one. There are a few bands that have regretted in putting singles in their albums to market their albums that way because they felt those singles didn't really fit in with the rest of the tracks of the albums. In the 60s, it made sense for British bands to sale non-album singles as a way to not spoil or ruin the formula of their album tracks. Non-album singles were also a way to keep the fans interested in the band while the band themselves focus on working on the next upcoming album. It's a shame that this type of marketing strategy has been forgotten.