Great expectations, we had the greatest expectations...high expectations can be such a double edged sword. I'm always hesitant to allow myself to get overly excited about things, I've found that having high expectations can often lead to a let down. Allowing for too much of a built up, letting expectations swell can lead to a skewed (first) perspective..even if the thing (in the case of this here blog; chips and music) that you've had high expectations of is absolutely top notch a-ok, the initial assessment is somehow diminished due to unrealistic expectations unjustly placed on said thing.
Now, I believe my memory of these events is accurate, but I'm not 100% positive. I recall reading rave reviews about The Gaslight Anthem's Sink or Swim then Senor and the Queen on [music review website that used to have useful reviews, but now seems to be jerking off to their own contrarian so non-punk that they're punk hot takes]. The reviews got me stoked, (I want to say that) I hopped onto myspace, checked out a song or 2 and for some reason it didn't hook me..maybe I just wasn't in the mood that day, maybe I had too high of expectations based on the reviews (does it really matter? [probably only to me {then why am I writing these words..can a blog have an existential crisis??}]). Gaslight's name stayed in the back of my mind, but that was it. Flash forward a couple months, The '59 Sound is released by Side One Dummy. The reviews were once again glowing, I hit snooze. I want to say sometime around October of 2008 I decided that I might as well check out The '59 Sound, heading in my expectations were tempered due to my first toe dip. I can't tell you how many times I listened to The '59 Sound on myspace (luckily they didn't limit the number of streams) for the next few months. There was something that just finally clicked with me. For some reason it wasn't until January 14, 2009 that I ordered the album (12 days later ordered Sink or Swim, must have got the Senor and The Queen 7" at the April 7 show) through the S1D store which was met with heavy rotation as soon as it came to my apartment. Jump to April 7 at The Warehouse in Calgary, I caught The Gaslight Anthem headlining a stop on their '59 Sound tour. Seeing them live at that tour stop absolutely floored me, maybe it was just perfect timing to see them tour an album that I connected so hard with, but that show was (I'm assuming) akin to a religious experience for me (if one were to subscribe to such things). So yeah, sometimes you just have to revisit something that you might have had high expectations for so that you can gauge if your initial reaction was accurate or if the great expectations got the best of you.
Anytime Covered Bridge releases a new flavour I have relatively high expectations. Sometimes the new flavours are bangers right out of the gate, sometimes they're (for lack of better description) growers. When I saw that CB was releasing an All Dressed flavour on Crinkle Cut none-the-less, it should go without saying that I was quite stoked. IMO, they had already basically nailed all dressed with their loaded hotdog flavour (please CB overlords, bring that flavour back), so I was wondering what their take on straight up all dressed would be. My initial reaction notes on January 27th are as follows, "Smell like bbq. Crinkle Cut. Very Crunchy. Bbq, smokey onion, mild vinegar tartness near the back end. Lack of sweetness (somewhat a CB trademark). Tartness builds as you get further into the bag. STarted noticing ketchup in the bottom half of the bag. Seasoning flavour is pretty standard for all dressed. Crunch is aggressive and chips are well cooked with skins and a good number of browns". It's not reflected in my notes, but I was somewhat lukewarm to them with my first bag. I however wasn't deterred knowing that sometimes CB flavours take a minute to click with me..and I didn't order 12 bags for no reason. In subsequent bags I've noticed more of a ketchup presence that goes really well with the onion flavour. The dark russet potato flavour is present and compliments the seasoning very well. There's a bit of bbq bite to the chips (note bbq bite, I wouldn't place these chips on the heat spectrum). The flavour is unique, but also familiar at the same time. They didn't reinvent the wheel, but put out their own twist on a tried and true flavour (their base chips are really what sets CB apart from the pack with this bag) to fantastic results.
Stay hydrated,
marc
ps. I couldn't get into Get Hurt, I've tried since to a few times since but there's something about it that I just can't get into (I want to say that there's elements of grunge which are a pass for me). Because of Get Hurt I slept on Brian Fallon's first solo album. Almost mirroring my introduction to Gaslight, I caught up at Sleepwalkers, then back tracked to Painkillers, and was ready for Local Honey when it came out. His solo albums are fantastic. Right up there with Sink or Swim and '59 Sound for me. The first track off of Local Honey, When You're Ready, is just, yeah, what's the opposite of a hard pass, haha.
Comments
Post a Comment