[Chris Lawrence]

okay, following up on my comments earlier in the thread, i just heard 'the ineffable me' in the car and uh, it's pretty fucking awesome. and when i stopped to think about it, the album takes of 'french tickler', 'hits of sunshine', 'karen', 'snare' and 'heather' are all awesome, which is the entire back half of the record, so i think my problem w/ ATL after all these years is just a few less than optimal takes used on the first half of the album, namely 'female mechanic', 'wildflower', and 'hoarfrost'. specifically compared to the early live versions (actually with 'hoarfrost' i might be thinking of bits they added after the record, specifically lee's great delay parts before the "wheels paddle" section). still, 'female mechanic' and 'wildflower' are two heavy hitters on this album and i guess to this date i'm still not thrilled w/ their finalized recorded versions, and to be honest it's just parts here and there where i was spoiled by live versions.

fuck, what the hell am i trying to say? i still prefer a good '98 soundboard (lee's ring mod terror on 'french tickler' just screams thru the mix where-as it barely makes a roar on the LP, and numerous other things like that) but i suppose i should put a nail in the coffin which contains my contempt for ATL as a studio artifact.

also, 'dirty' fucking rules.