Low: Classic or classic?

it's entirely possible that they are doing something that makes this a particularly expensive thing to get on the road but i was surprised at the cost.

Pretty sure it's a standard Low trio tour? But I'm looking forward to hearing these songs in that format.

Just bought Double Negative but have decided to replay the album/EP catalogue in its entirety, in chronological order, before listening to it.

Currently on Long Division, which is new to me.

One of my happiest memories in my brief music career was getting to share a bill with Low (and Soul Coughing, lol) at the Black Cat in DC way back in the mid 90s. Had never heard of them at that point, and was utterly blown away by their performance. Felt bad that they had to go on and perform in front of a loud and rowdy audience after my own goofy rock band antics.

my friend played the guitar on that low/piano magic collab. still in my top five low tracks ever.

Giving a listen on this Sunday morning. The praise is accurate.

(Referring to Double Negative, but akm's comment is also correct.)

One of the very few remaining bands whose albums I will buy on release day, every single time. I’ve still only seen them live once, amazingly.

I've seen them a shamefully few times all told. The upcoming March show will be my fifth, if you count the radio session they played on my show back in 1994.

their live show is not to be missed and i try to see them live any time they come to town. their finest, most transcendent artistic achievement imo is silver rider as performed live

I'd almost wonder how a show for this album will work. I just said elsewhere that I would be fine with the March show simply being them performing the album straight through, no encore and no other songs.

They played a little over half the album at their show in Nashville last spring. They did two 35 minute or so sets sets - one new material and one old.

I've seen them a bunch, in multiple contexts. Small club, big club, unconventional venues, as an opening act, headliner, on a mismatched bill, perfectly pair bill, Christmas show ... always great. I think the next show here is in a chapel.

my favorite show i've seen of theirs is when they did a 28 minute version 'do you know how to waltz' in front of 10,000 89.3-ass NPR The Current craft beer people. I immediately ran down to the front of stage in glee once I realized what was going on. people were infuriated

They *opened* their show the time I saw them in Portland, OR in 2007 or so ('Drums & Guns' tour) with a 20+ minute, wicked loud take on 'Do You Know How to Waltz,' and honestly played the whole show kind of angry. While I hope some day to see a lots-of-silence show in a church-type setting--it was kind of amazing to see them play that way.

i saw them once, at the metro sometime in the mid-2000s, and the crowd talked the entire time and i wanted to scream

Does anyone have information about the bonus track on the Japan edition - https://www.discogs.com/Low-Double-Negative/release/12528289 ?

I'm kinda hoping it's some epically lengthy track, given it's on a second CD.

my favorite show i've seen of theirs is when they did a 28 minute version 'do you know how to waltz' in front of 10,000 89.3-ass NPR The Current craft beer people. I immediately ran down to the front of stage in glee once I realized what was going on. people were infuriated

I love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI5-MuV5NSo

oh hell yeah

i've never seen low live but i've always wanted to see the extended "waltz"

the crowd talked the entire time and i wanted to scream

The Low live experience in a nutshell.

holy shit this is heavy

That rules so much

Also anyone who hasn't heard Alan's solo guitar album or the third RGC album...get on that

lmao this is the greatest performance i've ever seen

Last time I saw them was in a small barn, very intimate. Alan seemed a little uncomfortable with that actually, which I thought was weird since they must have done a million small shows like that.

I love that there is only one recording of them doing "Waltz" with GY!BE, and the quality is horrible. (You can find it on YT.)

all the RGC albums are really good, even the overly compressed poorly produced second one (or third one, depending on whether you count the self-released first thing). Alan's brought a fair amount of that energy into live Low sets in recent years. Maybe because they share a bass player now.

Does anyone have information about the bonus track on the Japan edition

I for one am stoked for this Barenaked Ladies cover

Haven't heard any new stuff in years, i guess i'll redress that. I bet i coulda won Brooklyn tix on the radio in the wee hours the other night.

even the overly compressed poorly produced second one

"hide it away" is one of my favorite songs he's ever written. the production on that record is inexplicable but i kinda love it

Agreed on both the greatness of “Hide It Away” and the poorness of the production.

I mentioned on some other Low thread that Sparhawk and the bass player also form half of a Velvet Underground tribute band. No-one on that thread was interested at the time, although personally I thought it was quite interesting, so I'm trying my luck again here.

it's true too: https://www.facebook.com/VelvetsBand/

Holy fuck that version of "Cast".

I meant Waltz! My kids came in and found me blubbering.

The seemingly official "unofficial" film for "Disarray" is a curious thing.

without really trying to or thinking about it too hard, i've seen Low more than any other band, at least a dozen times, and seen alan's side projects half as many times.

years ago i saw them at an all-night event at orchestra hall in minneapolis. it must have been around the Trust release. if i recall, their profile outside of local scenester and muso scenes was for the christmas EP! and, again if i remember right, this was when bars here closed at 1am, and they were on later in the wee hours, so it was kind of a novelty to be out in public that late. they looked pretty tiny, just the 3 of them on a big concert stage, but by the end of the show they seemed immense, totally commanding the whole hall. i do remember they played "lust," one of my faves, and it was enormous.

i think that's a common theme with a number of the shows of theirs i've seen: they don't really begin with the crowd on their wavelength but by the end of it, totally reverent, can hear a pin drop, the whole bit

just this past summer i saw them at the eaux claires festival (which was kind of a bust honestly). they played the post-headliner slot, after midnight, on a tiny stage in a clearing in the woods. the first song was intro'd by the Iron Boys, a native men's singing group from wisconsin; kicking myself i can't remember which song. it was incredible. could have been the circumstances but i'd never seen them play as well or as intensely, and i got to hear some more straightfoward, guitar-y versions of the Double Negative material. it was all really stunning. i walked away thinking, ok, this is the greatest band on earth and i'm a superfan

you know what is a really good album? trust

Still my fave probably, great example of an album that feels like a best-of comp

I love all of Low’s albums and have my personal favorites (which posted here a few days ago). There are certain albums that aren’t my favorite but I totally get why others would call it theirs (usually it’s Drums & Guns or Secret Name). But honestly I’ve never really been able to fathom anyone calling Trust their favorite. For me it’s the album that, on paper, sounds like the best Low album—lots of long moody tracks! They stretch out more than other albums!—but in practice is a bit of a chore.

Trust is the album that made me go from liking them to loving them. Easily my favorite.

Also one of the first times I was incensed by a pitchfork review

I’ve never really been able to fathom anyone calling Trust their favorite

Ha! Trust is my favorite too (generally I prefer the Kranky albums). Great cover of "Fearless" on the Canada EP.

I was about to belabour the Trust thing but honestly I’m listening to Double Negative again right now and there is just no room in my brain to talk about anything other than than this monster of a record.

Been listening to the 19 hours (!) of Low I've bought over the decades on random the last couple days. It's amazing how even the things I didn't think I rated as highly at the time really work for me now. And it reinforces that for me 'Double Negative' isn't a surprise at all, but a record I knew they'd make one day.

Glad to see the 'Trust' love here. I remember it not being as well received at the time by other folks(at least compared to 'Things We Lost,' which I love, but which is overshadowed by 'Bombscare' and 'In the Fishtank' and 'Secret Name' and all the other work immediately before and after). Whereas for me it was what cemented them as a really all-time group.

Anyone else hearing echos of Portishead's Third? Machine Gun specifically.

yes, it was invoked a couple of times when it first leaked!

Trust is great, who doesn't like Trust? Maybe around this point people conditioned by typical band trajectories started to think it was about time to take Low down a notch, because come on, they can't all be great, can they? (Six more albums arrive.) OK, so maybe they can.

The Invisible Way is the only Low release I find dull - I choose to blame Tweedy. ("Holy Ghost" is lovely, though.)

I think it's fair to blame Tweedy (as much as I'm sure he meant well) considering it was followed by two of their absolute best.

it sounds fine, I don't mean to knock him in that way, but in the same way that some bands are best suited by a hands-off approach, Low seem to do their best work with producers who are willing to act as active collaborators. (How the Albini albums worked out so well, I have no idea, beyond the fact that the songs were all killers.)

Maybe the Albini albums work so well because he allowed them to strip themselves right back to a raw state. Great songs coming through unadorned, connecting directly and without the washy gauze of the Kramer era.