Generally agreed? Not by me, anyway. I bought 'Long Distance Swimmer' after seeing him on Other Voices doing the haunting 'Walk On Part' from the album. Turns out 'Walk On Part' is the best song on the album, the rest is pretty much your standard singer-songwriter fare, though he is a brillliant lyricist. After the Choice nomination and the good reviews it got, 'Long Distance Swimmer' is a bit of a letdown.

actually, I'm being a little bit pedantic (surprise, surprise)...

...i do think that long distance swimmer is his best album but i don't see it as a massive leap... it just has better songs and is more accessible than his previous two efforts... northern country was very claustrophobic...

quint, i'm not sure calling it "your standard singer-songwriter fare" is an accurate reflection...

...we could of course go back to the "what is a singer-songwriter?" debate...

Gotta say I bought Long Distance Swimmer after reading it was excellent on another thread from a few ppl before christmas. I was also quite dissapointed. The main problem that I have with Adrian is his monotonous vocals. Does anyone agree?

Sorry to differ from the point of the thread

I first heard him on Other Voices. He nearly put me to sleep - sounded like a depressing version of yer man from Smog... then again, stick on a violin & cello with any acoustic / semi-acoustic track & I'll be reaching for the off button (even the legend that is Thurston Moore didn't get away with it).

that explains it then...

...if you dislike smog, then there's no hope...

floodzer, i understand what you mean by the monotonous vocals but with acquired taste, his vocals can become one of the highlights... the album is perfectly executed and some of the lyrics really work... the vocals only add to their impact...

but to summarise, this album isn't really anything different to what he's done for 8 years...

I like Smog.

we agree on something!

I'm not sure I like them anymore now!!!!!