Description
The Love of Life is the sophomore album by the American indie rock band Watashi Wa, released on Tooth & Nail Records in 2003. The album was recorded and mixed by Dean Maher at Plumper Mountain Sound in British Columbia, Canada; with gggarth (Garth Richardson) producing. All songs written by the band’s lead singer Seth Roberts.
Featuring Seth Roberts on vocals and guitar, Mike Newsom on lead guitar and backing vocals, Luke Page on guitar, Roger Tompkins on bass, and Lane Biermann on drums and vocals.
Watshi Wa was a whim. Having recently been impressed with the quality of bands such as The Juliana Theory, Further Seems Forever, and Anberlin, I took a chance on Watashi Wa seeing as how they are (or in TJT’s case, were) on the same label. To say the least, I was not disappointed.
Watashi Wa play a brand of mature, catchy pop rock not too unlike recent Goo Goo Dolls or maybe a less whiny Matchbox Twenty. Strong hooks; fine, soothing vocals; and a superb sonic mix makes The Love of Life an enjoyable listen from start to finish. Any given song could make itsway onto any pop radio station in America. Well, actually, it’s too good for pop radio in America. Watashi Wa has heart, feeling, substance, and realism and that pretty much goes against almost anything on pop radio, so forget I said that. Seriously.
The opening track «All of Me» could be a bigger hit than Jimmy Eat World’s «The Middle». This song is pop perfection! Everything from the lyrics to the vocal delivery to the thoughtful lyrics just ooze quality. «With Love From Me To You» is a song I could listen to over and over, everyday, and never get tired of. A soothing, mid-tempo rhythm combined with a heartfelt melody and more great lyrics make for one unforgettable tune. «Always Is A Place» has great energy without losing any of it’s pop sensibilities. In reality, there isn’t a weak song on this album. If you’re into any of the aforementioned bands, or even if you’re not, you owe it to yourself, and your CD collection, to own this album.
In a perfect world, where ice cream never melts, where kittens never grow into mean cats, and where Reality TV doesn’t exist, Watashi Wa would be a multi-platinum band loved and admired the world over. This world should be so lucky. [Shawn Pelata, The Phantom Tollbooth, 08/11/2003]
If you’re a pop music addict, sometimes you’re bound to think “This must be it. Surely all the great pop songs have been written by now. There’s only so much you can do with four chords and eight notes, and we must be just about at the bottom of the barrel now.” Then a band like Watashi Wa comes along, and gives you twelve songs that make you realize there’s still more to do with those four chords, and that maybe we won’t ever run out of songs after all. It’s not that they break any boundaries or create any exciting new fusions or really do anything particularly new at all. It’s just that they can take all the familiar elements that by all rights ought to be completely worn out by now and make you excited to hear them again. Combining the bizarro semantics (“You dream of time like that to always stay/ But no soon day would ever stay”) and the wide-eyed, heart-on-your-sleeve attitude of emo with most of the tight, focused energy of power pop, Watashi Wa makes music that it is almost impossible to listen to without grinning like a fool and flapping your arms. Fill in the grammatical blanks (definite articles, guys, you need more definite articles) and you’ll find lyrics that gleefully conflate romantic love and spiritual consecration («With Love From Me to You») or simultaneously confess both romantic fear and an inability to dance («Joanna»). Ignore the lyrics and you’ll be lifted effortlessly on waves of cathartic chord progressions that the Smithereens would have shaved their goatees for. Apart from the overly precious piano coda, there’s not a weak track anywhere on this album. And this is only their second album, folks. [Rick Anderson, AMG]
> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-love-of-life/724428308)
CD tracklist:
01. All Of Me – 3:29
02. At Its Finest – 3:46
03. The Air I Breathe – 3:41
04. With Love From Me To You – 4:56
05. Smoke Signals – 4:21
06. Joanna – 2:38
07. Everything – 6:42
08. Always Is A Place – 2:47
09. How She Sees – 2:48
10. Her Dress – 2:45
11. Clear – 3:39
12. Life Is Beautiful – 7:43
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