The Lion The Beast The Beat- Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

In 2001, Dave Matthews Band released Everyday, an album that put off many of their fans who were expected something more along the lines of their first three (or what many of their fans call the Big Three) releases.  Instead, Everyday was a very slickly produced, more poppy sound that did feature some good songs, but others with subpar (in the fans' opinion) lyrics.  I admit I was shocked in listening to it the first time, being a huge fan and not imagining that they would go that route, especially when they had another release already recorded (what would become Busted Stuff).

I haven't listened to a ton of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, so admittedly I'm no expert, but I would think The Lion The Beast The Beat would have to be a shock to fans, as it was startling to me how many times I actually said "oh no" when listening to TLBLTB, starting with the almost 80s hard-rock sounding title track. 


My biggest problem with the whole release is the lyrics, which are very generic and cringingly bad in some cases.  (Take "Roulette", a bonus track: "my heart is going deeper in debt/but that's what I get when I'm playing roulette").  I almost felt like the lyrics were done by Mad Libs or in similar fashion to "Whose Line Is It Anyway" (I need a casino game!  Okay, roulette it is!).

I haven't been annoyed by an album in a while, but bottom line is that this one should be avoided at all costs- the lyrics are terrible and Grace Potter's voice (which I ordinarily do like) was grating after a few songs, mostly because there's little to no soul in any of them (the one exception being "One Heart Missing", an aching unrequited- love song)