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Post by areyoureadytojump on Jun 22, 2014 10:21:53 GMT -5
This is not pictured in the Target circular!
Why didn't Ed's label want it in there? Or is Target mad at iTunes?
It's in the Best Buy circular. Sale-priced at $9.99.
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 7:12:56 GMT -5
Ugggh Ed. $14.99 for deluxe at Best Buy and no deluxe physical at Amazon?! What kind of fuckery?! It also came out on Friday on ITUNES, it seems.
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Post by Call Me Crazy on Jun 23, 2014 7:28:39 GMT -5
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 7:49:59 GMT -5
LOL. It's a few pennies cheaper than Best Buy. I love Ed enough to spend the few extra dollars. I didn't even do it for my fave. . Last person I spent 15 dollars on was Beyonka. Edit: The cheapest price for the physical deluxe is 15. Even at Newbury Comics. Wtf?! Even with 4 extra songs, that's pretty ridic.
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Post by DJ General on Jun 23, 2014 11:25:52 GMT -5
Deluxe albums have been like this for a long time. For the past few years CDs have been sale priced at $9.99 and deluxe for major artists are often $14.99 for just a couple of songs to make up for the "Loss" on the 9.99 regular sale.
Also, I got my copy from Amazon today. It was $14.88 shipped no tax/no shipping cost. Came with 17 tracks. All Of The Stars was also included on the album. It comes with a slip box, a sticker on the front and the CD in a hard jewel case. Fantastic value for 14.88
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 11:59:43 GMT -5
Great! As a long-suffering CD purchaser (since the advent of the medium, in fact), I am well aware of the pricing scheme. That said, I have bought quite a few deluxe physical copies and, outside of Beyonce, rarely pay over 12 or 13 bucks, so I was surprised that Ed's was on the higher end of the spectrum. Oh well. I save a lot of money on CDs in general so I'll survive. I'm more troubled that this doesn't appear in Target's circular and appears to only be available online with that particular retailer. People who want the album legally will get it, regardless.
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Post by DJ General on Jun 23, 2014 12:11:29 GMT -5
Looks like there is explicit language on the following tracks:
Sing (shit) Don't (multiple uses of fuck/fucking) The Man (fuck, shit)
That's all I noticed from listening and reading lyrics
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 12:19:42 GMT -5
That's hot. I was worried when I read rumors of censored lyrics in the final version of the songs. It's not like I run around dropping F bombs in real life with any degree of regularity but...I don't like when artists have to censor themselves. It fucks with freedom of speech and artistic license, etc. etc. There's also the fact that "Don't pfff with my love" doesn't have quite the same bite to it.
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Post by Physical on Jun 23, 2014 12:24:14 GMT -5
Ahh I love this album. Ed really came through and will definitely not suffer the sophomore slump. Such a great variety of songs. I know a lot of people felt that it was gonna be all slow acoustic songs, but this album is far from it. I'm in love with "Thinking Out Loud" and "Don't" right now <3. "Afire Love" and "Photographs" are really great too. I hope this album gets some Grammy love as well, cause it really deserves it.
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Post by DJ General on Jun 23, 2014 12:32:38 GMT -5
That's hot. I was worried when I read rumors of censored lyrics in the final version of the songs. It's not like I run around dropping F bombs in real life with any degree of regularity but...I don't like when artists have to censor themselves. It f**ks with freedom of speech and artistic license, etc. etc. There's also the fact that "Don't pfff with my love" doesn't have quite the same bite to it. I meant those were the songs that were censored. There are 3 censored tracks on the album, but they don't really impact listening besides "Don't" which is basically destroyed without the explicit language.
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on Jun 23, 2014 12:35:25 GMT -5
On my way to buy this cd now!
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Post by Live Your Life on Jun 23, 2014 13:40:25 GMT -5
He's on the cover of VIBE Magazine with August Alsina and Mack Wilds. He is the first British male to grace the cover. SPECIAL ED
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 18:07:22 GMT -5
Man, oh man...does "One" hurt but..omg why did he choose to sing it in seriously off-key falsetto the WHOLE song. He would have KILLED it if it was full voice for at least half. Maxwell does stuff like that all the time and I know Ed has soul but that was almost amateurish. The second song is a little rough. I get that he doesn't want to sound pretty all the time but something is off. Maybe I blame the producers. Something about these first two songs don't seem genuine to me. I am going to listen to the rest of the album though and I love Ed more than words so I really hope I come around. There are just so many things I think I would have done differently, both vocally and production-wise, in the first two songs that it's hard to settle into the rest of the album. They should have been placed later on in the middle or something, maybe.
Yup...as suspected, Sing should have been Track 1. A mission statement, if you will. I forgot how much I loved this song.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Jun 23, 2014 18:11:52 GMT -5
I was at a Walmart today. X was not on the shelf. Yet...
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 23, 2014 18:27:34 GMT -5
I am trying to be non-skeptical when listening to this album but it's like some evil outside forces got involved and at the very least, got in his ear and told it was a good idea to record songs like Photograph and proceed to blather about how amazing he thinks it is and how it should be a career song for him. Ed is NOT meant to be multi-tracked. Part of me really wants to enjoy this for what it is: someone swinging for a commercial home run but I am not sure, as an ardent fan, I can support this so openly. I find myself grooving to it musically but then he sings and something feels off. That's not ALWAYS the case and every song has a moment of brilliance, which could leave me to believe I will enjoy this as +'s bastard little brother. Bloodstream has renewed hope for the album, after Nina and Photograph. I am gonna wanna hear acoustic versions of these songs though. I bet they would be better. Also, if he ditched the falsetto. It worked in Sing because Pharrell is a genius but, even with Bloodstream now, I am over it a couple minutes in and it seems to just go on. Tenerife Sea was OK but it seemed like it was trying too hard where the songs on + were more natural and raw. Runaway should be a single, even if it means Pharrell getting another production as a single. Hey, he and Pharrell have GREAT chemistry, apparently, so why not capitalize? Give Pharrell more input on album 3 and do more stripped ballads like on +.
Edit: YESSSSSSSS. Thinking Out Loud. Best song on the album. Raw, soulful, perfect. Great marriage of production and vocal on this one. A Grammy performance, please. The guitar solo. YES YES YES YESSSSSSSSSS. This should be one of his signature songs.
I don't LOVE Afire Love, but I respect it and I can see it meaning a lot to people, so I can't say anything bad about it. Oh...fudge it. Never mind. This song is very nice. It's different and the message is beautiful. Well-played, Ed. If you are going to overproduce something, at least make it sound good and have the lyrics be meaningful.
DEEEEEAD @ Take It Back being treated like a red-headed stepchild. Should have been on the standard edition. It would have broken up the overproduced shill. This song is pretty fly. They were smart to put such quality on the deluxe and make people get to it eventually. Luckily, I'm patient. STOP IT WITH SHIRTSLEEVES. This almost made me cry. Reminds me of why I love this guy. I can't believe the best songs are on the deluxe. I like every single of them. Sneaky devil.
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Post by K. on Jun 24, 2014 6:16:57 GMT -5
Sh*t this is good. :)
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Post by SHOOTER on Jun 24, 2014 16:29:52 GMT -5
Early predictions have X debuting with 175-200k.
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Post by Clauss on Jun 24, 2014 17:41:28 GMT -5
I really like the album :).. I love Sing, Don't and Afire Love.. Bloodstream sounds good too!
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 24, 2014 18:33:47 GMT -5
You can always delete one post and modify the other, fyi.
Well, after more time with the album, it is clear to me that + >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> x. Much like the case of Lana, lightning doesn't strike twice. It's a decent album, but a LOT of magic was lost along the way. Shame.
1. Thinking Out Loud 2. Sing 3. One 4. Shirtsleeves 5. Tenerife Sea 6. Even My Dad Does Sometimes 7. Afire Love 8. All Of The Stars
The others.
6.5/10
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Post by DJ General on Jun 24, 2014 18:55:52 GMT -5
I've been listening to the album over and over. It has to be one of the best follow ups I've heard! I was obsessed with + and X is just incredible. He took everything good about + and worked on it for X and made it even better. Favorite album of 2014 so far and one of the best follow ups in history
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Post by Taylor. on Jun 24, 2014 19:02:24 GMT -5
It's not as good as his debut, but he kind of set an impossibly high bar with that album. I still can--and frequently do--listen to that masterpiece from start to finish. So while there's nothing as good as "Give Me Love" on here, but there's definitely still some highlights.
My favourites are probably: "Thinking Out Loud," "Tenerife Sea," "Runaway," and "Afire Love."
I'm not a fan of "The Man" or "Take It Back" at all.
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 25, 2014 5:03:49 GMT -5
I definitely like Take It Back more than You Need Me from + and The Man from x.
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Post by Gravity. on Jun 25, 2014 10:49:30 GMT -5
This is a really good second album, but it is not on the same level as +. That is sort of unfair, though, because + is one of my favorite albums period. I'm still getting acquainted with the individual tracks, but as of now I would say my favorites are "Thinking Out Loud," "Nina," "Sing," and "Bloodstream." I have not heard the deluxe tracks yet, so I can't say either way on them.
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Post by Queen of Insomnia. on Jun 25, 2014 12:19:11 GMT -5
Thank you… Some of you, finally told the TRUTH about this album, because for a moment, I got the impression I was listening to completely different LP. Let me begin by saying that I was low-key rooting for Ed Sheeran for a very long time. I consider his debut to be my great surprise, one of the best debuts of recent years. Proving once again that music has a bright fututre. I always treated him as a serious Artist, and this for me is really closely associated with IMPROVEMENT. I’d like to be able to listen to albums back to back and be able to say: OK With his next release he improved this, and that. He’s growing as an Artist… Such albums don’t have to be filler-free, or perfect masterpieces. But it’s always nice to be able to spot the difference. It also shows how serious they are about their music, imo.
I don’t even know how many times I’ve listened to X trying to convice myself that It’s better that it actually is. But with each listen it became only more apparent that his 2nd album doesn’t even stand a Chance with his debut. But this really shouldn’t be so obvious. Especially not with someone like him. I really believed that he was capable of more… This alone, makes me very disappointed and underwhelmed w/ this release. On this LP there are songs that I just skip, that didn’t happen w/ +. I also don’t like that he overuses falsetto: after several listens it just gives me headache more than anything. It’s just an OK 2nd album for me it would’ve been just fine for someone like Olly Murs… But keeping in mind it’s Ed we’re talking about it’s simply not good enough. It’s one of these cases where a shorter tracklist would do wonders… But nope. I got 16 songs… for the half of which I don’t even really care about. Shame…
My ranking:
LOVE/LIKE I See Fire Don't Thinking Out Loud Bloodstream Nina I’m a Mess
TOLERATE Sing All Of The Stars Even My Dad Does Sometimes Photograph Shirtleeves Tenerife Sea Runaway
DISLIKE/DON’T CARE ABOUT: The Man One Take It Back Afire Love
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Post by Rocky on Jun 25, 2014 15:49:25 GMT -5
Oh so I finally got to listen to it. I was a bit skeptical, because even though I adore some tracks on "+", the album was too heavy for me if that makes sense. And a bit boring, I must admit. This, on the other hand is consistently interesting and the songs have different character (see "Sing", "Don't", "Photograph" or "Tenerife Sea"). I agree with Taylor about the lack a song as good as "Give Me Love", but God, we can't expect him to write 10 GML's one after the other. There are some singles here for example "The Man".
I would give it a 9/10, on par with "+".
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Post by 14887fan on Jun 25, 2014 16:54:13 GMT -5
"One," "Thinking Out Loud," and "Afire Love" are the only 3 I love. The rest were just 'meh' for me, which upset me because + was phenomenal. Here's hoping it'll be a grower.
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 25, 2014 17:09:57 GMT -5
Thank you… Some of you, finally told the TRUTH about this album, because for a moment, I got the impression I was listening to completely different LP. Let me begin by saying that I was low-key rooting for Ed Sheeran for a very long time. I consider his debut to be my great surprise, one of the best debuts of recent years. Proving once again that music has a bright fututre. I always treated him as a serious Artist, and this for me is really closely associated with IMPROVEMENT. I’d like to be able to listen to albums back to back and be able to say: OK With his next release he improved this, and that. He’s growing as an Artist… Such albums don’t have to be filler-free, or perfect masterpieces. But it’s always nice to be able to spot the difference. It also shows how serious they are about their music, imo. I don’t even know how many times I’ve listened to X trying to convice myself that It’s better that it actually is. But with each listen it became only more apparent that his 2nd album doesn’t even stand a Chance with his debut. But this really shouldn’t be so obvious. Especially not with someone like him. I really believed that he was capable of more… This alone, makes me very disappointed and underwhelmed w/ this release. On this LP there are songs that I just skip, that didn’t happen w/ +. What kind of ****Flawless post?? It's like...we are the same person. Scary as fuq, tbqh. Yeah. I refuse to make excuses for someone I respected so much and who is capable of wringing human tears from a coldhearted, yet hopeless romantic, like me. All the signs of greatness evident in his debut should, by all rights, lead one to believe he was capable of even greater. I will also not settle for overwrought, overthought, but ultimately undercooked, from someone on his level. He shoulda stepped it up and raised the bar even higher. Instead, he chose to wallow in sub-par miasma that is beneath him. Does this mean I will run over his CD with a tractor trailer? Of course not. But, the fact that I'm not itching to repeat songs speaks volumes. Your dislike of One did not escape me tho, madeline. I forgive you for this minor transgression.
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Post by surfy on Jun 25, 2014 17:22:06 GMT -5
I LOVED the first album, but I also agree that some songs sounded similar, and I got bored with some, but overall it was an AMAZING album that I still listen to a lot!
This album I don't see getting that much love from me, but it is still a really good album, Sheeran rarely disappoints me! :)
Ranking: 1. Thinking Out Loud 2. Don't 3. The Man 4. Afire Love 5. I'm a Mess 6. Bloodstream 7. I See Fire 8. Nina 9. Sing 10. Take It Back 11. Runaway 12. Photograph 13. Tenerife Sea 14. One 15. Even My Dad Does Sometimes 16. Shirtsleeves
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Post by Devil Marlena Nylund on Jun 25, 2014 17:42:10 GMT -5
I listened to it once so far. It sounded good first impression-wise. I'm so swamped with new albums from the last few weeks that I need to catch up on so it might take me more time to be able to get acquainted with this one but I'm looking for it to it so that's a good sign.
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Post by Active Aggressive on Jun 25, 2014 19:34:02 GMT -5
Dat ranking tho...
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