Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) {Prescriptions PRESHBCD05}
Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) {Prescriptions PRESHBCD05}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 185 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 69 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 48 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Andrew Falkous & Prescriptions | RESHBCD05
Rock / Indie Rock / Post-Punk
Review Summary: An artist at another crossroads proves that he still has some ideas to offer and builds an inconsistent album around them.
Christian Fitness is the (sort-of-) solo project by Future of the Left’s eccentric frontman, Andy Falkous. Love Letters in the Age of Steam treads ground that should be familiar enough for fans of Andy that are aware of his past works, but it’s also got a couple of natural evolutions that have been a long time coming. The album has a somewhat unfortunate tendency that is common for artist’s of Falkous’s caliber in that it exists in a state of simultaneous progression and regression.
The release starts in a comfortable place with an opener that has Future-of-the-Left-esques a plenty. As the arena noise rock’s chorus chants “you’re probably next”, a very energetic, but stiff guitar lick plods things along, and the vocals work their way up to bloody murder levels. The next song, “All Ghost’s to the Medicine Counter Four’s” riff sounds like a noise rock answer to “About a Girl” by Nirvana. After that, the album makes its first obvious misstep with “Middleyurt” in which we’re given a song that tries its best to be chaotic and shocking with Falco repeating near jibberish that alternates between squeaky mumbling and screaming at the top of his lungs. As the guitar strums more and more frantically, drums pop in and out, but it feels so calculated and planned that it negates its desire for chaos. Pair this with its short length and it becomes 100% filler. While there are not any more examples of pure filler material on the album, this tendency unfortunately does not die out here. Many more moments to follow give a similar feel of a sort of failed attempt at recapturing glory. It’s not to say that the album has nothing fresh to offer, but it does not come from Falco’s reheated, noisy leftovers.
Lyrically, the album lives up to Falco’s gold standard, and even sees a bit of continued sharpening. He still offers his almost trademarked harsh life truths, and socially relevant jabs through a screen of top tier satirical humor. The Good Sword which begins with a fairly new experimental habit that Falco has been toying with of numerous layered riffs sees a good example of a brilliant Falco-ism. Over a simultaneously bouncy and dark riff, he sings “Meet with your darkest fears. Lie with them in their dead dimensions. Everything should be happening now.” Its cryptic nature gives it a few interpretations. From one angle it could be seen as a sarcastic view of a generation that feels everything should be immediate and will put themselves in unnecessary danger to make what they want happen faster. From another angle, it could be a positive outlook that says your darkest fears are indeed dead and it’s time to move on.
What finally steals the album though are the poppier, slower ballads. “Standard Issue Grief”, “The Harder it Hits”, and “The Psychic Reader” stand taller than their peer songs. The latter two even give into a synth pop flavor that is done in a surprisingly expert fashion. Falco has on more than one occasion played with this style in certain Future of the Left songs as in “Beneath the Waves an Ocean”, “French Lessons”, and “Hey Precious”. All of these songs slowly revealed to the listener that Falco has a sensitive side that has just as much to say as his sarcastic, angry, and loud side. In fact, these songs prove themselves to be highlights of FOTL’s discography. On Love Letters in the Age of Steam, Falco proves that his artistic future depends on songs like “ The Psychic Reader”. It’s a side of himself that he absolutely has to show more of, because there is more to show. His anthemic style of noise rock has served him well thus far, but it is beginning to wear thin. However, he clearly has more to offer. This release itself has plenty to offer, but it is too comfortable in too many spots. The points at which it challenges Falco’s musical sensibilities is where it shines and these moments should be much more frequent.
Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) {Prescriptions PRESHBCD05}
Tracklist:
01. Upset Army (2:10)
02. All Ghosts to Medicine Counter Four (3:24)
03. Middleyurt (1:05)
04. The Good Sword (3:20)
05. 3 Speed Limiters (2:59)
06. Standard Issue Grief (3:22)
07. Love Letters in the Age of Steam (1:59)
08. The Harder It Hits (3:25)
09. Who is Iron God? (2:39)
10. The Psychic Reader (4:37)
Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015
EAC extraction logfile from 18. September 2015, 12:12
Christian Fitness / Love Letters in the Age of Steam
Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-224BB Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -8" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:09.44 | 0 | 9718
2 | 2:09.44 | 3:24.01 | 9719 | 25019
3 | 5:33.45 | 1:05.31 | 25020 | 29925
4 | 6:39.01 | 3:20.11 | 29926 | 44936
5 | 9:59.12 | 2:58.70 | 44937 | 58356
6 | 12:58.07 | 3:21.39 | 58357 | 73470
7 | 16:19.46 | 1:59.01 | 73471 | 82396
8 | 18:18.47 | 3:25.00 | 82397 | 97771
9 | 21:43.47 | 2:38.52 | 97772 | 109673
10 | 24:22.24 | 4:37.37 | 109674 | 130485
Track 1
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Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\02 - All Ghosts to Medicine Counter Four.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 3
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\03 - Middleyurt.wav
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Extraction speed 2.3 X
Track quality 99.8 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 4
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\04 - The Good Sword.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\05 - 3 Speed Limiters.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 6
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\06 - Standard Issue Grief.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.3 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 7
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\07 - Love Letters in the Age of Steam.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\08 - The Harder it Hits.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 6.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\09 - Who is Iron God.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC F4828CBF
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\10 - The Psychic Reader.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 6.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: D5Yu.zT7my9QWIB9I9ki.NyYvno-] found
Submit result: D5Yu.zT7my9QWIB9I9ki.NyYvno- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
2 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
3 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
4 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
5 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
6 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
7 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
8 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
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10 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum 613FFA36C1B6B1EB5BC73773309D1E5C6BA1D65C10F5257EEA9A44FAE37C8506 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 18. September 2015, 12:12
Christian Fitness / Love Letters in the Age of Steam
Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-224BB Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -8" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:09.44 | 0 | 9718
2 | 2:09.44 | 3:24.01 | 9719 | 25019
3 | 5:33.45 | 1:05.31 | 25020 | 29925
4 | 6:39.01 | 3:20.11 | 29926 | 44936
5 | 9:59.12 | 2:58.70 | 44937 | 58356
6 | 12:58.07 | 3:21.39 | 58357 | 73470
7 | 16:19.46 | 1:59.01 | 73471 | 82396
8 | 18:18.47 | 3:25.00 | 82397 | 97771
9 | 21:43.47 | 2:38.52 | 97772 | 109673
10 | 24:22.24 | 4:37.37 | 109674 | 130485
Track 1
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\01 - Upset Army.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3159CADB
Copy CRC 3159CADB
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\02 - All Ghosts to Medicine Counter Four.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A538BDC5
Copy CRC A538BDC5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\03 - Middleyurt.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Track quality 99.8 %
Test CRC BCC8EB29
Copy CRC BCC8EB29
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\04 - The Good Sword.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 65966555
Copy CRC 65966555
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\05 - 3 Speed Limiters.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 1DC5EADF
Copy CRC 1DC5EADF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\06 - Standard Issue Grief.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.3 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 1B9322F3
Copy CRC 1B9322F3
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\07 - Love Letters in the Age of Steam.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 83FA280C
Copy CRC 83FA280C
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\08 - The Harder it Hits.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 6.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 084B7375
Copy CRC 084B7375
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\09 - Who is Iron God.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC F4828CBF
Copy CRC F4828CBF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename F:\EAC Rips\Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) [FLAC]\10 - The Psychic Reader.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 6.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 21777C80
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: D5Yu.zT7my9QWIB9I9ki.NyYvno-] found
Submit result: D5Yu.zT7my9QWIB9I9ki.NyYvno- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
2 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
3 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
4 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
5 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
6 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
7 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
8 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
9 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
10 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum 613FFA36C1B6B1EB5BC73773309D1E5C6BA1D65C10F5257EEA9A44FAE37C8506 ====
Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) {Prescriptions PRESHBCD05}
Christian Fitness - Love Letters in the Age of Steam (2015) {Prescriptions PRESHBCD05}
===