Let Devy do what Devy wants to do. If he wants to make a sequel album he can, if he wanted to make a super pop album he could it's HIS music. Also I'd agree the reason Dev hasn't had much mainstream success is due to lack of exposure, if MTV would've at least played the storm video I imagine Accelerated Evolution would've done at least a bit better. A question though was the storm video sent anywhere else? I mean over here in Australia MTV isn't the only music video show, something like RAGE on free to air probally would've played it, they play everything else.

There's other small underground shows and other channels that you can get with high cost satellite TV and such, but for normal people like me it's MTV, MTV2, or VH1 (which is owned by the same people), so for normal people MTV pretty much runs everything.

I think that when people talks "recycling", they're not talking about a certain sound or style, but more about depth. I was kinda dissapointed in AE, because I didn't seem to find as much to discover as I did in listening to Terria or Infinity.
To me, AE still is an honest album in that it represents Devin as a person, but it's more shallow in that it doesn't "explore him" in the way that the two aforementioned albums do. If that makes any sense?

I think that when people talks "recycling", they're not talking about a certain sound or style, but more about depth. I was kinda dissapointed in AE, because I didn't seem to find as much to discover as I did in listening to Terria or Infinity.
To me, AE still is an honest album in that it represents Devin as a person, but it's more shallow in that it doesn't "explore him" in the way that the two aforementioned albums do. If that makes any sense?

It sure does. And I agree on AE being (seemingly?) more shallow, but my own taste is not always an obligatory matter of desire or need to discover that much depth. Don't get me wrong, most of the time it is, otherwise I couldn't possibly consider myself a Devy fan. But just on those occasions when I'm not in the mood for loads of depth and dimension, AE is just the place to be for me... as far as the DTB discography is concerned.

Which is just the reason why I can't tell if AE is the best or the worst in those polls. I find AE kind of sways between (sort of) "disappointing" and "just the right thing" really. As it was intended to be more accessible it sure does a perfect job at that, and it I think that if "more accessible" was the idea behind AE it's actually still surprisingly deep.

The only trouble I have with AE is that over time (and particularly after picking up the Christeen EP before Christmas!) it has become the rarest of things... a DTB album I skip tracks on!!

I don't mean to sound like a fanboy (cos I don't actually own any merchandise apart from a 10yr old HAARHT long sleeve). But I do speak as someone who owns practically every CD the dude's had something to do with - from Vai thru to Devlab. For some reason though, I just don't seem to be able to let this one play through.

I almost always skip Random Analysis because even though I like it once it's got going, I just don't like the song enough to keep happliy listening along, when I know full well that I could be listening to Deadhead. SO I SKIP THE TRACK!! Wha'???!

The only other time this happens is when I want to get straight to the action on Terria. Olives and Mountain are probably slightly less listened to because Earth Day feels like the official album opening - like Dev pretty much admits on the CDRom extras.

Does this make Terria a failure? HELL NO!

Hey, does anyone else dare admitting they skip to Earth Day too?

So I'd say that even though AE's got it's weak spots (which is a rare thing for a Dev album), it's probably only compared to the stupidly high standards he's attained in previous works. Let's face it, most people probably doubt he'll ever truely top OM or Terria and SYL City.

Besides, it's not like he's forever turned his back on huge, deep music. Listen to Alien! If Human can be the "pleasant" equivalent of Alien in terms of depth, diversity, groove, melody and just plain old wackiness, then I say AE was a success just because it shows how far reaching his creative boundaries are.

Oh yeah, and I really don't get why AE's being attacked for having no depth when Christeen is surely one of the lightest, most potentially mainstream tracks he's written. I'm not saying it's bad, just that noone criticises it! Plus who can say Away is a pop song?

And finally, what's wrong with easy going catchy songs once in a while? QOTSA kick ass too, and they piss catchy riffs! As long as the band have integrity and just do what do regardless (in that respect Dev and Josh Homme have definitely got something in common) then I'll give anything a chance, because that attitude will always shine through any artists music and make it stand out... Metal or Pop or whatever.

I love AE and think its pretty deep. I have analyzed this album and it has had MANY listens. I find it to be a VERY strong release and is one of my favorites. It is just so beautifull. Its a great cd that makes devin very vulnerable (feelings im talking here) as far as metalheads go. He does things on this cd that i would be embarassed to say and shit. Its just so emotional to me. It hits home so hard that i cant seem to ever put it down. IT has been a key cd in my collection and i hope it stays thaty way. Its my chill cd when im sick of all the metal and its the cd that i can even llisten to even when im in the heaviest of moods. Its one of those cds that i love so much that i can listen to it no matter what mood im in. I hope my ramblings made a little sense, but its just a little bit of a retaliation to anyone that has said anything slightly bad about AE whatsoever. I think is beats out Infinity, and is dead tied with OM. Terria is on a whole different level and im still unsure if i like it better or not as much as AE/OM stuff. Maybe its slightly trailing, idk.