Less volatile indeed! One has to wonder whether Sunday's Bears win could have been achieved with Kordell Stewart, but one needn't mill over it, because a win is a win is a win.

The new Shins CD, Chutes Too Narrow, is excellent by the way. Critics are claiming O Inverted World marked the beginning of concious thought for humanity, though, and that this is just a nice follow-up. I don't remember the universe getting knocked to the floor by the last album, but the "sophomore slump" is like juicy red meat in criticism. I don't think there's any REAL "sophomore slump", the same kind of approaches used following a successful first are the same as those used following a second, third, fourth, etc... One magazine I read said, essentially, "some bands clone their original sound, some bands rebel against their original sound, and others mature/evolve". Who are we trying to kid here? It is no great feat nor surprise that bands must have their second record sound like something. There is no mysterious trend in how bands make their decision, they just do it and the results are as numerous as second albums themselves. The whole idea of the slump needs to be abandoned as a viable introduction/structure for a piece of criticism.

It's an introduction much too steeped in the business of music. Though we've been trained to care about the marketability of music, I don't think the album itself cares too much.