Thrice – If We Could Only See Us Now (CD/DVD)

Let me start off plain and simple and state for the record: I don’t like Thrice. I’ve never been a fan of the, and even found them somewhat boring. Every once in a while there would be a song by them that I would moderately enjoy, but overall, there wasn’t much that could get me to really like them. I really couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. But having never listened to an entire album from the band, I thought I should check out their newly released CD/DVD If We Could Only See Us Now; thinking that even if I don’t like the CD, maybe the DVD would turn me into a fan (it happened before with Against Me!‘s DVD).

First of all, I popped in the CD half of this release. The nine track album isn’t exactly new, as you can get every single song on here from another album the band has released in its 6-year career, although most are rare songs and hard to get. The fist two were off the vinyl release of The Artist In The Ambulance, there’s four live songs (three of which are acoustic), a B-side form The Illusion Of Safety and two songs from compilations. Listening to the nine track album, I was successfully album to finally make a conclusion about my feelings for the band: I like them acoustically, not electronically. The three acoustic songs,Stare At The Sun, The Artist In The Ambulance, and Cold Cash, Colder Hearts are all amazing, but I once again find the other tracks to be much more boring and I still can’t see their attraction.

But really, if you are buying this release, then you are most likely getting it for the DVD portion of it. The hour and forty-five minute DVD is a straight forward look into the life and history of Thrice. Starting from how they formed, with clips from their first ever life show, to recording their albums, finally getting a bus, getting signed to Island Records, playing festivals in Europe and touring Japan, doing in store signings and playing at the opening of the Apple Store in Santa Monica, and much more. There’s a little profile on all the band members, has Riley screwing around with his video camera when he’s bored. It is a nice look at the blossoming band’s career, and you are sure to learn something new about them that you didn’t before. They have interviews with all the important people to help make the documentary well rounded. The DVD talks to the band members, label representatives, family members, friends, producers, managers, and more. It’s not quite as complete as the Against Me! DVD was (there they also interviewed fans), but still a solid look at the band. For fans of the band, this will be an interesting look, but for casual fans, this isn’t a DVD that will blow you away.

The image and sound quality of the DVD has its ups and downs. During some interviews, especially the ones at the Chain Reaction in Anaheim, the image is really grainy and dark. It doesn’t really effect the viewing pleasure in anyway as you soon get used to it, but they couldn’t found a slightly more lighted area for some of the interviews.

Overall, If We Could Only See Us Now didn’t really change my view on the band. I’m still not a fan, but I do like their acoustic stuff. And although it’s definitely not the best band documentary I’ve seen, it does get its point across well and big fans will definitely enjoy it.