Collins And Streiss – “The Balcony Above”
Collins And Streiss – “The Balcony Above” – Single Review
How the heck as it been nearly six years since the last time we had Collins And Streiss on these pages of ours? I swear one day I’m only gonna blink and I’ll wake up in an entirely different decade.
In a way, that’s a little bit about what the new C&S single “The Balcony Above” is about. It’s about the distance of memories…it’s about nostalgia…it’s about coming alive when you rediscover something you thought you’d long forgotten. I can appreciate these things. While I might still be blessed with a mind that is like this gigantic file cabinet that pretty much knows where every song I’ve ever heard is in, I’m also keenly aware that it can’t stay organized forever. I even have the occasional day where a name of a song will fully escape me and all I can really remember is that the band that started with a certain letter, and so far, I’ve been able to look things up that way when I need to. Which is every single time mind you…if I’ve forgotten something, even temporarily, you better believe I went about turning over every stone until I figured out what the missing piece of the puzzle was. Anyhow. I’ve long believed that music is one of the hardest things to forget, and can actually be a tool to remember other things in your life. Like, test this out for yourself right now – what’s one of the oldest songs you can remember liking? Now answer this – how many other things do you remember about your life because of that? You see? We attach memories to the music we listen to, and the songs we’ve heard become a permanent part of the soundtrack to our lives. Every time we hear’em afterwards, it’s like stepping into a time capsule.
To me, that’s the magic you’ll find at the core of “The Balcony Above,” which I think, is actually partly a sweet tribute to all the music that has made them the band that they’ve become over time. It has been a while since I felt like Collins And Streiss were at full strength, but that’s exactly where you’ll find them on this latest song…perhaps at their very best when it comes right down to it. I’ll put it to you this way – I’ve always enjoyed what they’ve come up with, and can still recall singles like “Freedom’s Captive” in my mind as I write this, but “Carleen” was probably the last track where I felt like they brought out their very best, and that was some time ago now. So to hear things come out this strong for our Canadian brothers from the east, is truly wonderful, and confirmation that they’ve still got that something special, you know? I hear a song like “The Balcony Above” and feel like Collins And Streiss have many more years in front of them…this is the kind of song that genuinely confirms they’ve still got plenty in the tank.
You could put “The Balcony Above” right under the microscope from every angle, and you’ll see that it has clearly been created with completely bulletproof DNA. It’s just great songwriting y’all, with a level of spectacular execution to match. It’s relatable, even if you haven’t reached the age where you can fully grasp what this concept is all about yet, you probably still know you’re gonna get there one day, and “The Balcony Above” will have you hoping you have a similar experience with music yourself at that time when it comes. Imagine being in an apartment below someone else, or even just having your windows open on a summer night, and then a song you can faintly make out drifts in on the wind, reawakening your senses, rejuvenating your memories, and reminding you WHO YOU ARE. I’m tellin’ ya folks…music is like the arch-enemy of Alzheimer’s…it’s the most effective combat tool we have at our disposal to preserve everything you want to remember as best we can. I’ll talk a bit more about this kind of stuff when we play “The Balcony Above” on the next episode of the SBS Podcast too, so make sure that you tune into that, because I’ll have plenty more to say about how remarkable this song truly is. For now, suffice it to say, I feel like these young gentlemen have ticked every box for a significant win, and that they’ve put out one of the very best tracks you’re going to hear within their own catalog.
There’s just so much to like and/or love here. The vocals are stellar, the musicianship is inspired, and the writing is purely fantastic. You wanna talk about nostalgia? Lemme tell you, there’s no better way to highlight how powerful that feeling is, than by directly sounding like something else you remember. Straight up, Collins And Streiss sound like Fountains Of Wayne on “The Balcony Above” – and that band, has been out of commission for more than a decade, but there’s no doubt that they too had based their entire sound around the precise types of music C&S are singing about here. Sadly, we lost one of their core members of FOW in 2020 when Adam Schlesinger passed away, but word on the street is that they’ve cobbled together a new lineup and they’re going to play a few shows this year. Anyhow…I bring this up for several reasons – the main one being that Adam also played a pivotal role in crafting the music you love from the movie That Thing You Do!, which was all about capitalizing on our fondness for a certain style of melody and, you guessed it – our nostalgia for the past. “It comes from a better time, something that seems almost forgotten,” as Collins And Streiss will tell ya. Look…I’m never gonna be the guy that’s gonna tell you ‘there’s no good music out there today’ like so many people who aren’t plugged in like to grumble – because that’s just not the case – but we do all have an era of our own that we connect to, and both Fountains Of Wayne & Collins And Streiss have been happy to celebrate that fact through the sound and style of the music they’ve made during their own time.
“The Balcony Above” is a toast & tribute to the time where Collins And Streiss formed their own unique & unbreakable bond with music, which has clearly stayed with them throughout their entire lifetimes – and I love it! The rhythm is great, the vocals are spot-on, and the addition of saxophone was nothing short of a genius move. The guitar solo might even steal the show for myself personally folks, and when considering how many other great things are going on from the backing vocals to the attention to detail they’ve put into this whole track and its illustrious layers of instrumentation…that’s high praise without a doubt. Highly impressed with this latest track from C&S…I really do think that it’s their best to-date.
Find out more about Collins And Streiss from their official pace at Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/collins_and_streiss
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