1 CENT CD: AFI 'Crash Love' A.F.I DELUXE 2CD 2009

Condition of CD:  Mint Condition DELUXE 2CD VERSION of the album!

While Crash Love is the first AFI record to feature such prevalent sociopolitical and observational perspectives, the darkly personal AFI lyrical strain is distinctly present on standout tracks like "Medicate" and its stark portrait of a user/enabler relationship, as well as throughout the ill fated death ride scenario of "End Transmission." Elsewhere, the newer approach shines on the self-explanatory "Darling I Want To Destroy You," "Veronica Sawyer Smokes" with couples Jade Puget's Smiths-esque guitar signatures with a tale of heartbreak brought on by disappointment with a teen idol, "Beautiful Thieves" with its privileged characters whose actions carry no consequences, and "Too Shy To Scream" which sets yearning, distanced adorations against the backdrop of a drumline-inspired shuffle propelled by Hunter Burgan's bass and Adam Carson's drumming.

Crash Love, it has to be said, features AFI's Puget, Burgan and Carson playing at their most focused and direct. Where Sing The Sorrow and decemberunderground saw the band's compositions increasingly steeped in atmospherics that created a moody-heavy realm that often threatened to engulf the songs, Crash Love is, according to Carson, "the sound of the four of us playing in the same room. It's by no means stripped down but you really hear the band. Sing The Sorrow--and to certain extent decemberunderground--gave us our first experience with big budget recording, which led to some really dense arrangements, electronics, overdubs and so on. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this time we came in with 14 songs we were playing really well and wanted to capture that energy."

One review reads ' I suggest getting the deluxe version from jayandmarie as it contains some excellent b-sides (The "Decemberunderground" b-side, "Fainting Spells," is worth it alone, that would've been one of the best songs on DU!, 100 words is also pretty good, as is Too Late for Gods and Breathing Towers to Heaven, which are only on iTunes. The rest are just ok). Ultimately, your enjoyment of this album comes down to how well you can get over your expectations of what an AFI album should sound like. If you can get past that barrier you'll find one of the greatest rock albums of the decade. '