Sidders

Have to agree with you there re: The Killers. 'Sam's Town' was simply perfection. 'Day & Age', my love for 'Human' aside, was poor and over-produced and 'Battle Born' was simply terrible! It was obviously a Killers record but it felt like The Killers do mullet rock ('The Rising Tide' has to be the worst song they've ever recorded). I can't help but love 'The Way It Was' though. I'm not hugely a fan of Ed Sheeran either, though he's a stonking live performer. His pre-'+' music was good and definitely had a bit more gutsiness to it. His album though ran a bit like watered down James Morrison...

Some alright songs were released in 2012. I've made a list of ten of them, including some that I think are a little bit better than I give them credit for. AWOLNATION - 'Kill Your Heroes' (from: 'Megalithic Symphony') AWOLNATION are an odd band. One minute they're happy enough screaming out erratic, borderline psychologically-damaged odes to pyromania and suffering as on 'Burn It Down' and 'Soul Wars' and the next they're plodding along to pop-lite melodies like 'Jump On My Shoulders', complete with la-la-la-ing post-choruses. 'Kill Your Heroes' is a brief reprieve with the extremities of their apparent dissociative identity, happily straddling the fence between throat-shredding wailing and infectious melodic catchiness. The lyrics may come across as too eager to scan as modern-age poetry ("Never let your fear decide your fate/I say you kill your heroes and fly") but the aloof references to carving your own path in life and breaking free from the shadows of idols doesn't stop 'Kill Your Heroes' becoming an easy entry point into the rest of their music. Whilst it's not out and out their best track, it's in this list because it whets the appetite to try out some of their other, better tracks. Other songs worth listening to: 'Wake Up', 'Soul Wars', 'Sail'. 7/10 The Sound of Arrows - 'Conquest' (from: 'Voyage') It's never easy to write about this duo, but in short, they're Swedish; they do pop music, and they're ****ing brilliant at it. Ambition and wide-eyed wonder illuminate the red velvet layers of synth-brass on ‘Conquest’, a song focusing on the age-old theme of achieving the impossible and rising against the odds. There's a timeless feel to Storm's lyrics and his featherweight voice; something ardent for accomplishment and celebration that suitably fills every available space it can reach. The song's production is flawless, packed with ideas and subliminal layers but never once feeling over-bearing. Though poppier and nowhere near a 'smooth'-sounding as the majority of the rest of the stunning album 'Voyage' , 'Conquest's tones and textures are rendered beautifully and almost feel alive, billowing gently as the pastel-coloured, metallic melodies translate as softly appealing and commanding at the same time. Other songs worth listening to: 'Nova', 'Wonders', 'There Is Still Hope'. 10/10 Imagine Dragons - 'It's Time' (from: 'Night Visions') 'It's Time' is the flagship song for Las Vegas-born Imagine Dragons, effortlessly encapsulating everything their music is. Despite being active since 2008 and releasing an EP every year since 2009 (with full LP 'Night Visions' released earlier this year), they've only very recently had some recognition in the UK with 'Radioactive' and 'Hear Me', two songs which barely hit the Top 40 and exist in two different genres that themselves are wildly different from the chiming, stomping, sonic celebration of 'It's Time'. But don’t think that means they’re the type of band who require an Apple product or a low-budget film about coming of age to provide the soundtrack for in order to surface to popular consciousness. Much of 'It's Time's success as a song can be attributed to the band’s ear for a killer hook and lead singer Dan Reynolds’ grounded poetic lyricism, the result being that even though they sing into unpredictable, shifting abysses, the opulence of their music still burns with the expanse and intimacy of a candlelit dinner in the Nevada desert. Other songs worth listening to: 'Tiptoe', 'Working Man', 'Hear Me'. 10/10 St. Lucia - 'All Eyes On You' (from: 'St. Lucia') This one's an interesting one. It sounds like something whipped off a B-side released by an off-the-radar artist in the 80's. It's also been used in Hollister & Co. advertising and probably soundtracks the wet dreams of the type of people who eat lentil soup and Instagram packets of fig rolls. St. Lucia aren't ever going to take off and the hipsters will like that, as will I because a lot of everything else that St. Lucia have put their name to could pass as lullabies for the indie market. However, as a momentary blip of redemption, the reserved tone and almost blase delivery to the lyrics on 'All Eyes On You' turn what could otherwise pail as a slow-dancing borefest into a certifiably palatable mix of indie dweebness and knitwear-clad passion. Other songs worth listening to: 'September', 'We Got It Wrong'. 6/10 The Killers - 'The Way It Was' (from: 'Battle Born') Let's be brutally honest: this isn't really a Killers song. It's the closest you'll get to a Killers song on new album 'Battle Born' though (unless you consider 'Day & Age' as the pinnacle of The Killers' trademark indie-quirk fanfare, in which case 'Flesh and Bone' has a good chance of buoying the rest of a poor album for you). But whilst the lukewarm 'Runaways' and sleeper-hit 'Miss Atomic Bomb's only distinctions as Killers songs is Brandon's voice, 'Deadlines and Commitments' carries on the theme of family issues and personal identity crises as heard on 'Sam's Town' as vividly as ever. The song's gentle guitar canter and minor key gloominess serve to establish hackneyed lyrics as an empathetic plea for mutual understanding, supported by a side-helping of wishful thinking, which brings a genuine warmth to the song. The gentle motif at the end of every line marries perfectly with some of the best lyrics on the album. Other songs worth listening to (from 'Battle Born'): 'Deadlines and Commitments', 'Flesh & Bone', 'Miss Atomic Bomb'. 9/10 King Charles - 'Lady Percy' (from: 'LoveBlood') Round about 2010, popular chart music shifted into two very different gravitational fields. One has, sadly, prevailed till this day and involved barely-talented label puppets diving headlong into the latest musical technologies and the other, which has dwindled of late, involved returning to rootsier, acoustic sounds. Among the acts to have been picked up on this wave were Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, Damien Rice, and Noah And The Whale. Birth-child of Prince and Adam Ant, King Charles, was nowhere to be seen though, but that's probably a good thing because after the promising 'Lady Percy' and 'The Brightest Lights', the rest of début album 'LoveBlood' ran like a hipster's paradise, even including comparisons of a loved one to the wax in his mustache. 'Lady Percy' runs dangerously close to making such declarations of devotion to make Ed Sheeran blush, but the pacing, the bluegrass influences and the rustic overtones from the breezy instrumentation of guitars, banjos, steel drums and gospel choirs are combined in a rare stroke of breezy and summery genius for the bequiffed hipster. Other songs worth listening to: 'The Brightest Lights' (featuring Mumford & Sons), 'Mississippi Isabel'. 9/10 Aiden Grimshaw - 'This Island' (from: 'Misty Eye') Imagine Moby and Gary Jules had a musical offspring and you'll land right on the money with the sound of 'This Island'. A lot of sulky X Factor runner-up Aiden Grimshaw's music revolves around the same effortless groove and smouldering intensity. After X Factor, Grimshaw disappeared and came back a year and a half later with 'Misty Eye', which serves as just about the gloomiest, lest conventional post-X Factor release ever. 'This Island' is a swirling, hi-fi journey through suicidal thoughts and psychotic murmurs backed by the monochromatic of a Jarrad Rodgers production. Throughout the thematically lead-heavy track about being isolated and cut off from everyone, Grimshaw demands attention and empathy to the point listening to a whole album of such tracks can become one hell of a challenge. But here, Aiden provides a relatable understanding and a fearful reverence of the maddening loneliness that we all strive to evade. Other songs worth listening to: 'Hold On', 'Is This Love?'. 7/10 Ed Sheeran - 'Give Me Love' (from: '+') Another soppy one, and from someone who fervently speaks about his hatred for Ed Sheeran's acoustic guitar-wielding bellendery, 'Give Me Love' does something completely unprecedented. Whilst the usual Sheeran simpering is still as prevalent as ever, he's stripped back the awkward metaphors and overly acute observations about love's little trivialities; the cups of tea, the strawberries and the tweeting birds aren't mentioned here; things may get a bit grisly when in the chorus he rolls out the lyrics "We'll play hide and seek to turn this around", but it's worth learning to love it as the song's climax displays the maturer prowess that seems all too rare in Sheeran since the release of '+'. The song slowly transforms from just another Ed Sheeran ballad with improved lyrics into a borderline euphoric flood of passion; the intensity cranked up and Sheeran's vocals impressively pulling off desperation without feeling as cringe-worthy as the thought of him screaming "Love me" might first seem. Other songs worth listening to: 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' (version from the 'Small Change EP'). 8/10 M83 - 'Wait' (from: 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming') If you've not heard M83's 'Midnight City' by now then you've been living in a cave. Most only know it by it's effervescent synths and that hook, but it's use on advertising campaigns and throughout the 2012 Olympic Games coverage should be enough for you to have had it ingrained by now. Follow-up singles 'Reunion' and 'Wait' haven't enjoyed the low-key success of 'Midnight City', but it's not big surprise. 'Wait' is an ambient track, slowly moving through it's duration and occasionally interrupted by Anthony Gonzalez's vocals, at first softly accompanying the delicate strumming until the chorus approaches and he cries with tangible emotion over the spaciousness of the precision-formed production. This song's final two minutes are like musical gold dust. Other songs worth listening to: 'We Own The Sky', 'Midnight City', ''Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun'. 10/10 There's plenty of other contenders to be fair, and these are by no means the best 2012 had to offer, so don't be boring and complain about chart music be uninteresting. Go find your own music and put Capital FM out of a job.

Literally cannot get enough of Imagine Dragons now. 'Night Visions' was one hell of an album. The Deluxe tracks 'Working Man' and 'Fallen' are just brilliant too. I posted the video to 'It's Time' earlier in this thread so here's another of there songs; it's the kind of song which took me a while to get to like but now it's converted me it's so hard to not smile when you hear the chorus.

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Marauder's Mayhem (4) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (6) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Marauder's -1 Oblivion +1

Ah sorry Josh - I was meant to include in my post that you'd shown me that! Yeah I remember now because I couldn't find it for the life of me and I thought you were taking the piss. And I've seen a few other sources that still say the next large coaster will arrive in 2015 but these didn't seem quite as official as these documents, which came from Thorpe/Runnymede Borough Council themselves, I believe?

I thought it was common knowledge now that the 2015 coaster won't be built until 2016, owing to Thorpe's attention shifting to their "accommodation strategy", starting next season with Snoozebox next season and finishing with the completed hotel in 2015. I think it was Josh that pointed this out to me; it was buried deep in the proposed plans files for the Snoozebox application under a section called "Background". I took a screenshot for y'all: http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee432/OddOne93/THORPE2015.png (Can't appear to be able to use .png on this community). So it seem these hotel plans have also delayed out next coaster by a year! I'm hoping for a Mega-Lite á la Piraten at Djurs Sommerland, a Blitz like Maverick at Cedar Point, or a decent Woodie like El Toro or Outlaw Run.

That only says that Staines is liable to "possible flooding", and has nothing do to with Thorpe Park though?

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Marauder's Mayhem (5) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (6) Rita (4) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Oblivion +1 Rita -1

Air (6) Battle Galleons (4) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Marauder's Mayhem (5) Nemesis (7) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (6) Oblivion (7) Ripsaw (2) Rita (3) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Oblivion +1 Rita -1

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Marauder's Mayhem (5) Nemesis (7) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (6) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (4) Rita (3) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Nemesis +1 Rita -1

'Murican lojik. Don't get me wrong, I'd be first in line to take a pop at Piers Morgan but the man does speak sense sometimes. Abusive comments later in the interview aside, I can't understand why Pratt or any of the 31,000-odd petitioners aiming to deport Morgan from the US think they have a leg to stand on. For this interview, Piers is now being threatened with deportation back the UK for reasons that his opinion here "offends the 2nd Amendment Right". Ironically, his opinion would naturally be protected under the 1st Amendment Right. Only in America would they aim to uphold the 2nd Amendment Right by ignoring the 1st...

Blates 2.

Air (8) Battle Galleons (4) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (4) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age: The 4D Experience (0) Marauder's Mayhem (3) Nemesis (6) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (7) Ripsaw (4) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (4) The Flume (5) The Gardens (10) Th13teen (5) Air +1 Ice Age -1 And again: Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Marauder's Mayhem (5) Nemesis (6) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (5) Rita (4) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Nemesis +1 Rita -1

I'm sure Peaj has plans to divvy up the meet locations throughout the next season guys. Obviously the majority of trips will be at Thorpe, being that we are the Official Fansite and all, but there will be plenty of opportunities to meet up at other theme parks/attractions alongside these Thorpe-based trips.

Excellent backstage tour from CoasterForce from the Outlaw Run site at Silver Dollar City. Some of the close-ups and stats in this video just make this thing look even more amazing.

Air (8) Battle Galleons (4) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age: The 4D Experience (1) Marauder's Mayhem (4) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (7) Ripsaw (4) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (4) The Flume (5) The Gardens (8) Th13teen (5) Oblivion +1 Ice Age -1

Lots of support for the idea of having several contact points. That way, if someone is running late, the majority who are on time can go into the park and can be contacted by others later in the day, who can then arrange a rendezvous point either on their own or with the whole group to meet those who could not arrive when everyone else did. A loose itinerary also seems like an excellent idea. Map out the essential rides/attractions that we all wish to do as a group and then leave a couple of items up for discussion whilst in the park (e.g. eating arrangements). Also, I think it's very important we listen to what pluk has said re: exclusive meets and ERT events. If the numbers are limited then by all means, implement a minimum post requirement or some other objective measure of forum dedication. This isn't to spite members who we do not feel 'deserve' to come to a meet because they can't be bothered to post, but if there was some way of ensuring that the members who attend these meets are going to stick around after them, or have proven themselves a constructive part of our community then absolutely they should come. It's not fair when there's high demand for places on exclusive meets that are given to members who turn up and don't socialise and then never turn up either on the forum or other meets ever again. I'm in the same boat as pluk with regards to not being able to make it to Thorpe very often. I didn't get to go at all last season and so the need for balance between ride time and social time is pretty important to people like us, who live so far from Thorpe that we don't get to go very often and want to spend a lot of time riding.

Air (7) Battle Galleons (4) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age: The 4D Experience (3) Marauder's Mayhem (4) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (6) Ripsaw (5) Rita (4) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (7) Th13teen (5) Oblivion +1 Ice Age -1

Anty Eyre dislikes it, so it must be fake.

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (6) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (7) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (6) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (4) Rita (6) Runaway Mine Train (5) Sonic Spinball (0) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (7) Th13teen (5) Nemesis +1 Spinball -1 Lerl. Air (6) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (5) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age: The 4D Experience (4) Marauder's Mayhem (5) Nemesis (5) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (5) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (5) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (5) Th13teen (5) Ice Age -1 Air +1

Haha, two is correct Tommy! I'm size 12 innit Your go!

Air (5) Battle Galleons (5) Congo River Rapids (5) Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back (6) Hex: The Legend Of The Towers (5) Ice Age The 4D Experience (5) Marauders Mayhem (5) Nemesis (6) Nemesis: Sub-Terra (6) Oblivion (5) Ripsaw (4) Rita (5) Runaway Mine Train (5) Sonic Spinball (3) Skyride (5) The Flume (5) The Gardens (6) Th13teen (5) The Gardens +1 ****ball -1

Haha, sorry pluk! Didn't pay enough attention to the font size! A clue about mine - "R gone"

What a guess! Mind you it was only 50/50 haha Righto: - My favourite band are The Killers. - I have size 10 shoes. - I self-taught myself to play the piano.

Tommy, are you lying about #3...?