'Shallow', well, is

I wish this was not the case, but - unfortunately - I couldn't agree with you more.

As far as SW's attempts at a catchy radio-friendly single go, 'Shallow' certainly hits rock bottom, IMO. Not that his record so far is impressive (I would call it rather disappointing, from 'Piano Lessons' onwards). I understand that all this is, of course, subjective (hence 'opinions expressed as facts') but perhaps 'The Sound Of Muzak' was the better of the lot, and fused a lot of what SW has tried to instill in his 'catchy' inspired-by-his-cynical-view-of-the-music-business ditties: the pursuit of the riff that can be a 'hook', a slightly unusual time signature, the seemingly unpredictable bursts and fluctuations in dynamics, the textured keyboards underpinning tasteful/often inventive guitar solos... all with the ubiquitous degree of irony thrown for good measure. You can spot the pattern, since 'Piano Lessons', through to '4 Chords...' and so on..... The net result is that none of them had any impact on the mainstream audience (which was probably the aim of that type of single) and none of these tracks would be remembered among the band's most credible efforts; quite a distant cry from the accessible-yet-credible status of 'Stars Die' or 'Waiting'.

It seems to be widely acknowledged among the 'hardcore' (and occasionally the soft-core too) fans that 'Blackest Eyes' was a kind of a sucess in that respect. Most people tend to agree with SW's view that 'BE' encapsulates the diverse aspects of PT's sound. I wouldn't count myself among them, as I find 'Blackest Eyes' and 'Prodigal' by far the least interesting tracks of 'In Absentia', in pretty much the same way I'm not fond at all of 'The Rest Will Flow' and 'Stranger By The Minute'.

I'm also not among those who overtly dislike the band's heavier edge. Given SW's recent interest in the metal side of things, I can understand his forays into heavier territory, with tracks like 'Futile'. Fair enough. But 'Shallow', as you very very succinctly said, is just that: "well,...shallow". It has an Aerosmith-esque / 70s American rock-type of riff (which reminds me of 'Prodigal' because of that), an overall nu-metal air of insignificance into it, a chorus very reminiscent to 'Futile' (which, in turn, was building on aspects of the officially unreleased -and superior, if you ask me - 'Cut Ribbon', only less successfuly so) and nothing more than that.

Not even the usual two or three bars where Richard's synths and/or Colin's bass are allowed to shine, giving a glimpse of what would have been there, had the track not been confined to a 'radio edit'. 'Strip The Soul's 'radio edit' (make that: 'butchered') version was a pretty unimpressive affair too, but the extended version had much more potential. 'Shallow' lacks that potential, I'm afraid.

By now, I'm used to being prone to jumping the gun, upon the first few listens of the 'teaser' track or single from a forthcoming PT album. Therefore I won't let this bias my opinion about the rest of the tracks. I'm just a tad disappointed that SW still insists on going down that route. As if he's still under the illusion that such a track would open PTree any doors or make the radio stations do them any favours.

From every record since 'Stupid Dream' it's as if SW tells fans "those of you loyal and appreciative of the band's effort, don't worry... you can ignore that particular track of the record. It's not for you. It's just a bait for those who don't know us yet. You, the loyal ones, please try to concentrate on the other gems of the album instead." It seems that 'Shallow' will be 'Deadwing's such 'skip-me' track.

Anyway... sorry for the rambling. I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed your post, that's all.