Alba Salix V.S. Greater Boston. Two audio dramas enter; only one leaves. And one of them is the worst thing we’ve ever listened to.
Check out Alba Salix here – https://albasalix.com/
We won’t even provide a link for Greater Boston. You shouldn’t listen to it.
Greater Boston’s overarching story is a look at the citizens of GB, and their lives after a man named Leo dies on a roller coaster. On paper, the premise sounds fine, but it fails to deliver (in the most ear-wrenchingly awful way imaginable).
Greater Boston begins with an overwhelming introductory ‘theme’, which is quickly followed by an overwhelming and confusing list of riddles. And sadly, it doesn’t get any better from there.
The next thing we’re hit with during episode one is a recanting of a story about a time the speaker was on a hunt for the sasquatch, which seems to be a metaphor for setting up the show: The people here want to (and to some extent do) believe in the nonsensical, as long as it makes a good story. For us, the nonsensical-ness of Greater Boston was not worth believeing in, as there was no story to go with it.
As AK said during our podcast review: “In audio, a big things is clarity. If you’re unclear, it sets a bad precedent for what’s to come.” And I think he’s spot on.
There is no rhyme or reason to Greater Boston. It jumps from past tense to present, jumps from story to seemingly unrelated story, and accomplishes nothing but becoming annoying background noise.
In all honesty, we were so frustrated and confused by Greater Boston, that we had to stop listening to it after only a few episodes.
Recently we’ve realized that it isn’t fair to shows to review them after only a few episodes. Despite how painful it will be, we’ve decided to listen to Greater Boston in it’s entirety to give it a proper review.
If the show gets better, we’ll let you know.
Since we’d run out of things to say about Greater Boston and didn’t want to harp on how much we disliked it, we also listened to the first season of Alba Salix.
Alba Salix tells the story of the royal physician of the same name as she tries to make a name for herself without letting the kingdom fall apart.
What begins in a lackluster episode one quickly becomes a quirky, relatable audio drama around three main characters and their mishaps while trying to treat these crazy renaissance citizens (and monsters, creatures and the like).
For us, episode one was slow and not at all humorous. However, when you give the show a chance, the characters find themselves quickly, and the show becomes a masterpiece in medical comedy akin to Scrubs.
From the sexist monk who doesn’t want to be a monk, to Alba herself, who seems to have a dark side, the character’s chemistry is something to truly enjoy. And by the time the pace quickens, you’re hooked in for the ride.
Not to mention – This show is not Greater Boston. So that’s a plus!