I am totally with you bro...
was definitely hard during those times to defend why you think Rivermaya is a better band than the Eraserheads (don't get me wrong, I love their music as well and Ely's songwriting) I just feel that Rivermaya during those times was better in everything, musicality, songwriting, performing, etc...)
In my opinion, everything the Eheads released after Stickerhappy was a huge stinker.
Rivermaya on the otherhand just kept topping the previous albums they released. They just got better and better. It was just great. Rivermaya was king.
Up until they released Between the Stars and Waves.
Man oh man what the heck happened with them during that album?! Rico just gave the other two WAY too much freedom i think with their own compositions.
I guess they forgot the magic formula:
GOOD RIVERMAYA = let Rico do most of the songwriting and producing.
So now that Rico's out of the picture... we have a new album.
My verdict..... refer to the formula above.