The Pleasure and the Greed

The Pleasure and the Greed

Track Listings

1. Inhale

2. Undersold

3. Knee Deep

4. Everything Is Fine

5. All by Design

6. Mistake

7. Ladylike

8. Pleasure and the Greed

9. No Fault

10. Breakthrough

11. Ease My Mind

12. Broken Hands

13. Head in the Girl

14. All Our Days Are Numbered

15. West Virginia

16. Defined by What We Steal

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Give a band a little success and suddenly its members are posing next to buffet tables of wine and roast pig. In the case of The Pleasure and the Greed, the excesses of the album cover art hint at things to come--the disc is louder, raunchier, and grungier than Big Wreck's 1997 debut, In Loving Memory of... (which unleashed "The Oaf" onto Billboard's Top 10). Canyon-filling electric guitars and misty-mountain acoustic textures top thunderous rhythms, while vocalist and chief songwriter Ian Thornley's hairy-chested bellowings turn even the most innocuous melody into a Viking battle cry.

The Pleasure and the Greed never strays too far from the Toronto-based band's defiantly untrendy Led Zep-encrusted blueprint, but the disc does deliver a number of standout moments. "Everything Is Fine" is a pounding, snotty Alice in Chains-like dirge, and "All by Design" rocks with a soaring chorus and majestic lead-guitar line. The title track steals a page out of the Aerosmith songbook for a funky white-boy break, while the carefree acoustic groove, casual vocal, and ragtime piano of "Ease My Mind" offer a respite from the Charles Atlas guitars. Still, those looking for head-banging epiphanies need look no further than "Undersold," "Ladylike," "Mistake," or just about any one of this disc's other 13 foot-stompers. --Shawn Conner

Tracks:

Inhale
Undersold
Knee Deep
Everything Is Fine
All By Design
Mistake
Ladylike
The Pleasure And The Greed
No Fault
Breakthrough
Ease My Mind
Broken Hands
Head In The Girl
All Our Days Are Numbered
West Virginia
Defined By What We Steal

Amazon.com

Give a band a little success and suddenly its members are posing next to buffet tables of wine and roast pig. In the case of The Pleasure and the Greed, the excesses of the album cover art hint at things to come--the disc is louder, raunchier, and grungier than Big Wreck's 1997 debut, In Loving Memory of... (which unleashed "The Oaf" onto Billboard's Top 10). Canyon-filling electric guitars and misty-mountain acoustic textures top thunderous rhythms, while vocalist and chief songwriter Ian Thornley's hairy-chested bellowings turn even the most innocuous melody into a Viking battle cry.

The Pleasure and the Greed never strays too far from the Toronto-based band's defiantly untrendy Led Zep-encrusted blueprint, but the disc does deliver a number of standout moments. "Everything Is Fine" is a pounding, snotty Alice in Chains-like dirge, and "All by Design" rocks with a soaring chorus and majestic lead-guitar line. The title track steals a page out of the Aerosmith songbook for a funky white-boy break, while the carefree acoustic groove, casual vocal, and ragtime piano of "Ease My Mind" offer a respite from the Charles Atlas guitars. Still, those looking for head-banging epiphanies need look no further than "Undersold," "Ladylike," "Mistake," or just about any one of this disc's other 13 foot-stompers. --Shawn Conner

Customer Reviews:

Top quality hard rock from Canada.......2006-11-10

My introduction to Big Wreck came via the Audio Galaxy Canadian Rock Fan newsgroup. I knew there was plenty of great undiscovered Rock talent from Canada, so I asked one of the fans to send me some samples. I was sent the song "Ladylike". WOW! That song totally blew my mind. It is still by far my favourite Wreck song. I am sure by the other reviews (Havent checked them yet) that there will be references to a certain Chris Cornell and Soundgarden. That's OK. I was never really a Soundgarden fan, but I love this. It is far better than "In loving memory of" and the much heavier Thornley CD. Other favourite songs are the Bluesy Ease my mind and the Haunting, Climatic Defined by what we steal. Again, I dont consider there to be any weak tracks, and as I write, I see Amazon has this CD available at $2.99 and In loving memory for $0.99. That can't be right. Get this CD and ILMO NOW.

one of my favorite albums ever.......2005-12-02

Just like their first album, Big Wreck just makes a totally kick ass rock album. It's darker/heavier than the first, with less slide guitar (which totally works, trust me...and I'm no fan of slide guitar).

The key to this album is to give it multiple listens. I was disappointed when I first got this. Then I made myself listen again because I paid the 15 bucks. Now I love it. Easily one of my favorite 5 albums ever.

The pinnacle of Ian Thornley's career!.......2005-09-19

The band's second album The Pleasure and the Greed (released in 2001) was at disadvantage by poor marketing and was not as big a hit as their debut album, especially in the US. Sadly Big Wreck broke up a year later partly because of it. This is my review.

This is Big Wreck's biggest and best album, no bones about it. Their sound is less metal and more experimental with tunes like "Ease my Mind" and my favorite song of all time, "Defined by What we Steal". Though it shares the same score as In Loving Memory....., The Pleasure and the Greed would get a 14 if my score system went any higher. There exists nothing like this record. It's a beefy release at 16 songs, all more than worth the resources it took to record them. "Inhale", "Ladylike" and "Knee Deep", the latter being released only in Canada. Hence "poor marketing". It's also more than worth mentioning that Ian Thornley wrote all of the music for this and the last album.

"Defined by What we Steal" is first and foremost, the greatest song the band ever released. Sadly it was not a single, it absolutely should have been though. But it would have been violently cut in half like that of "Blown Wide Open", another lengthy epic, and I doubt Ian would have that. I'll let you draw your own definition for this song, though it hasn't been confirmed to my knowledge, my interpretation of this song goes as follows. It seems as though Ian is talking about possibly crimes or general thefts of ones past, that come back to haunt them. In the moment, it's a rush, "just for a moment we're sure we're alive". This song could mean multiple things, but that is just my interpretation.

"All By Design" is a great tune, just a great rock song. This should have been released as a single, I think it would have worked. That was always one of the things that puzzled me about Big Wreck, songs that could have been released just weren't. But I cite mediocre performance of previously released singles as the reason Atlantic didn't put a fourth tune(four on In Loving Memory....).

"Head in the Girl" IS exactly how it sounds, and no I won't and don't think I need to go into it. But man, let me tell you, it's a great tune. Big Wreck is one of those groups that only uses swearing when they think it's necessary, and Ian uses it a bit here. If you are offended by this, skip the track. But if not, it's one of the better songs on the record.

"The Pleasure and the Greed" is an interesting song. It changes a ways through into like, a totally different song. As does "Defined by What We Steal". Signature Big Wreck. It actually goes from a slow ballad sound to almost comedic and light. It's odd, but that's Big Wreck for you. And it's one of the things that makes them great.

"Ease My Mind" is the best description of experimental for modern rock music if you ask me. Think of something that you'd hear in the 40's, that's exactly what this is. They've filtered the vocals to make it posess or mimmick the imperfections of mid 20th century technology.

The Pleasure and the Greed is Big Wreck's greatest album, "sophomore slump" does not apply here. Look elsewhere snobby critics! Big Wreck was immune. Sadly their second was their last and as noted earlier, the band did indeed break up. Big Wreck wound down around 2002 after The Pleasure and the Greed's 2001 release. After playing instrumental work for artists like Sarah Harmer(ambient guitar) and Stephen Fearing before shortly going on to form Thornley in 2003, an appropriatley titled Canadian rock band of arguably equal talent. Do me a favor, do Ian a favor, and buy The Pleasure and the Greed, aswell as In Loving Memory...., because they are important, standout records and didn't sell like they should have.

Myles.......2005-06-15

Myles,

Are you still obsessed with the car from the ZZ Top videos?

Please advise.

-J

even better.......2005-03-15

With this release, Big Wreck expands on what made In Loving Memory of... so great. With a whopping 16 tracks, there is no filler (at least in my opinion). Reaching further into their blues and country influences, Big Wreck branched out and made a surprisingly cohesive album. Each song stands on its own without upstaging the rest of the album. As a result, there aren't really any obvious singles--just 16 solid hard rock songs.

Thank you Big Wreck.