Matador [Enhanced] [Import]

Product Description
The Fifth Album from Great French Rock Band. Includes Enhanced Material (CD-ROM Bonuses).they Have Sold Than 500,00 Copies of their Previous Releases.

Matador,Mickey 3D,EMI Int'l,Adult Alternative Pop/Rock,France,French,French Pop,French Rock,Pop,Rock,World Music

Average customer rating:

Challengers The New Pornographers Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Under the Blacklight Icky Thump Our Love to Admire Sky Blue Sky Easy Tiger ASIN: B000S9KSC8 Release Date: 2007-08-21

Tracks:

1. My Rights Versus Yours
2. All the Old Showstoppers
3. Challengers
4. Myriad Harbour
5. All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth
6. Failsafe
7. Unguided
8. Entering White Cecilia
9. Go Places
10. Mutiny, I Promise You
11. Adventures in Solitude
12. The Spirit of Giving

Amazon.com

Pay no attention to the reviews that imply the New Pornographers have "grown up" or "matured" or "drifted away" from the perfect-pop promise of their first three records. For if you throw darts at the songs on Challengers, an ambitious soundscape that had members of the all-star Canadian band recording their parts all over North America, you'll hit one flawless song after another. "All The Old Showstoppers," "All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth," and "Mutiny, I Promise You" (with its driving Farfisa organ) all venture back to the infectiousness of the band's earlier records, with leader and chief songwriter A.C. Newman (now a Brooklyn native) penning some of the most thought-provoking lyrics this side of Billy Bragg. Yes, there are departures, including a string section, flute and harp, and Dan Bejar's foray into indie-pop hip-hop with the witty, New York-heavy "Myriad Harbour." But there's also Neko Case dominating the divine title track and equally charming "Go Places"" as only she can, Kathryn Calder making her lead-vocal debut on "Failsafe" and (with Newman) on the melancholy "Adventures in Solitude," and Newman using an ambitious six and a half minutes to write about his new home city ("Unguided"). Then, your 50 minutes--a dozen songs--are up, as is the conclusion: Grown up? Sure. Matured? OK. Still pop perfect? Utterly. --Scott Holter

More from the New Pornographers and Friends

Mass Romantic	Electric Version	Twin Cinema
Destroyer's Rubies, Destroyer (featuring Dan Bejar)	Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case	Slow Wonder, A.C. Newman

Average customer rating: Outstanding Some people... The best new group "My best friend's a butcher, he has sixteen knives." This album has 286 5 star reviews and it's still comes up as a 4 star album!!!!!!!

Turn On the Bright Lights Interpol Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Indie & Lo Fi | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Our Love to Admire Franz Ferdinand Sam's Town You Could Have It So Much Better Is This It ASIN: B00006BTCA Release Date: 2002-10-08

Tracks:

1. Untitled
2. Obstacle 1
3. NYC
4. PDA
5. Say Hello To The Angels
6. Hands Away
7. Obstacle 2
8. Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down
9. Roland
10. The New
11. Leif Erikson

Amazon.com

Interpol create literate, atmospheric, moody, trashy post-punk music that recalls '80s faves the Psychedelic Furs. And this is definitely a good thing. While most young bands are content to rhyme "make it" with "fake it," Interpol pens melodramatic tales of tortured and tortuous urban relationships that are truly refreshing. Like their peers the Strokes, they're bright, sophisticated, and meticulous enough to build stirring soundscapes. Turn On the Bright Lights is a must for anyone who missed Echo & the Bunnymen, the Furs, and Joy Division the first time around. --Dominic Wills

Album Description

Australian version of the absolutely stunning full-length debut from New York's Interpol. Think Joy Division meets Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Smiths. Includes the bonus track, 'Specialist'. Matador. 2002.

Album Details

The Stunning Debut Album that Incorporates So Many Postpunk Influences: Joy Division, Television, Morrissey, . Includes the Bonus Track "Specialist".

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2007-08-07

I will not delve into a lengthy rhapsody about how delightful this album is. All I will say is this: it's a wonderful listen and the lineup of songs is stunning. I prefer it to the other two Interpol cds in a heartbeat. That's all

Some people..........2007-07-30

THere is a lot of whining about this cd for some reason, what really is it that bothers you so much?

I find the music is good, the lyrics somewhat insightful (if you can gather any meaning from them), they've got a great vibe I think. This CD in my opinion is one of the best since 2000.

Lot of people complaining that it's just copying of some other band, who probably just copied some other band that just copied another again. If you get elitist enough you could track all music back to the first person to play the guitar "OH MY GOSH THEY RIPPED HIM OFF!"

I love post punk new wave stuff, the smiths, the cure new order joy division are some of my favorite bands. I don't think this cd rips them off at all. Are there simular things about them with other bands??? yes, but there are probably maybe 7 bands I can think of that are really hard to trace back their influences. What I'm saying is ALL MUSIC is product of other music. Getting down on a band because they make very clear their influences compared to those that try to be original is stupid. There are no real original bands anymore.

The songs are their own, and they are good, the lyrics are their own, and they fit well with the music and the vibe of the band, if you truly listen to this cd without being a music elitist prick, you'll see that it's actually quite amazing. "Stella was a diver and she's always down" and "the new" are probably some of the sweetest tracks to be released in the past 10 years, not to mention the singles "obstacle 1" and "PDA", great tracks from a band that is in touch with there musical roots and imbraces those roots.

The best new group.......2007-07-21

Lamenting the death of Ian Curtis and the demise of Joy Division? Dry your tears; Interpol is here. While not as good as Joy Division (what group is?), Interpol is the logical choice for those who miss and crave that wonderful Manchester sound i.e. Joy Division, The Smiths, etc. You can listen to this CD over and over and never get bored. Interpol is a revelation.

"My best friend's a butcher, he has sixteen knives.".......2007-07-13

Interpol makes music with repetitious guitars and bass accompanied by slightly off-kilter vocals delivering nonsense lyrics. It's better than that sounds, but maybe not as great as some critics would think. Turn On the Bright Lights is a fun album to listen to. It's never boring, and they create some deeply affecting melodies that are really quite enjoyable. There's rarely a dull moment throughout. I just really don't see how it's much better than similarly catchy/non-varied music that is labeled as punk and generally ignored. Interpol is about as good as that general kind of music gets, but I think they get a ton of acclaim because they sound more mysterious, not because they're actually that superior musically.

The first track is my favorite. The piano blends with the guitar and works well with the rest of the sounds. "Obstacle 1" is a good single, since it encapsulates their sound quite well and is one of the better songs. "NYC" is a slower song and fairly enjoyable. "PDA" is another good single that represents the band well. The thing is, most of the songs do a good job here, because they all sound pretty similar. "Obstacle 2" has catchy vocals and nice interaction with the instruments. Towards the end there are a couple tracks over six minutes long that show a bit more range from the band as they experiment a little. "Roland" might be the hardest track, with a good riff in the chorus. All in all, not a whole lot about the album really stands out from the rest but it is a consistent, good album.

This album has 286 5 star reviews and it's still comes up as a 4 star album!!!!!!!.......2007-07-09

Ok , the title says it all , nuff said. This is one the greatest albums i've ever heard in my life , it flows perfectly from start to end and the musicianship is outstanding. Why is it still only 4 stars , why????!!

Average customer rating: LOVE! Swaggering Shoegaze All of you "music" snobs please leave Amazon Album of the Year (.) So, where is the originality?

Antics Interpol Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Our Love to Admire Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better Hot Fuss Plans ASIN: B0002PD3HU Release Date: 2004-09-28

Tracks:

1. Next Exit
2. Evil
3. Narc
4. Take You On A Cruise
5. Slow Hands
6. Not Even Jail
7. Public Pervert
8. C'mere
9. Length Of Love
10. A Time To Be So Small

Album Description

The follow-up to their mega-successful debut is no less brooding and intense, but charged with flashes of color and romance. "Antics" infuses Interpol's dark musical landscapes with new optimism.

Customer Reviews:

LOVE!.......2007-07-18

I love moody boys singing, and that is exactly what this CD is. Interpol has a very 80's retro sounds, but they don't get bogged down in it, like some of the other current, retro bands. Plus, I think all these songs are incredibly sexy. I don't give it 5 stars becuase as much as I love it, most all the songs sound very similar, there's not a lot of variety here. But the one note this CD hits, is a great one!

Swaggering Shoegaze.......2007-07-04

On Interpol's celebrated debut, Turn on the Bright Lights, the swirling bursts of sonic gleaming and forceful drives were passionate and jarring, full of explosive power and emotional swells despite its dissonant vocal drone. So it must be surprising to some that on their heavily anticipated sophomore release, the band seems to step back from the harsh/beautiful glimmers and bulges into a much more bare-bones sound.

This stripping down is an essential part to the success of this album. While many bands try to take the next step forward, many get bogged down in being overambitious or pushing the experimentation envelope too far. Interpol, however, has fine-tuned their approach and has created an enormously cohesive album with a constant mood without getting mired in repetition or monotony. As a result, it's an even stronger "album effort" from an already widely acclaimed band.

Early comparisons to the likes of Joy Division, the Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, Television, and the Cure (the latter even took them on as an opening act for a recent tour) were inescapable, but this new record finds the band on firmer ground. While keeping their hands in the post-punk of the early 1980s but administering terrific melodies and catchy tunes, the vocals create such a dissonant buzz that it recalls the likes of Lou Reed and virtually the entire Goth musical scene. The Reed comparison is apt especially on the first track, "Next Exit"--if the Velvet Underground were formed today, they would have written that opener. But like virtually every other good rock band hitting their peaks today, there are dozens of earlier artists to compare them to; it's the nature of the beast that anyone could say, "that song sounds like (insert long defunct rock legend)."

Like most great start-to-finish albums, the highlights rise above the cream like a jump start point for a race. There is not a song here that will have you reaching for the skip button, though several may have you flipping back to the beginning two or three times in a row. Not least among them, the first single, "Slow Hands," has such a devastatingly catchy hook, it tears away with a bouncing force that instead of the shoegazing associated with its ilk, it will have your shoes moving. "C'mere" is one of the more upbeat numbers with a jangling rhythm oft associated with the likes of fellow NYC rockers, the Strokes. "Narc" sways and jostles on its animated rhythm section, a powerful groove that ebbs and flows with the spirit of the voice. On "Take You on a Cruise," frontman Paul Banks emerges with the twisted, love-sick lingerer mentality of Robert Smith, breaking the detachment that marked their earlier work. And arguably most impressive is "Evil," with its Carlos D bassline lifted liberally from the Pixies' "Gigantic" and a gradual build before abruptly turning; it forms such a coherent arc that the track emerges as the most complete song on the disc.

The least successful ventures are actually the ones that hearken back most to their debut. "Public Pervert" and "A Time to Be Small," although fine songs on their own right, don't fit in as well with the rest of the mix. They soar too far and buzz too strongly for the package, as if Phil Spector had arrived during those sessions and taken over. However, in the scope of their body, they are perfect pinnings to what once was while we see the endless areas they can still go. While Antics is no timeless masterwork, it's an endlessly listenable and rock-solid venture from an emerging band at the forefront of the crossover indie scene.

Best cuts: "Evil," "Narc," "Slow Hands," "Not Even Jail," "C'mere," "Take You on a Cruise," "Next Exit"

All of you "music" snobs please leave Amazon.......2007-06-14

I have grown tired of seeing every decent new band that comes out being bashed by these so called "geniuses" of music. This band sounds like Joy Division, this band is derivative, this band is an 80's punk rip-off, etc.

I was alive and old enough to listen to and appreciate Joy Division, Violent Femmes, old REM, New Order, etc. Yes Interpol does sound like them, but what band doesn't draw from previous generations? What about Oasis and the Beatles? Their music is better than anything out there today. I don't watch MTV -- it is all hip hop and reality TV --- I saw them on the previous Cure tour and thought they had a good sound. Are they better than their predecessors? I can't say that as all music is completely relative. It depends on what mood one is in to determine what is considered good music. Interpol is a good "new" band. If you want to bash something move over to the Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears area.

Album of the Year (.).......2007-05-25

Interpol delivers in spectacular fashion with a Masterpiece compilation of scrumptious melodies that do everything for me music is supposed to: amaze, stimulate, rock. Ironically these tunes are as soothing, as they are haunting; I can bench press to this music as easily as I can drift off to sleep listening to it. If I was a Music Vampire and needed to absorb fresh, vibrant tunes to stay alive, I could feed off this album alone, for a year. *****.

So, where is the originality?.......2007-03-22

Clearly, Interpol's lead singer tries hard to sing like Ian Curtis. But that's not all. The lyrics, the basslines, everything sounds like Joy Division on a hangover. Even the band Colder from France is more authentic than Interpol.
"Evil" and "Slow Hands" are fine songs. But after listening to them just once, you will surely grab your copy of "Unknown Pleasures" and play it.

Average customer rating: Cat Power stumbles and takes a nose dive in her songwriting skills. Best yet The Greatest Cat Power- The Greatest overall worth it

The Greatest Cat Power Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music CDs $7 - $10 | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music 4-for-3 Alternative Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Comfort of Strangers Blue Alert The Crane Wife Corinne Bailey Rae ASIN: B000HKCUI8 Release Date: 2006-09-12

Tracks:

1. The Greatest
2. Living Proof
3. Lived In Bars
4. Could We
5. Empty Shell
6. Willie
7. Where Is My Love
8. The Moon
9. Islands
10. After It All
11. Hate
12. Love & Communication

Amazon.com

If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal

Album Description

This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.

Customer Reviews:

Cat Power stumbles and takes a nose dive in her songwriting skills........2007-07-29

I'm a man who's listened to the hell out of the CDs "Moon Pix" and had to by You Are Free twice because i listened to it so much, so I was excited as a school girl when I purchased the new album The Greatest but wow was I saddened at how leadin and boring this record is. At first, I thought I've just gotta give it some time. Well, I did; about 10 listens and I still cant hear any melodies. And the backing bad is horrible. I'm sure they were talented in their time but they're past their peak. I live in Chicago and I could throw a stone in any blues bar and I guarantThe Greatestee you whoever it hits has got a better band. The prozac Chan is on has her completely sedated and boring.
But as a serious fan and someone who probably has an unhealthy obsession with how hot she is - i soldiered on and thought, "maybe, I've got to see Cat Power perform live and then I'll appreciate the album." Nope, the album is just as boring live and she refused to perform any older material. And the band, cheezzzyyy. They wouldn't even be allowed to play in any Chicago Blues Bar. They'd be laughed outta town with their broken teeth in their hands. I'd been telling everyone about Cat Power for years and once she started getting all this media attention everyone I know bought this album and came back at me with," what kinda wimpy and tedious stuff is this?" Avoid this album, it's not only her worst but the worst and most over-appreciated album of 2006.

Best yet.......2007-06-15

Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.

The Greatest.......2007-06-08

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?

Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20

Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!

overall worth it.......2007-05-19

It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.

Average customer rating: Pure Pop Perfection It takes more time to appreciate this one Not my cup of tea So far above the fray it's almost unfair New To The Indie World And Love This Recording

Twin Cinema The New Pornographers Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Canada | North America | International | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Power Pop | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Plans Z At War with the Mystics You Could Have It So Much Better ASIN: B000A2H880 Release Date: 2005-08-23

Tracks:

1. Twin Cinema
2. The Bones of an Idol
3. Use It
4. The Bleeding Heart Show
5. Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
6. The Jessica Numbers
7. These Are the Fables
8. Sing Me Spanish Techno
9. Falling Through Your Clothes
10. Broken Breads
11. Three or Four
12. Star Bodies
13. Streets of Fire
14. Stacked Crooked

Amazon.com

Imagine a loose consortium of musicians who combine the lilting melodies of the Zombies with the driving hooks of the Kinks. Sure, it's what all the kids are doing these days, but Vancouver's New Pornographers are one of the few--along with the Shins--to get the balance right. Their third full-length offers more of the same smart power-pop that made Mass Romantic and Electric Version instant classics, plus some surprising new moves. As singer/songwriter Carl Newman (The Slow Wonder) has noted, "You can't play ebow without sounding like Eno," and indeed, Brian Eno's sublime early recordings are evoked on this more introspective offering. There are also strong new vocalists joining Neko Case: Nora O'Connor (the Blacks) and Newman's piano-playing niece, Kathryn Calder. If there was a flaw with previous efforts, it was that the contributions of Dan Bejar (Destroyer), fine as they were, sounded somewhat out of place. Just as they're better integrated this time around, Twin Cinema offers every member of this insanely talented ensemble the chance to shine. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Album Description

The third album from Vancouver's pop maestros continues to feature Neko Case and Dan Bejar (Destroyer), as well as new vocalists Kathryn Calder and Nora O'Connor. These songs veer more toward the rocking and the personal than the sugar of earlier works. Chief singer/songwriter A.C. Newman has absorbed not just the mechanics of classic songwriting, but the heart, while indulging his admiration of demented current bands like Fiery Furnaces and Frog Eyes. Expect to hear influences from The Moody Blues, Tubeway Army, Wings, Eno, The Stranglers, 10cc, and other greats, all filtered through Newman's warped worldview.

Customer Reviews:

Pure Pop Perfection.......2007-07-13

Absolutely the best cd Ive heard in years for pure musical craftsmanship. The hooks are relentless and come at a blistering pace... initially they seem overdone and in-your-face, but after a few listens everything just clicks. I'll be the first to admit it took a couple listens to get into at first, but now this cd is like an addiction. I just have to listen, its no longer optional. The songs, and the album as a whole, just fit together perfectly. Its not often that I discover a cd thats so good that I feel compelled to write an online review (This is only my 2nd or 3rd Amazon review).

Neko Case is the icing on the cake, Im a huge fan of her solo work, and her contribution here makes the songs that much better. Do yourself a favor, pick up this cd and give it a few spins. Soon you wont be able to remove it from your cd player. And check out Neko Case's "Blacklisted" cd, the style is completely different from NP, but you'll be glad you did.

It takes more time to appreciate this one.......2007-06-12

When I first got my hands on this hotly anticipated 3rd release from the NP's it didn't "hit" me like the first two. After a year of low rotation in my collection I'm now listening to it over headphones and it's just now striking me what a great disc this is. It's as good as their other discs and in a lot of ways even better. The Bleeding Heart Show is such a great tune. Don't give up on this one right away. Put it away for a month or two if you don't get it right away and then pull it back out on a rainy day and give it another try - you'll get it.

Not my cup of tea.......2007-05-29

I guess it all depends on the type of music you like. I was drawn to The New Pornographers through Neko Case, and sad to say was dissapointed by the band. Not that they aren't a supremely talented band, but the droning voice of A.C. Newman wears thin on me, as is the case with Colin Meloy of The Decembrists. In fact, the two bands sound a lot alike, but Meloy brings a deeper literary flavor to his music that makes the songs much more enjoyable to listen to, at least for me. I much prefer Neko Case in her own element, singing her reverb-heavy folk ballads with a voice hauntingly familiar to Patsy Cline.

So far above the fray it's almost unfair.......2007-05-16

If CDs ever become extinct and scientists need to extract their DNA thousands of years from now to recreate them (a la Jurassic Park), "Twin Cinema," the perfect pop-rock concoction, had better be the disc they use. My question is, who says heavy electric guitars are mandatory to make the perfect rock record? The New Pornographers prove that several great singers, some piano, unique songwriting and a penchant for the perfect pop melodies from song to song will carry a band just fine. Of course, the lush, bountiful quality to these songs qualifies them as more than mere pop tunes. Calling these songs pop is doing them a disservice.

The opposite of stodgy would be upbeat, and that's what "Twin Cinema" is, even on the slower tunes, which have a tendancy to transform to livelier jingles by the end. The title track begins the CD like a blast of fresh-air power pop, a feature many of these songs share. Yet the New Pornographers seemed to create this album with the knowledge that people like to download songs that suit their individual tastes these days. Thus, there is a diverse feel to the record, almost as if more than one band was involved in making it. The album is fluent throughout, yet diverse and creative enough to keep you on your toes. "Twin Cinema" never feels dull, because the tunes take unique turns every step of the way. The snappy songs are enhanced by crisp production, quirky lyrics and superb drumming, which might get a little lost amid all the ultra-catchy sounds.

Neko Case has the best female vocals in rock. Such songs as "The Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables" are nothing less than elegantly beautiful. "Broken Breads" sounds like Syd Barrett (see The Madcap Laughs) performing a tune in 2005. The vibrating guitars on "Three of Four" is pure swank, reminiscent of a few songs on R.E.M.'s Monster from 1994. The chorus on "Star Bodies" has the lushest-ever vocals by Case (double-tracked), for a sound that is irresistable. Finally, "Stacked Crooked," the last song, has the defiant sound of redemption, looking forward with a sense of hope and positivity, despite the screw-ups of the past: "Stacked crooked all along but now I'm on my way."

Who knows where the New Pornographers will take it from here, but it's hard to imagine they will ever top the brilliance of this album.

New To The Indie World And Love This Recording.......2007-03-29

I started surfing around on Amazon about 4 months ago and discovered this recording. To preface, I have a very diverse music background and like everything from Miles Davis to Led Zeppelin to Neil Young to the Minutemen to the Grateful Dead to the Sex Pistols, etc.

This recording is so unique that I've listened to at least parts of it almost daily since I bought it 2 months ago. Very diverse range of sound, great lyrics, and very well produced. I highly, highly recommend it.

Average customer rating: Cat Power stumbles and takes a nose dive in her songwriting skills. Best yet The Greatest Cat Power- The Greatest overall worth it

The Greatest Cat Power Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Comfort of Strangers Blue Alert The Crane Wife Corinne Bailey Rae ASIN: B000C0X3ZC Release Date: 2007-03-20

Tracks:

1. The Greatest
2. Living Proof
3. Lived In Bars
4. Could We
5. Empty Shell
6. Willie
7. Where Is My Love
8. The Moon
9. Islands
10. After It All
11. Hate
12. Love And Communication

Amazon.com

If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal

Album Description

This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.

Customer Reviews:

Cat Power stumbles and takes a nose dive in her songwriting skills........2007-07-29

I'm a man who's listened to the hell out of the CDs "Moon Pix" and had to by You Are Free twice because i listened to it so much, so I was excited as a school girl when I purchased the new album The Greatest but wow was I saddened at how leadin and boring this record is. At first, I thought I've just gotta give it some time. Well, I did; about 10 listens and I still cant hear any melodies. And the backing bad is horrible. I'm sure they were talented in their time but they're past their peak. I live in Chicago and I could throw a stone in any blues bar and I guarantThe Greatestee you whoever it hits has got a better band. The prozac Chan is on has her completely sedated and boring.
But as a serious fan and someone who probably has an unhealthy obsession with how hot she is - i soldiered on and thought, "maybe, I've got to see Cat Power perform live and then I'll appreciate the album." Nope, the album is just as boring live and she refused to perform any older material. And the band, cheezzzyyy. They wouldn't even be allowed to play in any Chicago Blues Bar. They'd be laughed outta town with their broken teeth in their hands. I'd been telling everyone about Cat Power for years and once she started getting all this media attention everyone I know bought this album and came back at me with," what kinda wimpy and tedious stuff is this?" Avoid this album, it's not only her worst but the worst and most over-appreciated album of 2006.

Best yet.......2007-06-15

Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.

The Greatest.......2007-06-08

Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?

Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20

Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!

overall worth it.......2007-05-19

It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.

Average customer rating: Good deal... The first, record from the great SM Could not be any better What is there to say about Pavement? Crucial Indie

Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe Pavement Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | American Alternative | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Lo-Fi | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Noise | Rock | Alternative Styles | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Indie & Lo Fi | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music American Alternative | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music $9.99 and Under | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Alternative Rock | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music $9.99 and Under | Prices | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Daydream Nation Loveless The Crane Wife Keep It Like a Secret Perfect From Now On ASIN: B00006JLX4 Release Date: 2002-10-22

Tracks:

1. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
2. Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17
3. No Life Singed Her
4. In The Mouth A Desert
5. Conduit For Sale!
6. Z - rich Is Stained
7. Chesley's Little Wrists
8. Loretta's Scars
9. Here
10. Two States
11. Perfume-V
12. Fame Throwa
13. Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era
14. Our Singer
15. Summer Baby (7" version)
16. Mercy Snack: The Laundromat
17. Baptist Blacktick
18. My First Mine
19. Here (alternate mix)
20. Nothing Ever Happens
21. Circa 1762 (John Peel Session - June 23, 1992)
22. Kentucky Cocktail (John Peel Session - June 23, 1992)
23. Secret Knowledge of Backroads (John Peel Session - June 23, 1992)
24. Here (John Peel Session - June 23, 1992)

Tracks:

1. Texas Never Whispers (from Watery, Domestic)
2. Frontwards (from Watery, Domestic)
3. Lions (Linden) (from Watery, Domestic)
4. Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse) (from Watery, Domestic)
5. Sue Me Jack (Watery Sessions)
6. So Stark (You're a Skyscraper) (Watery Sessions)
7. Greenlander (Watery Sessions)
8. Rain Ammunition (John Peel Session - December 16, 1992)
9. Drunks with Guns (John Peel Session - December 16, 1992)
10. Ed Ames (John Peel Session - December 16, 1992)
11. The List of Dorms (John Peel Session - December 16, 1992)
12. Conduit For Sale (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
13. Fame Throwa (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
14. Home (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
15. Perfume V (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
16. Summer Babe (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
17. Frontwards (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
18. Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
19. Two States (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
20. No Life Singed Her (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
21. So Stark (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
22. Box Elder (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
23. Baby Yeah (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)
24. In the Mouth a Desert (Live Brixton Academy London December 14, 1992)

Album Description

The remastered version of Pavement's seminal debut. 2 CDs, 48 tracks , 23 unreleased recordings , 8 unreleased songs . The complete "Slanted" recording sessions along with the contemporary "Watery, Domestic" EP, B-sides, compilation tracks, outtakes, two Peel sessions and a complete live concert.

Simultaneous release with "Slow Century" double DVD chronicling the band's entire career.

Album Description

Full Title - Slanted & Enchanted - Luxe & Reduxe. The classic 1992 debut from indie rock originators, remastered and expanded with 6 tracks from the Slanted Sessions (2 previously unreleased) & 4 previously unreleased tracks from the John Peel Session #1 on disc 1. Disc 2 features 7 studio tracks along with 4 previously unreleased live tracks recorded for the John Peel Show, BBC Radio 1, 1992. To finish the set, 13 previously unreleased live tracks recorded at the Brixton Academy, London 1992. Slipcase with 62 page color booklet. Matador. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

Good deal..........2007-07-19

I'm so proud that I got this amazing album at just half the original price over Amazon. Talk about perfect timing! :D It was listed as one of the indie classics, and Amazon was kind enough to offer them all at the incredible price of $9.99. It was like... only a couple of months ago? Makes me sad to see the price gone all the way back up to $18.98...

The first, record from the great SM.......2007-07-14

When I first bought this album, five years ago, I knew very little about indie/punk rock. I was into Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails (all great bands, but hardly uncommon preferences). I hated it. I found it boring, noisy, and uninteresting...
One year later, I stumbled upon the discs, and thought I'd give them a second chance. All I could think was, "What the hell was wrong with me, back then." The openning track, "Summer Babe" is a shining example of amazing lo-fi indie rock. "Here" is a beautiful, downtrodden ballad. Full of lyrics that start off nice, then a split second later, become rather depressing - "I was dressed for success... But Success, it never comes." And "Perfume V" is a small but very clear window into Stephen Malkmus' undeniable ability to write a good, solid pop song.
This album defines late 80's-early 90's underground rock. It helped birth bands like Weezer and Bright Eyes. If you already own the original release, you're probably a fan, and should get this for the extra thirty-something tracks. If you've never heard pavement, don't start here. Try something more palpable, first. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Terror Twilight are excellent records and are very listenable. Start there, then get this.

Could not be any better.......2007-05-21

All I can say about this CD is that it is an incredible value. You get one of the best albums of the 90's(Slanted and Enchanted), one of the best EP's of the 90's (Watery, Domestic), a short but highly energetic great sounding live show, and a bunch of outakes........However if you have not heard tracks 20-23 on disc 1, you have not heard lofi Indie. These 4 tracks define lofi at it's best. If I could only have 5 albums on the proverbeal dessert island this would be one of them. AND IT'S ONLY 9.99!! Amazing!!!

What is there to say about Pavement?.......2007-04-18

Pavement represents for most what "indie" rock sounds like: witty, ironic, clever pop songs wrapped in guitar noise. Steve Malkmus created some very catchy tunes like the lead song off the album (it has a killer bass-line!). The guitar noise squelches are very good and are on par with those of the Jesus and Mary Chain. To me, Pavement, on this album, sounds like a poppier and funnier version of the Jesus and Mary Chain.

A truly great album is both innovative and stands the test of time (at the time of this review it is nearly 15 years). While I doubt that this album was truly innovative (see Psychocandy and White Light/ White Heat) it did spark a revolution in the world of indie rock, much like REM's Murmer album in the early 1980s.

To fans of noisy pop music, like myself, this album is wonderful. Pavement may have made better albums (see Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain) but this album is great and stands up to the test of time almost perfectly (this record smells of the 1990s but maybe that isn't that bad). Don't let this record's faint aura of indie-rock-hipster "greater than thou" elitism get in the way of your listening pleasure. I highly recommend this recording from Pavement.

Crucial Indie.......2007-01-28

Quite possible the best indie albums you'll ever come across (not to mention that fact that your getting two crucial fresh albums for the price of one.) I stumbled upon this a few years ago at the suggestion of a friend: no media hype influence what so ever. With me some songs jump out at you and some grow on you over time. Summer babe, here, and in the mouth of a desert are some of their 'hits' while trigger cut, two states, perfume v, fame throwa, our singer, mecy snack, my first mine, baptist blacktick, my first mine, nothing ever happens, kentucky cocktail, secret knowledge, frontwards, and so stark all have a carisma to them (alot of which are pop songs in their own goofy and/or sophisticated way) that make this album worth buying twice. It's not a masterpiece in the way it's compiled and transitions from song to song, but, there are so many substantially effective and well developed songs here that stand strong on their own. There's more melodies and stoner rock than you can shake a stick at. You can definitely pick up on pavementisms that weezer later incorporated into their sound. There's a good chance that these songs will grow on you. If not you can just pick up weezer's blue album and enjoy the corporate driven commercial version of pavement.

side note: other than westing these are the only pavement songs with predominant lofi punk influece (IE the fall)

Average customer rating: Don't let this be your first Belle and Sebastion "It Only Happens Once A Lifetime..." "And he remembers Roxy Music in '72" (* * * * 1/2) Awesome stuff Damn, Where's the minister

If You're Feeling Sinister Belle & Sebastian Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Twee Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Chamber Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Britain | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Scotland | British Isles | Europe | International | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Alternative Folk | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Alternative Folk | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Dear Catastrophe Waitress The Crane Wife The Soft Bulletin Loveless Fox Confessor Brings the Flood ASIN: B00000JHAU Release Date: 1999-06-23

Tracks:

1. The Stars Of Track And Field
2. Seeing Other People
3. Me And The Major
4. Like Dylan In The Movies
5. The Fox In The Snow
6. Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
7. If You're Feeling Sinister
8. Mayfly
9. The Boy Done Wrong Again
10. Judy And The Dream Of Horses

Amazon.com

There are several schools of thought about Syd Barrett, the early leader of Pink Floyd. Some think he was a genius songwriter, even when he was utterly whacked out. Others think he was just a druggie tosspot (those people are wrong). If you subscribe to the former school, you need to hear Belle and Sebastian, who seem to inhabit a musical universe close to Syd's. Songs seem to fly off the cuff, as attractive as a summer day when you were 16. We're not talking self-conscious strangeness here, but just natural, organic weirdness with melodies that make these songs work. --Chris Nickson

Album Description

Whimsy and preciousness is an integral part of 'If You're Feeling Sinister', along with clever wit and gentle, intricate arrangements - a wonderful blend of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, to be reductive. A Matador Records release.

Customer Reviews:

Don't let this be your first Belle and Sebastion.......2007-05-22

I gave this only 3 stars not because it's not good but because it doesn't come close to some of their better albums. If your a big fan go ahead and get this CD but otherwise pass and get a better Belle and Sebastian album.

"It Only Happens Once A Lifetime...".......2007-04-29

So do you want talk of the music first or do you want The Theory?

Music? Okay.

It starts innocently enough, quietly enough. 'The Stars Of Track And Field' building softly to its confident acoustic climax - hints of pop purity amidst its (meaningful) meandering. There is nothing obvious about this but its beauty is - like all this - just that.

'Seeing Other People' is more immediate and kind of sums up why I love this album, this band. Lyrically it's very clever, about growing up ("We lay on the bed there/Kissing just for practice/Could we please be objective?/Cause the other boys are queueing up behind us...") and the stories we tell ourselves ("A hand over my mouth/A hand over the window/Well, if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle/Then we should be okay and won't get in a muddle/Cause we're seeing other people/At least that's what we say we are doing...")but I love this bittersweet gender blurring and then it's just plain funny ("You're going to have to change/Or you're going to have to go with girls/You might be better off/At least they know what they are doing..." - I love that pay-off line). There's nothing flash about the song though and musically it just draws you in. Before you know it you're hooked.

Candidates for best song on the album flow thick and fast.

'Like Dylan In The Movies' not only has a great title but just rolls along beautifully, so sure of itself, so sure of all of this. This was the first song I really adored on this album but now it's joined by 'The Fox In The Snow' (the repeated refrain of "What do they know anyway?/You read it in a book..." just gives me goosebumps)and the music merges with those great lyrics to form this mystical whole. I'm either sat there with tears in my eyes or this massive grin on my face.

It's joined by the self-deprecating glory of 'Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying' ("You could either be successful or you could be us...") and that is then joined by the Nick Drake of 'Mayflower' with its opening "Lovesick on a sunny afternoon..." which kind of nails the mood of much of this ("He had the moves to save the day/But you would love him anyway..."), a kind of celebration of the day to day, of the days as they go past with all the reasons how or why they change us, elate us or just leave us as we think we are.

The best is saved till last though. 'The Boy Done Wrong Again' and 'Judy And The Dream Of Horses' combine to round off this marvellous album in truly dreamy fashion. 'The Boy Done Wrong Again' sounds like a dream itself as it hypnotises ("All that I wanted was to sing the saddest song/And if you would sing along, I will be happy now...") and then the upbeat finale. "Judy wrote the saddest song..." is how it begins - see how everything just fits, how theme leads to theme and all moves to where you are or where you should be or where you want to be. "You dream of horses" is how it ends. In between you have pop perfection.

And then it's over. all too soon. So you have to stop and play it all again. Everything drifting...

And the theory? Sorry, The Theory? Oh,it's something and nothing. Well, compared to the music. Just something about how Belle & Sebastian almost singlehandedly saved indie (as in independent) music at a time when the greatness of Nirvana had inadvertantly ruined it, having ushered in an era where every indie band was being signed by the majors and then spat out after an album when the expected 'units' weren't 'shifted'. Creativity stifled and any idea of independent thought gone, just little things like a band being allowed to develop...whatever. Belle & Sebastian changed all that. A wilful independence, a refusal to acknowledge the game let alone play it...and then the change. Indie. Independent.

But then, come on, you can save your theory, all theories. Nothing much matters next to the majesty of this music. Play it again and play it louder each time. Yes.

"And he remembers Roxy Music in '72" (* * * * 1/2).......2007-02-17

In my review of Belle & Sebastian's CD The Boy With the Arab Strap, I described the 1996 release If You're Feeling Sinister as the "better" album. I think that I was pretty much going along with the conventional wisdom that holds this to be true. At this point, however, I am not sure that I agree with this assessment. I am not now claiming that The Boy With the Arab Strap is better one, just that it is not by any means necessarily the lesser one. So to split the difference, let us say that they are equally good. Interestingly, about as many would disagree with this as would agree with it. I read a review of their 2006 CD The Life Pursuit which claimed that the band never fully capitalized on the momentum they developed with If You're Feeling Sinister. Granted, their 2000 and 2002 albums showed a sharp decline in the quaility of the band's output. However, to discount The Boy With the Arab Strap and 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress as subpar efforts is simply ludicrous.

Anyway, If You're Feeling Sinister was the band's first record to be given wide release, and was therefore the one which introduced the lucky few to the elements that have made Belle & Sebastian the beloved cult band that they have been ever since. Those with only a passing knowledge of Belle & Sebastian might be inclined to associate them with slow and pensive songs. These are indeed an essential part of their reportoire, as demonstrated on this album by "The Stars of Track and Field", "The Fox In the Snow", "The Boy Done Wrong Again", and "Judy and the Dream of Horses". (These titles themselves are indicitive of the whimsy that is also invitably - and rightly - associated with the band.) However, the band ventures just as naturally into uptempo territory on "Seeing Other People", "Me and the Major", the title track, and "Mayfly". This contrast keeps the record from sounding too much like a collection of bedtime stories, even though IYFS is less dynamic than some of their other records.

When I first heard "Me and the Major", I mistook those words as "me and the midget". Thus, I misheard one of the lyrics as "Me and the midget don't see eye to eye". While this was a humorous mistake, it made sense to me that such a lyric would come from Belle & Sebastian, as they are quite keen with their word play and verbal imagery, eg, "She was into S&M and Bible studies". Musically, Belle & Sebastian's sound is based primarily on strings and delicate acoustic guitars, to the almost complete exclusion of electric guitars. This combination is decorated by non-traditional pop instruments such as harmonica, trumpet, and saxaphone. The band uses these to full effect without making the songs sound like exercises in the genres more commonly associated with these instruments. This sound - along with the lyrics - deliberately invoke melancholy. In fact, the last two songs on the album refer to someone writing or wanting to write "the saddest song". And as lead singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch sings on "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying", "I could kill you sure/But I can only make you cry with these words".

But still, as I said in my review of The Boy With the Arab Strap, Belle & Sebatian's music is much more life-affirming than it is depressing. Moreover, Stuart Murdoch is not as brooding or woe-is-me as say, Morrissey. Having gotten in B&S in a somewhat backward fashion (I heard Dear Catastrophe Waitress before anything else), I missed the female vocals present on later albums but absent from IYFS. This does not make it a lesser album, but rather, it helps keep other releases from sounding too much like it. Thus, IYFS was a fine springboard for future ideas from Belle & Sebastian, and it is every bit as good as - but not better than - anything the group has ever recorded.

Awesome stuff.......2006-11-05

Belle and Sebastian are a very recent discovery of mine, but I am severely addicted to their music. This album got me started, but I really don't think it's a five star album - but at the same time, it's not as low as a four star, so I had to round up. There are better albums out there, sure, even some by B&S... but this one is fantastic nonetheless. I highly recommend it.

Damn, Where's the minister.......2006-07-29

Belle and Sebastian's "If You're Feeling Sinister" is an album of extroardinary folk songs that becomes an extraordinary experience when you listen through your heart. The lyrics are a thoughtful ballad of pain, hate and tyranny. Each song will drive you wild with the soft yet brilliant guitar strum and a dark and cold voice that is somewhat uplifting. Stuart Murdoch would be the ringleader of this circus and I like it... This album was a part of what I stood for in the 90's and still is listenable today because of the jagged edges that made me simultaneously happy on each listen.

Average customer rating: Muddled at times, but still shows talent A Real Upbeat Indie Album Pretty good Amazing cd This band just keeps getting better

Mass Romantic The New Pornographers Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Power Pop | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Blacklisted Furnace Room Lullaby The Crane Wife The Tigers Have Spoken ASIN: B00005YXNR Release Date: 2003-10-07

Tracks:

1. Mass Romantic
2. Fake Headlines
3. Slow Descent into Alcoholism
4. Mystery Hours
5. Jackie
6. Letter from an Occupant
7. To Wild Homes
8. Body Says No
9. Execution Day
10. Centre for Holy Wars
11. Mary Martin Show
12. Breakin' the Law

An Amazon.ca Canadian Essential

The debut of this Vancouver indie supergroup led by Zumpano's Carl Newman sent critics scrambling to the early '80s and mid '60s for power-pop forebears, and it sent everyone else bouncing down the street and shouting out car windows. In a happily urgent record full of tight harmonies and cryptic storytelling, the high point undeniably remains the great single "Letter from an Occupant," which rides Neko Case's country-crooner voice nearly off the rails. --Tom Nissley

Customer Reviews:

Muddled at times, but still shows talent.......2007-05-30

"Mass Romantic" took a while to grow on me, and frankly, not all of the songs ever completely won me over. The first few tunes, mind you, are very promising. The bouncy title track, sung awesomely by Neko Case, is irresistible. Following that, "The Fake Headlines" has an earthier sound and lush vocals during the chorus ("Make headlines/Believe them/Come back"); in case you're new to this band, big sweeping vocals are a great characteristic of NP's music. "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" is also a great jangly pop tune, and Case's background vocals on it are a thing of beauty. The crunchy guitar and vocals on the rocker "Mystery Hours" has elements of the great M's from Chicago (see Future Women), but "descent" might be an apt term to describe the middle and latter portion of this CD, which, despite some good pop sounds, can be a little grating, dull and too amped-up at times. Also, the vocals on some of these songs are a bit overwrought and meshed, unlike on Twin Cinema, where they flowed better, sounded better and the singers in the band seemed to get his or her own song.

With their experimentation in sound, twists and turns within compositions and Brit-like pop leanings, NP also share musical characteristics of early Blur (see Modern Life Is Rubbish). And like early Blur, "Mass Romantic" is good but spotty in parts. Plus, it's hard not to compare anything this band does with "Twin Cinema," a classic and brilliant album that would be hard for any band to top. For a debut CD, though, this one is a good, if muddled, start. It's an album that wants to be great -- has the potential to be great -- but just doesn't quite get there.

A Real Upbeat Indie Album.......2007-05-23

This is the my first New Pornographers album and so far I am loving it. It's got the usual indie sort of sound but it's very upbeat and has great energy.

Pretty good.......2007-05-14

After listening to The Electric Version, I was hoping this one would be as good. It's not, but then again, that's a lot to live up to. This album is pretty good, but nothing spectacular.

Amazing cd.......2007-03-25

This cd was introduced to me by a good friend. Probably one of the greatest cds ive ever heard in my life. Nekko Case is one of the greatest singers ive ever heard. There is not a weak track on the whole cd. Its a perfect cd for summer time or anytime for that matter. Id recommend picking this up.

This band just keeps getting better.......2006-10-08

How funny, I bought The New Pornographers newest album Twin Cinema first and was immediately hooked and amazed by that sublime cd. So I plunked down my money for their debut album Mass Romantic thinking I'd get more of the same and was underwhelmed. It didn't hit me right off, so I put it away for a while and have since come back to it. While it's not as immediately powerful as Twin Cinema, it's really grown on me and is a very good album in its own right. Mass Romantic is punchy, emotional with a wonderful sense for mining the best of rocks past such as the Beach Boys and The Who while maintaining it's own character. It's structurally simpler, less original and not as well-recorded as Twin Cinema, yet there's a lot to like about this cd. For one thing the wonderful singing and melodies. I find it rewards repeated listenings and is well worth picking up.

Average customer rating: Chan the (Wo)man Marshal makes another hit! melancholy Lover her or hate her GREAT VOICE! She can't play, but she can sure sing

The Covers Record Cat Power Manufacturer: Matador Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Singer Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Myra Lee Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Dear Sir The Reminder Springtime Can Kill You ASIN: B00004NHDY Release Date: 2000-03-21

Tracks:

1. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
2. Kingsport Town
3. Troubled Waters
4. Naked If I Want To
5. Sweedeedee
6. In This Hole
7. I Found A Reason
8. Wild Is The Wind
9. Red Apples
10. Paths Of Victory
11. Salty Dog
12. Sea Of Love

Amazon.com

Chan Marshall devised the Cat Power moniker in order to put a degree of separation between herself and the often-twisted individuals who inhabit her songs. Here, she takes another step back while also taking a step forward. As the album title indicates, these are covers of other people's songs. Yet she sings them with no less intensity than if they were her own. Mick Jagger may have snarled the definitive "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," but Marshall takes a different tack. She removes the chorus and returns it as elegant slow blues. The Velvet Underground's "I Found a Reason" becomes a near-wordless cry. She relies only on her sufficient guitar picking and likeably amateurish piano tinkling, creating an isolated web not unlike that of Neil Young at his most deserted. Most appropriately, she covers "Red Apples" by Smog, whom she resembles in approach. Obscure (traditional and early) Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and Michael Hurley tunes complement the bruised but not buried surroundings. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews:

Chan the (Wo)man Marshal makes another hit! .......2007-06-12

The Covers Record is an album that is typical Cat Power: subtle melodies underneath Chan Marshal's quiet, yet powerful vocals. I would venture to say that this is one of the most unique albums of covers that anyone will come across.

melancholy.......2007-01-12

I love this album. Her renditions of these classics are so unique to her style and melancholic. I love it.

Lover her or hate her.......2007-01-12

Chan seems to have the type of voice you love or hate; kind of like Bjork or JoAnna Newsom.

Put me in the love camp.

I'm listening to Covers right now, and let me say that the song "Naked If I Want to Be" is simply jaw-droppingly awesome. How can someone express such true, naked (no pun intended) emotion?

Truly incredible.

GREAT VOICE!.......2006-11-04

She has an excellent voice. Not typical. She does a great job of covering all of the songs!

She can't play, but she can sure sing.......2006-09-03

If you've been listening to the Cat Power album, The Greatest, you'll know that Chan Marshall makes a superb blues singer. The Covers Record, a likable collection of cover songs recorded in the late 1990s, serves as a nice introduction to Marshall's blues/folk singing style. There is no backup band on this stripped down album, only Marshall's voice and one other instrument per song. Spare, but it gets the job done.

Some reviewers have fawned over her version of the Stones classic "Satisfaction." I'm okay with that, but I'm considerably more enchanted by "Salty Dog," the country blues standard made famous by Mississippi John Hurt. Marshall does a wonderful version of it, easily on par with any folk or blues singer you can think of. One reason this song stands out for me is that she sticks to her strength (bluesy singing) and turns the guitar duties over to an actual professional, Matt Sweeney. He does nice job playing fingerstyle guitar John Hurt fashion. It's so easy to like this song. It's simple, clean, and sounds really great.

If only she had followed this approach for every song on the album! This could have easily been a five star album... not even just five stars, but a THOUSAND stars! But instead, Marshall prefers schlubing her way through the piano and guitar parts rather than have one of her talented friends provide a proper accompaniment. The Covers Record has a DIY quality to it as a result. Although I do like The Covers Record--it's one of her best albums--I keep thinking of how great it might have been if only she focused exclusively on singing.

Fortunately for us, Marshall's great voice saves the album. The CD is quite listenable even in spite of some of her bumbling and plodding accompaniments. I approve of the stripped down approach--no drum machines, no distorted guitars, no overdubbed harmonies. Truly, it would have been a formula for absolute perfection, if only!

Ah well... what are Cat Power fans if not an exasperated bunch? Look at any forum about her. It's one post after the next making excuses for her screwups, or making suggestions for improvement: "Chan would be so good if only she didn't cry and stop playing, or if only Chan would tune her guitar, or if only Chan would complete the song without messing up, or if only Chan would get a good producer who could help her." Somehow these problems never seem to arise with her peers like Ani Difranco, Regina Spektor, PJ Harvey, etc... but Cat Power fans have to learn to be tolerant. Every song can't be a winner. And in her case, it's more like every tenth song might be a winner, but only if the moon is right, she happens to be in a good mood, isn't drunk, nobody says anything mean to her, and she decides to let someone else play guitar for a change. Then and only then you may just get to hear something really magical come out of her.

In any event, The Covers Record has some remarkable moments and if you can accept its DIY limitations, it's a good listen.

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8. Plaisirs D'amour
9. Qawwali-Sufi Music Of Pakistan [CD-single]
10. Queen of Exotica [Import]

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