Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider (CD)

Almost but not quite...

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Jan 11, 2001 | 1 out of 1 found this Good Morning Spider review helpful

In hearing the opening song 'Pig' at a crushed rock-club deep in the slime of Reading Town Central, I decided to pat with money to discover what this band were all about. I had already tasted a duet performance of Pink Floyd's 'Wish you were here' m...elding together the aspirations of Thome Yorke and Sparklehorse, so I had a good idea that this band were going to slip neatly into the 'different' catergory and more than likely hide a good few surprises.Upon first listening to the album, each track does exceptionally well in distinguishing itself from the others, and the sound is beautifully crafted with production holding a huge responsibility in the raw urban darkness floating in the atmosphere the songs create. The record, although clearly thought through and expertly arranged, manages to retain a fantasticly desheveled and dirty sound, avoiding the temptation to iron-out background interference (sometimes putting IN back-ground interference) and go for that clean modern pop sound.Dissapointingly, after the punk-riot angst explosion of an opening track leaves us, there is little in the way of up-tempo numbers, and although I do enjoy a good slow and moody rock ballad, you can't help but feel Sparklehorse were in their ellement when bashing out disstorted Nirvana-esque agression with thier guitars, and that due to the length of the record the album would have benefited greatly with a few more faster songs to balence out the more sluggish numbers. Having said that, some of the songs on the album are hugely provokative, and emotional, held together by delicate but penetrating falsetto vocals and excitingly original guitars which force the album into your head and make it an album you just have to listen too. On the down-side : 1. Sometimes the rawness and dirt of the production gets (quite deliberately I suppose) in the way of a good tune, an old song Happy Pig in particular getting tough treatment mutating it into what could have been the best track into something that is almost unbearable to listen to. 2. They are yet another band who insist on putting songs on thier albums that last a meer 7 seconds, and are just a composition of sounds. Good as they may sound, why can't these guys be bothered to make a full song out of them? What a waste.On the up-side: You can see why Radiohead wanted to perform with them, they are definatley a band who drags itself away from the mainstream song format, and burries it's head a mess of new and exciting methods of alternative rock. Some of the songs will stay with you for the rest of your life, and you find that nearly every emotion is catered for, whether you feel like smashing furniture, dancing in the sunshine, or drinking yourself stupid in the dark. Obscurely dark emotional complicated alternative gothically bizzare original rock.Sounds a bit like :Tom PettyRadioheadNeil YoungSigur RosRyan J Cook Read more Less