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
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