Reviews (32)

Going From Great To Magnificent
I thought I could not be happier with Kutless when I first heard their debut cd. They came strong with heavy rockin beats and a loud solid voice. Put this together with such diverse Christian content throughout the cd and i was hooked. I really thought I couldnt be happier. Well I was wrong!This album is better by far, even though i loved, (and still love) their prior one. This "Sea of Faces" album kept everything from their debut but added more of a diversity of musical sound from the band and voice from lead singer Jon Micah Sumrall. Songs "Not What You See","Treason", and "Let You In" are reminicent of the hard sound of the first cd and "All Alone" is representitive of the quieter more reflective side. This song is similar to "Run" which is also from God's/Christ's perspective, Him talking to us. "All Alone" (track 2), is also where I first jumped back and said whoa! Change is good! This song starts out melodic and stays melodic with some rockin guitars finally kickin in. Like Rob Beckeley from Pillar Jon Micah Sumrall has worked on his vocals and cut down on the raprock. He could scream/sing great and his regular voice was fine for rock but this song as well as others show how he has grown. Favorite Songs? "All Alone", "Sea of Faces", "Passion" (if Mel Gibson ever made a musical for The Passion of the Christ, then this is would be the main song no doubt). Those songs along with "Treason" and the worshipful "All the Words" round out my favorites. This cd is not just diverse in musical sound but in lyrics as well. The songs range from blatantly Christian with "Passion" and "Sea of Faces" to "Perspectives" and "Better For You" which are positive songs but has no real discriminating Christian content per say, but Im sure you could argue they are inspired from scripture if you listen to them. In other words those songs could easily be played on secular radio and no one would know these guys were Christian Rock. That being said the ambiguity of those two songs is the only step down from their debut cd and why I wont give this cd 5 stars. (I rarely give 5 stars)Bottom Line: As a whole this cd is better than the first and thats sayin alot since the first was so awesome. However where the debut was strong "Sea of Faces" is magnificent! I awaited two cds this year this one and "Where Do We Go From Here" from Pillar. When I listened to the Pillar cd although the music and sound was great I was let down and saddened by the immense lack of christian content. The few Christian songs it did have were weak in content which was a complete 180 from Fireproof. Where Pillar lacked in lyrics, Kutless came through. For the people who dont like this album because its too different from the first one, i understand their points of view but I plan on growing with Kutless with each release.

Some of the Best Christian Rock Out There
Kutless has put out a great album with Sea of Faces. These guys can match and beat most secular groups out there. And they do it without compromising their messsage or lyrics. Many of the tracks are hard-hitting rock songs, while a few are slower, more sedate songs. I prefer the former, but it just shows you they have that compability. Passion is by far my favorite track. If you've seen the movie by the same name, it will bring many images from it to mind as you listen to the chorus. The opening three tracks round off favorites from the disk, but the rest is also very good. In my opinion, this one is better than their first album and a must for christian rock fans or anyone looking for rock with a positive outlook and meaningful lyrics.

BTW, the only reason I didn't give this album 5 stars is because I dont give out 5 stars to pretty much anything. I'd probably give this one 4.5 stars if I could rate on that scale.

A good album
This is not a bad album at all. The problem becomes that it is a christain one. 100 years ago before humanity had advanced into an era where we do not still do not believe in such heathen beliefs, this album would be acceptable.

None the less, it is good music, and if you can get past the horrible lyrics, (even if you do believe in this stuff..., they are still absolutely attroucious - I suggest you listen to atomship) he is a good vocalist, and the band plays together well.

I have a CD case full of 300+ CD's, and I'm searching for some new music. So I'm going to overlook the fact this is a christain CD and give it a try...

It's So Good, It's Shocking!
Wow! I was completely blown away by this CD. Especially when comparing it to Kutless' previous self-titled debut, "Kutless". This album was definatly twice as good. From the moment I heard Kutless the first time, I knew they could be great, but their debut didn't just cut it for me (kinda like Switchfoot's first album). I figured if they could last long enough, they might be able to make an amazing album, but I figured it would be several years before that. But then, here it is, Kutless' sophmore effort, Sea of Faces, and I must say that I was caught off-guard, but in the good way. This is definatly going into my "Favorite CD's" collection. It belongs in yours too.

this cd got me into rock
this cd got me into rock,it is has better lryics than most rock cds ive heard,plus jon micah is one of the best rock singers in the buis.today...here is a rundown of the songs

1.good opener,not the best on the cd but still good/8/10
2.jon micahs vocals are so smooth in this song,its a new sound for him/10/10
3.this one has a nice sound to it/9/10
4.this song almost makes me cry to think that i mean so much to god that he would lay down his life just for me./10/10
5.my personal fav./12/10

6.another awsome song/11./10
7.great lryics,smooth vocals/10/10
8.great rocker,sweet.../12/10
9.this one just does not fit./6/10
10.nice new sound for the band/10/10
11.awsome lryics talking about telling someone about the gospel.10/10 ... Read more

Amazon.com

Frontman Isaac Brock's claim that he's being stalked by his own alter ego was not the first bit of evidence that Modest Mouse isn't your usual pop band. Witness the entirety of this 1996 indie debut from the Washington trio that inspired a major-label bidding war. This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About finds Brock cruising with cohorts Eric Judy and Jeremiah Green (plus an occasional cellist) through a landscape of intoxicatingly original lo-fi tunes. Sure, Brock's early vocals make Nikki Sudden sound like one smooth crooner, but their strained quality offset the primitive elegance of his guitar work, giving a passionate vulnerability to "Breakthrough," "Custom Concern," and other treatises on life in the lost lane. --Bill Forman ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Where it all started...
For Modest Mouse fans, it all started here, with 16 delicious slices of rustic guitarplay, trailer-spat philosophy, and an ear for both sweetly touching melodies and cacophonous abrasion. The controlled chaos of their sound is perfectly captured by the opening salvo of "Dramamine", a waltzy, floating dream of a song that led to inevitable comparisons with Built To Spill, while the following "Breakthrough" is a stomper, all buzzsaw guitars and shouty choruses that led to inevitable comparisons with the Pixies. Don't let such comparisons dissuade you from one of the most hearteningly fresh rock records of recent times, however. It's the schizophrenic welding of the two tendencies that makes for such frenetically enjoyable listening, particularly the rusty guitar sound, Jeremy Green's terrific drumming (check "Exit Does Not Exist" for proof), and a hazy, out-of-time feel that puts this startling debut up there with the very best off-the-beaten-track rock music of all time. Not to mention Issac Brock's throaty, lispy rasp of a voice which, throughout each song, invests more emotional, energetic intensity and fragility than a thousand Frank Blacks. This is a wonderful record, not least for being the jumping-point for one of America's finest bands.

A Beautiful Roaming, Isolated, and Neurotic Sound
Modest Mouse changed my life. Well, that may be a bit of a hyperbole, but I am truly grateful to have been introduced to this band. I have never been a fan of avant-garde/indie rock; my music taste has typically been one of hip-hop, electronic, trip-hop, classic rock, jazz, and classical. This band was introduced to me by a friend, and initially I couldn't stand them (Isaac Brock's whiny voice). However, a few songs would play on random mode in iTunes, and I slowly grew accustomed to them. Modest Mouse rocks.

This is probably one of the most appropriately titled albums I have encountered in a while. It really manages to give you the feeling that you're out on an open road without anything substantial to think about. And that's not a bad thing. It's a distant and wandering sound. Long Drive can sound incredibly neurotic, with their twangy and chaotic guitar rhythms along with Brock's unstable voice. But the genius of MM is that the neurotic sound all falls together and manages to make sense, beautiful sense. Long Drive isn't nearly as polished or accessible as The Moon and Antarctica or Good News for People Who Love Bad News, but in no way does that discount the greatness of Long Drive. I recommend this album without any real reservations. But as one should do with any music, listen to this album without projecting any preconceived notions about what good music should sound like.

Breakthrough
To put it simply this cd surprised me. Upon knowing of the band for almost 6 years I decided to purchase The Lonesome Crowded West earlier this year on somewhat of a whim. The cd blew me away, it monopolized my cd player for a good part of two weeks before I could intergrade anything else into rotation. Growing quite fond of that cd I figured I would wade a bit deeper into Modest Mouse knowing they were a multifaceted and very unique band as opposed to the impression i first got, which was that they were good but just good playing loud songs such as my first exposure to them (s*** luck being that first song). So in my search for another Modest Mouse cd I picked this one for people say this is more close akin to the lonesome crowded west then later attempts. I still didn't believe that it could reach the standard TLCR had previously set but I bought it anyway. I was blown away by how diverse the emotion on this album truly is, listening to this album is like taking a trip through the human emotion with indie guitars, multi textured songs, eclectic song topics and quite possibly the most infectious quirky and less than mainstream vocalist since the days of the pixies, violent femmes and Dinosaur Jr. just to name a few. Every track on this album is no doubt easy to listen to and flows with the whole mood of the album, but stand out tracks are as follows 2,3,5,6,7,11,13,14,15,16, which is more than 75% of the album I'm aware but those are the tracks I find myself flipping to when not listening to it in its entirety. Over all this album is a great place to start if your getting into Modest Mouse, steer clear of good news for people who love bad news. This album will prove to you how great this band truly is and just how diverse music can be when its not being manufactured in the mainstream molds that most bands come out of these days. Sure they are mainstream now and have changed their sound some to fit in with their mainstream contemporaries/rivals, but they were once an amazing, somewhat bizarre, but none the less catchy indie rock band. Enjoy.

fate brought me to it
After searching countless record stores for this cd I finally found This is a Long Drive... a few nights ago at Borders...BORDERS! I thought that nothing could top Lonesome Crowded West, and I was proved wrong. This is truly a masterpiece, each track is its own little world you can listen to countless times and still be lost in the amazing riffs and beautiful lyrics. Even if you're not a Modest Mouse fan (and if you aren't, something is wrong with you man) this cd is a necessity.

How Do They Do It?
Will someone answer that? How do you come up with picks and riffs like this? And don't even get me started on the lyrics. It really kind of dissapoints me this softer, poppier direction they've done with Moon/Antartica. Hopefully Good News will be a return to the genius stuff like this.

Best Songs:Lounge, Beach Side Property, Exit Does Not Exist. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Playing Rock's Greatest Chameleon was a great gig while it lasted, but by the mid-80's, David Bowie found his "Changes" led to an ironic dead-end. Yet this 1974 live album managed to distill his quicksilver nature as few others. Ostensibly mounted in support of Diamond Dogs, but sans Guy Peellaert's Ziggy-as-Great Dane imagery (a trick even the notorious pop changeling couldn't turn onstage), Bowie's image and music quickly evolved on the tour, taking on an American R&B-fueled edge that would seep into every corner of this career-retrospective set. Indeed, the musician would pause mid-tour to record Young Americans with the core of the live band here, setting up his Thin White Duke incarnation in the bargain. Culled from shows at Philadelphia's Tower Theatre, this edition has been both remastered and expanded by the inclusion of "Panic in Detroit" and "Space Oddity," marking the first time the complete show has been available. Also includes insightful notes by producer/longtime Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti. --Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Reviews (17)

This is a great concert.
This album is a great album of Bowie at his best; his voice in the late seventies was wonderful, and the set list on this album is as good as it would ever get. Not essential for causual fans, but an excellent addition for those who can't get enough of David.

By the way, the editorial review of this item seems to be for the "David Live" album of 1974, not for this 1978 release.

BERLIN BOWIE - Heroic, Eno-hued,and magnificent.
After an impossible wait, Bowie's 2nd greatest live recording (after the Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars soundtrack) is finally resurrected.I've been waiting forever for this to be released properly on cd, original concert sequence, superior digital upgrades and packaging, and so on.At long last, he's done it!This performance captures the MainMan and his wicked band at their post-coke, pre-sellout, height-of-punk, best.West Berlin in the 70's provided Bowie with the perfect paranoid backdrop to produce the most personal, ambitious, insular, and creative albums of his entire career, hands down.Some of the best tracks off of them are fleshed out live here, to outrageous effect.For a concert recording, this is as good as it gets!!!From "Station To Station", "Warsawza", "Breaking Glass", and Beauty And The Beast", to "Heroes", "Sense Of Doubt", and "Blackout",this masterpiece nails the bitter end of the 1970's with soaring accuracy and alienated majesty.Get it immediately!

Stage, front and center
I purchased both "David Live" and "Stage" on the date of their rerelease. The remastering of "Stage" points out why "David Live" was such a disappointment, and why my value judgement of "Stage" is two stars higher than "David Live."

Vocally, on "Stage," David is in terrific form. His singing sounds effortless and unaffected, even when he bangs his way through Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Alabama Song." The songs include Bowie at one of his artistic peak periods, with the albums "Low" "Heroes" and "Station to Station" informing the language of his music at the time. He also had two incredible guitarists on this tour, Carlos Alomar and Adrian Belew. Roger Powell (on loan from Todd Rundgren and Utopia) put the life into Bowie/Eno synthesizer epics like "Art Decade" and "Warszawa." Engineer Tony Visconti - as he states in the new disc's liner notes - approached recording "Stage" as if he were miking a studio album. And to that end, the horrific technical glitches that so mar "David Live" are completely absent from this album.

An additional benefit is the restoration of the concert's running order to include to leftover songs "Stay" and "Be My Wife." These repairs makes "Stage" flow more organically than the original album did. When you think of Bowie in concert from the late seventies, this is probably what you would have imagined. From the ominous opening of "Warszawa" to the sing-along catchiness at the end of "TVC-15," "Stage" is prime David Bowie. Highly recommended, and infinitely better than "David Live."

4.5 Stars..... Excellent reissue of Bowie's best live album
David Bowie originally issued the live "Stage" double album in late 1978, after a wildly successful world tour. The album was not received very well by either critics or the buying public, but this reissue will hopefully correct that once and for all.

The reissue of "Stage" (2 CDs, 20 tracks, 84 min.) is vastly different from the original double vinyl album. For one, the sequencing of the tracks follows the actual concert (hence starting off with the somber instrumental "Warszawa"). For another, two tracks have been added ("Be My Wife" and "Stay"). CD1 concentrates on songs from the then-current "Low" and "Heroes" albums, with a great "Speed of Life" and "Breaking Glass" as highlights. CD2 showcases older songs like "Ziggy Stardust", "Station to Station" (this live version also shows up on the "Christiane F." soundtrack), and a truly excellent "Stay" (hard to understand why this was left off the original album, it's one of the best tracks on here). It should also be noted that the remastered sound is a remarkable improvement over the original album.

The packaging of this reissue is first class all the way. The CD opens up very cleaverly, it's hard to explain until you actually have it in your hands. There are insightful liner notes from producer Tony Visconti, and to top it off there is a listing of all the dates on the 1978 world tour (interesting to see how many of the US concert sites of those days are no longer around). In all, the new-and-improved "Stage" is essential for any serious Bowie fan.

Overlooked
This is one of Bowie's most criticized albums.I never understood why, considering the quality of the recording and the talent of the band, which included Carlos Alomar, one of the most important figures in Bowie's work, along with King Crimson member Adrian Belew (who seems to have performed with many important groups, the Talking Heads among them), and an incredible rhythm section, which included George Murray hammering the bass.

Tony Visconti, the producer, made some good points in the liner notes, among them that he wanted the quality of this recording to really shine, so he was very careful with microphone placement, even using four mics for the crowd, initially done for quadraphonic sound, but it now helps today with the surround mix.He also mentioned that there are NO overdubs, and only one edit to make sure "Station to Station" was a good take (he put two performances together).The overall result is a crisp and nearly perfect sounding concert.

Bowie's vocals are quite good, almost perfect, but that's Bowie.Bowie's vocal on "Heroes" is stunning, arguably better than the original, and the ending of "Ziggy Stardust", where he holds the note, is amazing. As Visconti has put it in the past, he's a one or two take singer.He can't help that he sings well.So I never understood the critics who said his vocals were too precise.Does he need to cough?Sing off key?

As for the band, they were on fire.Adrian Belew's guitar work was incredible, especially on "Heroes."Another song improved live is "What in the World", which benefits from a slower reggae swing in the beginning.I also love the electric violin on the instrumental "Warszawa".Give Bowie credit for playing his unusual instrumentals live, considering the impatience of American audiences; personally, I think they add to the atmosphere the show.It was a wise decision to re-sequence the tracks in the order of the concert (past versions were chronological).

One of the gems is the previously unreleased "Stay".The band really shines on this track.I wonder why it wasn't included on past versions.

No, I'm not a fan of "Alabama Song", "TVC 15" is a bit fast, and I do wish the guitars were a little more up front in the mix, but these are minor criticisms. This is an overlooked album in Bowie's catalog.Check it out.

(Also, if you can find the three disc version of "Bowie at the Beeb", disc three is from a stunning concert he gave in 2000.) ... Read more

Reviews (93)

The best Green Day CD
I got into their later stuff before this. But I must say, this is green day at their best. Each song on here gives you a totally different vibe as to what is going on in their lives. At this point in time in their careers they were so unknown that it made their music so much better than it could be now.

1. 2000 Light Years Away - Catchy and almost too sweet, but perfect for everyone's 'long lost love'

2. One For The Razorbacks - Another catchy tune, great placing on the album

3. Welcome to Paradise - This is the pre-dookie version of this song, and it is the better version. It's more punk than the dookie version and you get more of a feel for what Billie Joe is saying...just listen to both versions and you'll get what i mean

4. Christie Road - This is one of my favorite songs on this album, it's very hard to explain why. But Billie Joe turned a place where he and his friends used to smoke pot into a wonderful punk song.

5. Private Ale - Another catchy punk rock tune. It's a hard to explain though.

6. Dominated Love Slave - Tre Cool's entrance into the band comes from this song. It is an earlier, more redneck, version of Blood Sex and Booze (From WARNING:). It's enough to give anyone a laugh.

7. One of My Lies - Another catchy great writing job by Billie Joe

8. 80 - This song is about Billie Joe's wife Adrienne, this song is ridiculously sweet, but it is so easy to relate to.

9. Android - The lyrics to this song almost seem like a predecessor to "basketcase" but all the same its an awesome song.

10. No One Knows - My second favorite song on this album. It is a great song about being confused and not knowing what to do. It's more mellow than the rest and has an awesome bass line.

11. Who Wrote Holden Caulfield? - My personal favorite. This song was written after Billie Joe read "Catcher in the Rye". This song has an awesome guitar line to it.

12. Words I Might Have Ate - Another great catchy tune, and wonderful writing job by Billie Joe.

13. Sweet Children - You can totally get the vibe of this song just from the title.

14. Best Thing In Town - This is another great song by Billie Joe

15. Strangleland - same as best thing in town, just a great song.

16. My Generation - A cover of The Who's song, but a very good one, i believe that Mike Dirnt has a little lead vocal on it in the beginning, all very cool.

This is the best green day album in my personal opinion, and i think that any green day fan should get it...it's just an awesome cd, and it foreshadows how great their other albums will be.

Kerplunk is Green Day kerPUNK!
Green Day's second and final album with Lookout! Records, and much better quality than the first album off the Lookout! label (more funding went into this one). Includes first recording of the punk rock trio's hit 'Welcome To Paradise'. 'Christie Road' is a slower paced song about a place to escape to, much in the theme of the young Green Day. 'Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?', a song based on the main character in the classic book 'Catcher In The Rye' by J.D. Salinger, and The Monkees inspired 'Words I Might Have Ate' closes the album before the 4-track recording of the very early Green Day, Sweet Children. These and many more Green Day material make up the Kerplunk collection, which seem to be very much inspired by singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong's early musical interests. A fantastic Green Day album if you're into them, 'Kerplunk' has many punk-pop tunes that should keep you entertained until they release something new!

Damn good old school green day
before"warning''and "waiting"green day's sound was a fast paced,melodic punk sound that could get stuck in your head for a year.This album is catchy as hell and has great melodic punk beats.Standout track are "80"and "2000 light years away"

Getting Closer To Becoming Alternative Rock Legends...
After Green Day released 1,039/Smooth in 1990 and going on their first tour, they released their second album, which would be their last for Lookout! Records. Also, this was their first album with Frank Edwin Wright III (better known as Tre Cool) behind the drum kit.

If 1,039/Smooth was more unpolished and punk, then this album has slightly more of a "Dookie" feel, but still raw. For "Kerplunk!", Green Day's overall feel was, 'If it ain't broke, why fix it?'. And fix it they didn't. For the most part, it features Green Day's now infamous and loved three-chord, two-to-three-minute punk-pop style. But WAIT! That's not all. For a few tracks, Billie Joe and company tried some experimentation...

A hick love song. ("Dominated Love Slave")
Acoustic Guitars. ("Words I Might Have Ate")
A ballad. ("No One Knows")

And, also on this CD, are four extra tracks recorded by Green Day when they were 15, under the title "Sweet Children". The songs on here are actually really good, including a punk rock version of The Who's "My Generation". (Take that, Wimp Bizkit.)

One thing to notice on this album: Green Day improved their songwriting skills. Take this line from "One Of My Lies": "Why does my life have to be so small / and death is forever / and does forever have a life to call its own?". Or "No One Knows": "Call me irresponsible / call me habitual / but when you think of me / does it fill your head with schemes? / Better think again / 'cause no one knows." Somehow I doubt that the Juliana Theory can come up with that. (Or anything beyond breaking up with your girlfriend.) So there's talent to be had here.

Anyway, if you want to hear some great vintage Green Day, check this one out.

(Insert Exciting Adjective Here)
Following up the excellent "1,039", Green Day had a lot of work to do. And even though "Kerplunk" isn't better, it is still an excellent view of the lesser known indie records.
The sound is still the same as it was before and the way it would stay for a while. The guitar chords are punchy, with Mike Dirnt adding in bass lines infectious you will be humming them for weeks, and new drummer Tre Cool doind his best imitation of the Ramones on the drums.
The take of "Welcome to Paradise" doesn't really differ from its "dookie: counterpart" except for the production value, and their cover of the Who's anthem "My Generation" wears down after a few listens, but the rest of the songs on here you'll want to hear over and over again.
Add to that a funny little story in the booklet, and "Kerplunk" is well worth your time and hard earned money. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Like most true originals, the Ramones embodied a dizzying array of contradictions. As punk godfathers, they became the archetype for a rebellious musical ethos that could often confuse the baby for the bath water, yet at heart they were 1960s pop- and bubblegum-worshipping reactionaries. The seeming unity symbolized by their street-hood uniform (ripped jeans, deck shoes, and black leather jackets) and name (nicked from an early nom de plume of Beatle Paul) belied turmoil both personal and personnel. And the dumber-than-dumb stance of the likes of "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," "Cretin Hop," and "Teenage Lobotomy" actually masked some of the shrewdest rock ever recorded. If Rhino/Warner Archive's two-disc anthology seems like hardly enough room to document a band with a quarter-century legacy, it's good to remember that the Ramones prided themselves on stripping every song they attempted to its elemental core, then halving it again with their patented buzzsaw, double-stop tempo. Journalist David Fricke's enclosed history is telling, if ironically packaged in a glossy hard-back edition that seems more befitting the likes of Fleetwood Mac. The nearly five dozen tracks here, reaching from the early '70s to the late '90s, stand remarkably outside of time--just like true originals. --Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Reviews (73)

The end of 'pinhead' reviews...
Okay, a lot of the die-hard Ramones geeks have cast their ballot in favour of trashing this superb compilation, simply because it's not full of b-sides that were relegated to b-side status for a very good reason! This is a review on the album as a 'greatest hits' collection, not a mindless gripe on what songs should have been put on according to the pettiness of a few kids.

Having said all of that, the only reason this collection doesn't get 5 stars from me is because there are too many Ramones compilations on the market already. And by the time the boys decided to (finally, thankfully) call it a day, they had released so much tripe in the later years that they forgot to put together a 'definitive' collection that includes the last ten years or so.

This is the one to get. It's chock-full of their best material (including the import-only "Carbona Not Glue"), and their most representative material as well. Most of the video-based tunes are here, and the selection is chronological, unlike the mind-warping 'Best of Smiths' albums. The liner notes are decent, and they've put on JUST EN0UGH to satiate even the die-hardest die-hard for his/her desert island collection.

Anybody who complains about why there isn't a box set is missing the point; until there IS a box set, this is the one to buy. Especially recommended for the uninitiated.

This is a good starting point
Ramones claim to be the first punk rock band in the world, and this would mean that punk rock originally came from America and not from England. Well, it depends on your definition of punk rock, so I'll leave it up to you' In my opinion, Ramones have something attractive to them, not taking the whole thing so bloody serious. But Ramones were also more talented than many of the other punk rockers, who obviously were in it mostly for fame and the opportunity to shock your parents. To me, Ramones are more of a traditional rock band than a punk-rock band, and they sure have their place in music history as an important band that influenced rock 'n' roll.

Throughout their career, Ramones have been rather uneven, making some brilliant songs but also a lot of .... On the excellent side you got songs like 'Sheena is a punk rocker', 'Beat on the brat', 'I wanna be your boyfriend', 'Poison heart' and 'I believe in miracles' among others, and they're all present on this compilation. If you're not a dedicated Ramones fan, I'm sure this 'best of' is all you need. You'll probably discover that you love a lot of the songs but also that a decent amount of tunes will do nothing at all for you. I think it would be fair to say that one half of the included songs are very good, while the other half is rather bad. As far as compilations goes, I think this one is great and although there's a lot of songs I don't like at all I'll lean toward giving it all 4 stars.

Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here Come The Ramones!
Hey Ho Let's Go! Ramones Anthology(1999). The Ramones' Second Compilation.

Back in the Mid. to Late 70's, Underground Punk was taking the world by storm, with bands such as The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and The Pixies dominating the Punk Scene. But one lone American band, taking influences from The New York Dolls and The Stooges, called The Ramones, were just as popular. Adding more traditional Rock N Roll to Punk, The Ramones were one of Punk's most influential bands, and were one of Kurt Cobain's biggest influences for his band Nirvana. Although nobody would say they were incredibly talented, The Ramones were able to mold a catchy, hooky, Punk tune, emphasizing vocals and inane lyrics to appeal to listeners, while always having the chugging guitar right behind it. So it's no surprise, at the Turn of the Century, The Ramones released a massive 2-Disc career retrospective, containing almost 60 songs, and a booklet containing The Ramones ENTIRE career. So how does Hey Ho Let's Go-Ramones Anthology stack up? Read on to find out?

PROS-

-ALMOST SIXTY SONGS ON TWO DISCS!- The Ramones Anthology has 58 songs on TWO(!) discs, so you can expect bank for your buck!
-HAS ALL OF THE RAMONES' BIGGEST HITS!-The Ramones Anthology has instantly recognizeable hits such as "Blitzkrieg Bop", "California Sun", and "I Wanna Be Sedated", which won't fail to please Casual fans!
-SO MANY UNDERRATED MASTERPIECES!-The Ramones Anthology is basically made up of underrated masterpieces, including "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?", "Judy Is A Punk", and so many more!
-COVERS ALL OF THE RAMONES ALBUMS- From 'The Ramones' to 'Adios Amigos', The Ramones Anthology has songs from every album, making this a superb retrospective!
-EACH DISC FULLS UP THE 80 MINUTE LIMIT!-Unlike most compilations, The Ramones Anthology takes up almost 80 Minutes on each Disc, showing you get what you paid for!
-THE BOOKLET IS A VIRTUAL HISTORY ON THE RAMONES!-The Booklet for The Ramones Anthology is 80 pages(!), making it the longest, most detailed, and interesting booklet I've ever read through! Great!

CONS-

-EXPENSIVE!-The Ramones Anthology will set you back 30 Dollars, while 'The Ramones Mania' and 'Loud, Fast Ramones:Their Toughest Hits' will only set you back Fifteen Dollars, making it less accessible to casual fans.
-NO NEW TRACKS!-The Ramones Anthology has no new tracks, so it's basically worthless to Diehard fans, and it's too expensive for casual fans, making it very inaccessible.

Overall, Hey Ho Let's Go- The Ramones Anthology is a very good and detailed compilation, but casual fans and diehard fans may be turned off because of its lack of new material and price. But, if you were only going to buy one thing by The Ramones, I would suggest picking this up. If your a casual fan, I recommend the 'Ramones Mania' compilation, because it's also very good and a lot cheaper.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, IF YOU'RE ONLY GOING TO BUY ONE THING BY THE
RAMONES, YOU SHOULD BUY THIS! IF YOU'RE WILLING TO SHELL OUT 30
DOLLARS, IN THE END THIS COMPILATION IS WORTH IT!

Also Recommended-

The Essential-Clash
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here Come The Sex Pistols!-Sex Pistols
The Very Best Of-The Pixies

Thanks For Reading!

Most overrated band rock has ever known
Accalimed by all sections of the critical community for supposedly having revitalised music at a time when rock was supposedly being taken to excess, the Ramones have enjoyed the status of legends especially since the death of lead singer Joey Ramone after a long battle with cancer and bassist Dee Dee Ramone from a drug overdose a year later.

It is thought by so many that the Ramones placed into rock and roll a completely new attitude of not caring about what others thought and of wanting no acceptance. In fact, this "don't care" attitude has been typical of famous rockers for many years, and even at their most confrontational that Ramones were not nearly dangerous than most of the heavy metal they went out to destroy.

Moreover, the Ramones'music really can only be described a childishly simple and at the same time mechanical. Whilst there certainly is room for childlike naïvette in music (say, with ESG's superb "A South Bronx Story"), the Ramones on a song like "Now I Want To Sniff Some Glue" are totally calculated to sound like children in order to annoy grown-ups and for no other reason at all. The lyrics, to put it bluntly, are designed to appeal perfectly to young children who want to vet out the most trivial complaints or express the most simple and shallow desires. Such songs as "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and "Judy Is A Punk" say it succintly enough of themselves.

The music, whilst truly stripped-down, actually has no more emotional power than most rock and roll of the time, and it must be seriously described as grating in its inane repetitiveness. There is never anything more than guitars, bass and drums played in a format that aimed to update to a louder and faster extreme the basics of 1950s and early 1960s rock and roll but ended up hitting no targets whatsover: it can seem OK at first but really it is in no way likeable. Claims of the band's supposedly great influence of succeeding generations of alternative rock seem dubious in most repects, for there is no hint of darkness in the music, nor depth. Moreover, if the Ramones' playing was simple, it was not because they were naïve and had no understanding of rock music: it was because they wanted strip music of any ornations, subtlety or thoughtfulness just to make it "fun". In the latter repect, the Ramones cannot be said to have succeeded, either.

I might be brave in saying this, but for all their acceptance the Ramones must be seen as the most overrated band in the music world. There is music much more distinctive, much more powerful, and much more beautiful to be heard.

Never Mind the Sex Pistols, Here Come The Ramones!
Hey Ho Let's Go! Ramones Anthology(1999). The Ramones' Second Compilation.

Back in the Mid. to Late 70's, Underground Punk was taking the world by storm, with bands such as The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and The Pixies dominating the Punk Scene. But one lone American band, taking influences from The New York Dolls and The Stooges, called The Ramones, were just as popular. Adding more traditional Rock N Roll to Punk, The Ramones were one of Punk's most influential bands, and were one of Kurt Cobain's biggest influences for his band Nirvana. Although nobody would say they were incredibly talented, The Ramones were able to mold a catchy, hooky, Punk tune, emphasizing vocals and inane lyrics to appeal to listeners, while always having the chugging guitar right behind it. So it's no surprise, at the Turn of the Century, The Ramones released a massive 2-Disc career retrospective, containing almost 60 songs, and a booklet containing The Ramones ENTIRE career. So how does Hey Ho Let's Go-Ramones Anthology stack up? Read on to find out?

PROS-

-ALMOST SIXTY SONGS ON TWO DISCS!- The Ramones Anthology has 58 songs on TWO(!) discs, so you can expect bank for your buck!
-HAS ALL OF THE RAMONES' BIGGEST HITS!-The Ramones Anthology has instantly recognizeable hits such as "Blitzkrieg Bop", "California Sun", and "I Wanna Be Sedated", which won't fail to please Casual fans!
-SO MANY UNDERRATED MASTERPIECES!-The Ramones Anthology is basically made up of underrated masterpieces, including "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?", "Judy Is A Punk", and so many more!
-COVERS ALL OF THE RAMONES ALBUMS- From 'The Ramones' to 'Adios Amigos', The Ramones Anthology has songs from every album, making this a superb retrospective!
-EACH DISC FULLS UP THE 80 MINUTE LIMIT!-Unlike most compilations, The Ramones Anthology takes up almost 80 Minutes on each Disc, showing you get what you paid for!
-THE BOOKLET IS A VIRTUAL HISTORY ON THE RAMONES!-The Booklet for The Ramones Anthology is 80 pages(!), making it the longest, most detailed, and interesting booklet I've ever read through! Great!

CONS-

-EXPENSIVE!-The Ramones Anthology will set you back 30 Dollars, while 'The Ramones Mania' and 'Loud, Fast Ramones:Their Toughest Hits' will only set you back Fifteen Dollars, making it less accessible to casual fans.
-NO NEW TRACKS!-The Ramones Anthology has no new tracks, so it's basically worthless to Diehard fans, and it's too expensive for casual fans, making it very inaccessible.

Overall, Hey Ho Let's Go- The Ramones Anthology is a very good and detailed compilation, but casual fans and diehard fans may be turned off because of its lack of new material and price. But, if you were only going to buy one thing by The Ramones, I would suggest picking this up. If your a casual fan, I recommend the 'Ramones Mania' compilation, because it's also very good and a lot cheaper.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, IF YOU'RE ONLY GOING TO BUY ONE THING BY THE RAMONES, YOU SHOULD BUY THIS! IF YOU'RE WILLING TO SHELL OUT 30 DOLLARS, IN THE END THIS COMPILATION IS WORTH IT!

Also Recommended-

The Essential-Clash
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here Come The Sex Pistols!-Sex Pistols
The Very Best Of-The Pixies

Thanks For Reading! ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Grows on you every time you hear it...
A friend bought me this CD and the lyrics are fantastic and remind me of some of Ani DiFranco's, but the music is a little punkier, which I like. Impossible (as a girl who dates, but doesn't plan on ever getting married) to not love lyrics that include lines like 'Well I don't think we have to be like this forever
there's more to life than love and being together'.

My favorite song, though, is a love ballad of sorts..."Underwater". It's one those charmingly hard look at love:

"Underwater I wrote drowning
I use to be such good good swimmer
but for now my head is in the clouds
I'm a silly love song
a twisted elbow crush song..."

All in all a great album...definitely worth picking up. If you like Ani DiFranco or Melissa Ferrick, I'm pretty sure you'll love this CD.

I Love It!
The first song I heard from this album was ' I Hear Noises'. I saw the video for it on MuchMusic and was completely unimpressed. The first thing I thought was "what's wrong with this girl's voice?" Now however, I can't get enough of this talented duo. I decided to give 'I Hear Noises' another try. I downloaded it and, after hearing it the second time, I got hooked. I immediatly went out and picked up the album. The thing which first turned me off Tegan and Sara is now the reason I love them so much. I can't get enough of the vocals. I'll be honest, I like listening to sigers like Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, but if that was all I listened to I'd be completely bored out of my mind. Tegan and Sara mix awesome lyrics, with amazing beats, and funky vocals. The best tracks are 'Time Running', 'City Girl', 'I Hear Noises', 'Living Room', and 'Don't Confess (This Thing That Breaks My Heart)'. It's near impossible not to get some of the tracks from 'If It Was You' stuck in your head (namely 'Monday Monday Monday') and once you do, the only way to get them out seems to be singing another one of their songs instead! It's such a shame Tegan and Sara arn't given more attention. In an industry full of manufactured, over-produced fluff, these girls are definitely a breath of fresh air. I would most definitely recommend this album, it's one of my favorites!

Teagn and Sara are a breath of fresh air!
I bought this cd wondering if I really would like it that much. I am always interested in hearing something new so Tegan and Sara intrigued me. What a pleasant surprise it was to find out that they are awesome. I found myself within the first week of my purchase, listening to the cd everywhere, at home, at work, and in the car. My favorite songs are "Don't Confess", "Living Room" (the banjo was in my opinion an inspired choice of instrument in this song, it gives the song a slight rustic feel), and "Monday, Monday, Monday". So if you're intrested in folk music, and canadian chicks that rock, definitely pick up this cd!

T & S rock!
Tegan and Sara are rock stars. Their lyrics are awesome, their music is addictive, their voices are their own. It's a shame they're not plastered on the cover of every big music magazine out there. It's a shame their video's aren't playing on MTV every 2 minutes. It's a shame they haven't sold out...oh wait...
Here's a band that's sold a ton of records not because their faces are everywhere on magazines and television, but because their music is unlike anything you've ever heard before. They're a group unlike any other and they rock. They're just about the music. They kick @$$ and you're missing out on something great if you haven't added them to your cd collection yet.

You'll be hooked
Tegan and Sara's "If it was You" kept popping up on my amazon.com recommendation list, so I listened to the short clips provided on the site. I wasn't much impressed until I downloaded live, unplugged mp3's of Tegan and Sara via KPSU, a radio station out of Portland. I'm glad I gave this duo a second chance!

I'm now officially a Tegan and Sara fan and have since purchased two of their records and am waiting impatiently for thier third CD and tour.

If It Was You is a strong album, filled with catchy hooks, impressive lyrics and vocal styles that compliment each other very well. There's not a dud on the record, but best songs include: Monday Monday Monday, You Went Away, Not Tonight, I Hear Noises and Living Room. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In 1972, when rock & roll was all but dead in Manhattan, five cross-dressing glam punks from the boroughs convened and began hammering out crude, sub-Chuck Berry rock for the downtown in-crowd. It took another year before a record company dared to sign them, thus foisting The New York Dolls on an essentially uninterested world. Taking their cue from the band's guitarist/Keefalike Johnny Thunders, hardcore Dolls fans pooh-poohed Todd Rundgren's production as wimpy: twenty-five years after its release, songs like "Personality Crisis" and "Looking for a Kiss" sound more trashily invigorating than ever. With the Rolling Stones finished as a vital force by '73, the doomed Dolls were there to step into the void. A classic. --Barney Hoskyns ... Read more

Reviews (42)

Nearly A Classic....
I know what I'm saying might be regarded by some of the other reviewers here as heresy (especially as - and I probably should declare this - I'm a big NY Dolls Fan), but this album should be better regarded as a bold statement of intent to what was to come on "Too Much, Too Soon". So what's the deal? One absolute, all-time classic "Lookin' for a Kiss", three or four really good songs, another three or four good ones, the rest indifferent - the problem is the album is too unfocussed; You're blown away by the opening pairing of "Personality Crisis" and "Looking For A Kiss" (probably the best start to an album I've ever heard...) and then unfortunately you're into the pretentious dirge of Vietnamese Baby. Things improves with the pleasant pop of Lonely Planet Boy, and then quickly disimprove with the over-the-top epic Frankenstein. After this, it's easy to understand why people might be dissuaded from going to side two.

Which is a pity - "Pills", "Subway Train", "Trash" are all great trashy glam-blues-punk-whatever rock songs and the rest isn't bad either. The problem really is in the Track selection - why couldn't "Frankenstein" and "Vietnamese Baby" have been left off and instead replaced by some inspired covers, as on Too Much Too Soon? "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" springs to mind.

In case all of this is a little too bitchy (it probably is), "Lookin' for A Kiss" is worth the price of the CD alone, and 80% of the rest of the album is damn good. I'll give it 4 stars, but (sigh) it could so easily have been a 5...

What? You don't already own this?
Having just re-listened to this album a few days ago, the same recurring thought hit me every time the record ends: why can't they make 'em like this anymore?

From beginning to end, this is uber-classic rock'n'roll at its finest, and what's still amazing is that over 30 years later, it's still as vital and fresh as ever.

From the gutter-punk raunch of "Trash", "Personality Crisis", and "Looking For A Kiss", the album subtle melds Chuck Berry to Iggy & The Stooges, but injects more than its fair share of original licks that have yet to be topped even to this very day. "Lonely Planet Boy" is the doo-wop classic that never was, and "Pills" sounds just as potent unplugged as it does here in this steamrolling version.

My personal favourite has to be "Subway Train", which crystalizes the ethos of the Dolls in under 4 1/2 minutes. The follow-up "Too Much Too Soon" is equally good, but less rife with classics. Get 'em both anyway.

would have been bigger then life.
In the 70's the new york dolls did a tour with two off the biggest bands ever areosmith and kiss. The only thing about this tour was that the new york dolls headlined the tour. If it wasn't for horione the new york dolls would have been bigger then life itself, and johnny thunders would have been in the rock and roll hall of fame buy this album listen to great music buy some of the greatest.

raw and beautiful and full of energy
This is one of my favorite albums of all time. It is so raw and beautiful and full of energy and emotion and no one plays the guitar like Johnny Thunders...

I've gone through so many copies of this recording, the cassettes wore out, the vinyl is thrashed and now the CD needs replacement. That's a lot of listening and it's still not enough. From start to finish this record is great - no filler or throwaway songs to speak of. Just full on rock and roll at it's finest.

"Mick who?"
Ah, the Dolls. More than any other band, they were the epitome of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle (them and The Stooges..but that's another story). They didn't just burn the candle at both ends--they used a blowtorch on the middle. All the drug-crazed, trashily androgynous, Rolling Stones-in-drag insanity of the New York Dolls was woefully short-lived, but the result was a breakthrough 1973 LP that was a huge influence on the future punk movement. The Ramones (guitarist Johnny Thunders was a friend of Dee Dee Ramone's) and the Sex Pistols (Malcom McLaren managed the Dolls before there even was a Johnny Rotten) probably wouldn't have existed without Johnny Thunders and David Johansen to show them the way.

Way grittier and wilder than their glam rock kin (David Bowie and T. Rex), the Dolls basically updated the early rock 'n' roll of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. What the Dolls lacked in instrumental prowess they made up for in reckless sexual abandon and crazy R&B swagger. Thunders' guitar is HUGE, sloppy, and manic, and his filthy riffs and solos are what make this album. But let's not forget the trashy wit and great singing of Johanson, Sylvain Sylvain's piano, Jerry Nolan's crashing drums, and bassist Arthur Kane...well, he sucked, but you barely heard him over the wonderfully shambolic boogie anyway.

The opener Personality Crisis establishes everything the Dolls were about--stomping piano, riproaring guitar, and Johanson's cocky swagger and crazy vocals. The 1-2-3 punch of Personality Crisis, Looking For A Kiss, and Vietnamese Baby is then followed by the short reprive of Lonely Planet Boy. The epic Frankenstein brings the rawk back, and it is immediately followed by the insanely addictive sing-a-long Trash. The album ends with Jet Boy, which hooks you with the biggest freakin' chorus ever. Filler? What filler? Every song rules. They're so good that you will almost forget about Todd Rundgren's godawful production. Almost.

The New York Dolls' first release ranks up there with The Stooges' Fun House and The MC5's Kick Out The Jams as the definitive proto-punk album. Barring that, it may be the greatest pure rock 'n' roll document EVER. You need this one. ... Read more

Album Description

Story Of The Year explodes with pure punk energy on the St. Louis Band's major label debut album from Maverick.Produced by John Feldman (The Used, Good Charlotte).Enhanced CD includes 3 behind-the-scenes videos and more.2003. ... Read more

Reviews (186)

STORY OF THE YEAR - PAGE AVENUE
What can I really say about this album? Badass, awesome, greatest ever, etc. I mean, words can't even begin to describe how awesome this band really is. They're completely amazing. Ever since the first time I heard "Until the Day I Die", I haven't been able to stop listening to this album. I mean, sure, like any other album, it gets old after listening to it nonstop for three weeks straight, but I still HAVE to listen to the album in its entirety at least once a week. Story of the Year really opened me up to this whole post-punk/emo style of music. If you're a fan of bands like The Used, Funeral For A Friend, Emery, Senses Fail, Matchbook Romance, Thrice, Finch, etc. then you should definitely check out Story of the Year. My favorite songs include: Until the Day I Die, Dive Right In, and Swallow the Knife.

01 - And the Hero Will Drown - 4/5
02 - Until the Day I Die - 5/5
03 - Anthem of Our Dying Day - 4/5
04 - In the Shadows - 4/5
05 - Dive Right In - 5/5
06 - Swallow the Knife - 5/5
07 - Burning Years - 4/5
08 - Page Avenue - 5/5
09 - Sidewalks - 5/5
10 - Divide and Conquer - 3/5
11 - Razorblades - 4/5
12 - Falling Down - 4/5

Story of the Year with an outstanding album
Story of the Year has the perfect sound with the great blend of fast paced singing and occasional emotional screaming. The lyrics are all amazing and meaningful, but not overdone. Not one bad track on this album, that's what amazes me. Similar artists to SOTY are Thrice, Autopilot Off, and Thursday.

1. And the Hero Will Drown - 8.5/10. good opener, but not even close to the best song on the album.

2. Until the Day I Die - 10/10. amazing song. displays the great vocal quality of this album.

3. Anthem of Our Dying Day - 9.5/10. great lyrics, good beat too.

4. In the Shadows - 10/10. good chorus & lyrics, and AWESOME ending.

5. Dive Right In - 9.5/10. perfect mix of singing and screaming.

6. Swallow the Knife - 9/10. important piece to the middle of the album.

7. Burning Years - 8.5/10. awesome beginning, good guitar and drums.

8. Page Avenue - 9.5/10. good beginning, good middle, good end.

9. Sidewalks - 9.5/10. great lyrics, we can all relate to.

10. Divide and Conquer - 9.5/10. I love the chorus, and also again the blend of screaming and singing is sensational.

11. Razorblades - 9.5/10. perfect chorus, good drums.

12. Falling Down - 8.5/10. great song, really fast paced. meaningful lyrics. its just too short or it would be in the 9's.

Page Avenue - Story Of The Year
This is a great cd that's full of different sounds and rhythems. This CD goes from rock to softer rock and then hard rock. I wouldn't advise this CD for the squemish when it comes to screaming though. If your not too bad...then this CD is definitely worth the risk. Replay value for this CD in my opinion is a 9/10. Lastly... This is a GREAT CD and well worth the money!!!

Associated Titles: Linkin Park, Billy Talent, The Used(Same Producer),and The Lostprophets

Amazing
I saw this band this summer at, The Warped Tour. They are awsome performers. This Cd is by far my favorite in my cd collection. Don't miss out on this one. All of there songs are great, great sound. Just all around an awsome band. Buy it! You won't be disapointed.

Highly Reccomended
i think that this album ROCKS and think you should buy it and it is worth every cent. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The opening track, "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," explodes out of your speakers with sharp, see-sawing guitars and shouted vocals, an irresistible melange of angular rhythms and mighty, powerful dynamics. The rest of the songs are similarly pulled along by some unseen force, driven by an energy found in classic post-punk bands like Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 or Drunken Boat. Some reviewers have referenced the Pixies, and while that's not off the mark, this is more like the Pixies undergoing dental work--without anesthesia.--Lorry Fleming ... Read more

Reviews (97)

My First Experience with Modest Mouse
I was flipping through my brother's CDs one night, and noticed this CD lying among the rest. Not really wanting to check it out at the time, I made a note to check them out later.

So finally, after a month or two completly dry of new music, I finally went out and got this CD.

Whoa, was I amazed.

Modest Mouse, has an interesing sound, the album started off with the jarring loud sounds of Teeth Like God's Shoeshine, and then moves into the softer, Heart Cooks Brain. By the end, I felt as though this album went through so many different genre's it was amazing.

Issac Brock's voice, which was jarring at first, has quickly become one of my favourite parts of Modest Mouse. His voice is definately an aqquired taste though.

Musically, Modest Mouse tend to be "punk rock" ish (And I've heard many comparisons made between them and The Pixies, but I've never heard anything by the Pixies) but they occasionally dip into a country western sound (Jesus Christ Was An Only Child) or a softer, sound (Heart Cooks Brain)

Definately a good place to start listening to Modest Mouse.

very good, not the greatest of the 90s, however
...compare modest mouse to the pixies. okay... isaac brook and black francis both have unique scream-y voices, both bands play distorted fractured yet catchy songs. but modest mouse's ideas on songforms and willingness to experiment is a big difference (don't take this as a bad thing for the pixies). most pixies songs were short compact and fit within conventential songform. not so with modest mouse, their songs are long epic strangely assembled with threading guitars working their way through. also, when have the pixies ever experimented as wildly with genre as modest mouse? they put in some surf rock on their later albums. they never used a turntable, or played with country, much less on the same album. now that THAT'S out of our way... i can discuss the merits of the album it's self. this album is best loud (well okay most albums are but this one benefits especially), a perfect soundtrack for teenage bedroom flailing. it's super long and full of energy the entire duration which makes listening to it straight through exhausting in the best possible sense. for whatever reason i rarely listen that hard to the lyrics in rock, so i can't comment especially on their merit but there's nothing embarrassingly bad in them that jumps out, and whatever isaac is singing about you can tell: HE MEANS IT, MAN! the chord progressions are throughly in the late '90s indie totally non-blues post-sonic youth polvo, built to spill style. i'm not a real big music theory head so i might be wrong, but the chords don't sound like any blues or metal or punk clichéd progressions. my favorite song: cowboy dan (but this might only be because i can play most of it on guitar). yeah i actually get a certain bored middle american parking lots and strip mall suburban depressing feeling from this cd which is good for me cos i can totally relate to that [bad] vibe living in a soulless place like that myself. end of ramble here.

Crisco Disco
It is a rare thing, indeed that a band issues a debut that not only defies convention, but also defines a sound; Lonesome Crowded West, by Modest Mouse, at the very least, does this. Reference points and comparisons are meaningless here. The spiraling and inharmonious guitar ricocheting off melodious base lines and thundering drums are kept afloat by Brock's impaired vocals. Love this record, or hate it, but where can one find a turntable, acoustic guitar, violin solos, and Jesus all in one song. Brock's lyrics cover the spectrum, life, religion, cowboys and, in their own way, offer meaning to what has none. In these existential tirades are also great stories, interesting characters, and non-existent dance moves. Don't be fooled by double-talk or jaded old rock critics; this album is one for the ages. Keep it in your car for a week on repeat- soak it in, then see if you haven't suffered a shift in the way you hear an album. This record will change your mind about what could, should, and ought to be done with the tried and true guitar, base, and drum trio. The West, though now it may be crowded was once a great frontier. With Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse have opened a new one.

An arrogant mouse baring it's teeth...
After being introduced to MM through "The Moon and Antarctica", I bought this release and was confused. Gone was the mellow mood and beautiful, smooth-sounding backwards guitars prevalant on most of "Moon...". In their place was screaming about cowboys vowing to kill God and some minor-chord indie dance called the Cockroach.

After the longest period of getting into an album I've ever had to deal with, I can say that this is MM's best release. It is their most focused, with all tracks focusing on single goals or points of view, without the jump-around eclecticsm of their later releases (i.e. "Good News..." and how it jumps from emo-rock to Tom Waits). Although it's harder to get into, this album is definitely worth it.

As the AllMusic.com review says, there is a very "white-trash" feel to this album. But not celebrating being ignorant, like Kid Rock does. It's more like having to cope with being poor (just see the absolutely jaw-dropping track "Trailer Trash"). Seeing as how Modest Mouse honed their skills playing in a makeshift practice space BUILT by Brock next to his mother's trailer, they have credibility in living a hard life.

I'll outline some of the standouts:

See the first track, "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine". Long (it's past 6 minutes) and angry. Isaac Brock's incredibly moving screams and shouts (criticized by many of the newer Modest Mouse fans) permeate this song as he sings, "Said hell ya! The money's spent - went to the country line and paid the rent said 'Uh-oh'!" After a momentary silence, the guitars burst back in with jagged rage as Isaac screams, "Well, do you need a lot of what you've got to survive?"

The next track, "Heart Cooks Brain" is the best downbeat indie-rock song with DJ scratching I've ever heard. Some of the coolest and most bizarre metaphors in music.

"Lounge (Closing Time)" shows off Modest Mouse's ability to play in bizarre time signatures and starts to show their ability to write jump-around emo. "I've got a girlfriend out in th ecity, I know I like her I think she is pretty!" Isaac chants with a hillbilly drawl over 7/8 time.

"Jesus Christ was an Only Child" is funky country that features Tyler Riley, one of the most prominent MM side musicians.

"Doin' the Cockroach" is just cool. Listen to it. Damn.

"Cowboy Dan"...uh...let me just quote the lyrics:
"Cowboy Dan's a major play in ther Cowboy Scene. He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean. Goes to the desert fires his riffle in the sky and yells, 'God if I have to die, you will have to die!'"

The rest is more of the same brilliance. If you are open-minded and looking for something indepedent-sounding, while needing a fix for loud guitars and a dose of Americana, buy this album.

Wow.
Isaac Brock is a pure genius. On this album, there is a wide variety of music. From the 10 minute-long "Truckers Atlas" to "Cowboy Dan" to the fiddle in "Jesus Christ Was An Only Child". I must say, I cannot be more impressed by this album than I already am. It is one of the few CD's that I can listen to all the way through and not get tired of it. The guitars are fantastic on all the songs, and the lyrics are incredible. If you've never heard of Modest Mouse, then I suggest that you give this CD a try and get into some great indie-rock music. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Elvis Costello kicked off his debut album with a formal device that would also serve his next two long-players well: the first thing you hear is his voice. That opening phrase--"Now that your picture's in the paper..."--was more than sneakily, if not intentionally, appropriate, since Costello was quickly declared the second coming. It's become de rigueur to dis the pub-rock backing of U.S. band Clover, but their work here is satisfactorily edgy; guitarist John McFee makes some of the arrangements with his wailingly articulate fills. The remastered Rhino reissue includes a full second disc of demos and rarities. --Rickey Wright ... Read more

Reviews (27)

An Intro. to Costello
This is a quintessential Elvis Costello album. If you don't own an Elvis Costello album, then this album will be a great introduction. Every song is on here is catchy and stands on its own as a rock hit. Costello has a unique style unlike a lot of Rock, yet when listening to his songs I think that this is what Rock and Roll is about. With catchy lyrics and upbeat rhythms, My Aim is True will have you coming back to listen to it over and over again.

Opened my doors of perception
Scene One; A sixteen year old boy is happily sitting in suburban Detroit. The soundtrack to his life is what would later come to be known as Classic Rock Radio. There are rumors of punk rock and new wave from England, however these are not audible yet in the midwest. One Saturday evening, he sits down to watch SNL with special musical guest Elvis Costello. Snap! That was the sound of a dropping jaw breaking the coffee table as Mr. Costello (looking like an exhumed Buddy Holly) plays Radio Radio. Scene Two; Said boy brings home My Aim is True. His mind is blown. Every song sounds like a hit single. He is amazed. Maybe there are other unheard things out there like this. Epilogue; This album helped open my doors to Punk, New Wave, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, Blues, World Music, Country, well you get the idea. Thank you Mr. McManus. One classic album.

The Marking of an Arrival
"If he didn't exist, someone would try to invent him", read a promotional poster for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut. However, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and to try to invent Elvis Costello would be like trying to invent Woody Allen, a personality whose singularity is on par with Elvis's. Elvis Costello was the angry young man par excellence, and if punk is all about attitude, then he certainly fit the bill (he was only 22 when the LP was released). My Aim is True also introduced a superb artist who could cover half a dozen styles (punk, rockabilly, reggae, Tin Pan Alley, new wave, singer/songwriter) and emotions (bitterness, anger, lust, ruefulness, whimsy, and musical inspiration) in an equal number of songs. Top that off with his moniker and unsettlingly warped Buddy Holly appearance, and you have the walking popular music museum that Costello is.

On My Aim is True - which must have come as a shock to his ex-office colleagues - his greatness manifests itself in about six tracks, five of which are undeniably brilliant, the other of which any individual listener can choose for him or herself. The other songs, while hardly mere filler, pale by comparison, and are perhaps ill-served by bare-bones production, slow tempos, and somewhat forced lyrics. The greatness of My Aim is True lies at least as much in the fact that it is the marking of an arrival as it does in the half-dozen truly great songs it contains.

On first listen, "Welcome to the Working Week" seems to start off the disc beautifully, and provide a great introduction to what makes Elvis tick. It is angry, bitter, and pithy (which is probably the single best and most oft-used word to describe his lyrics). However, one cannot be struck by the song's overly abrupt ending (a technique which can be effective, especially in punk, but isn't here), and the fact that the song doesn't make much sense and therefore fails to pack its potential lyrical punch (why is someone whose picture is in the paper being "rhythmically admired" being welcomed to the working week?). "Miracle Man" further reveals Elvis' lyrical abilities, and has that patented Elvis mix of bitterness and guilt, but is a bit ill-served by its matter-of-fact presentation (as are "Blame it on Cain" and "Less Than Zero," the latter of which was the first indication of what one critic called his "bizarre fascination with fascism"). "No Dancing," a chronicle of an eager-to-please, sex-starved nice guy (I wonder who?), is more pleasantly poppy, and is the best of the first four songs

Finally, at track five, we arrive at "Alison," the first undeniable indication of Elvis' talent. Here he is a singer-songwriter in the best sense of the term. Elvis packs all of what were to become his trademark emotions into this song, as he laments a lost love from whom he just can't keep the appropriate physical and emotional distance ("Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking" / "I can't stand to see you this way"). The singer of the song wants Alison back, but cannot accept her as she is now (and he probably shouldn't), but would gladly have her as she once was (and she might be just as happy to be that person again, too). This song should lay waste to any doubts that the first-time listener might have.

After "Alison," the CD alternates between truly undeniable brilliance and pleasant enough pop songs. In the latter category are the Tin Pan Alley ditties "Sneaky Feelings" and "Pay It Back," which are entertaining, but serve mainly to indicate Elvis' range, and may not impress listeners who appreciate the pithy Elvis. "Less Than Zero", the first line of which was immortalized by Elvis's first (and, for a very long time, only) Saturday Night Live appearance, might have worked better if it were a bit tighter, and played at a quicker tempo, while "Waiting for the End of the World" sounds more like a report than a song (although the guitar work is quite tasteful).

But don't let this frighten you away. The second half of the disc also treats the listener to four of the best songs Elvis ever recorded, which, in combination with "Alison", almost make pointing out the weaker moments of the disc sound like nit-picking. "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" sublimely reveals a kinder, gentler, whimsical Elvis, who seems to think he's good enough, smart enough, and possibly liked by non-existent entities. It also contains some of the best lyrics on the CD (eg, "I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused" / Oh, I said 'I'm so happy I could die'/She said 'drop dead' and left with another guy"). "Mystery Dance" reveals the sexually frustrated Elvis in an impossibly catchy one-and-a-half minute glory days of rock and roll song drenched in the attitude of punk. Hearing Elvis Costello sing "I'm not angry anymore" - in a quintessential Costello self-portrait - is like hearing a fish sing a song called "I'm Not Wet." And the disc's closer, the reggae-infected "Watching The Detectives", almost sounds out of place on My Aim is True, but it nicely foreshadows the greater sophistication of his future releases (but the soon-to-be-released single "Radio Radio" seems to belong on this album).

All things considered, Elvis emerged more or less fully formed on the finer moments of My Aim is True. The weaker songs, at the very least, indicate an amazing musical facility, while the stronger songs are strong not only by comparison to the others on the disc, but to any song released in 1977. The CD is less of a sign of things to come than a full-fledged revelation of a great musical talent and palpably unique personality. I do believe that he has better, or at least more consistent, albums (eg, This Year's Model, Armed Forces), but the best songs on this CD are at least as good as the best ones anywhere in his catalog. Still, the lesser songs do subtract a bit from the overall quality and momentum of the disc. Even if they are good enough songs, they are less impressive in a way that makes them seem unsatisfying and disappointing. But this can fade with repeated listenings, and My Aim is True is a fine place to start or to continue appreciating one of the best singer-songwriters of the past three decades.

(The bonus disc included with the Rhino re-issue is worth having not only for the alternate takes and live songs, but for the fascinating liner notes, penned by Elvis himself. All nine of the Ryko version bonus tracks are included, and the alternate versions of "No Action" and especially "Mystery Dance" - which is solo and all acoustic - are welcome additions. Live versions include those of "Less Than Zero" - with some interestingly different lyrics - and the David/Bacharach song "I Just Don't Know What to do With Myself". Several other tracks are presented in what are appropriately called "Honky Tonk demos," and showcase Elvis' lifelong enthrallment with country. Plus, lyrics to every song - bonus tracks too - are thrown in. So be sure to shell out the extra few bucks for the Rhino 2-disc set.)

World 's Introduction To E.C.
This album is a great beginning for any Elvis Costello collection. What can you say about this album that hasn't already been said. I feel that some of standout tracks here are:
"Watching the Detectives", "The angels want to wear{my red shoes} "lESS THAN ZERO" and "Blame it on cain". The only thing that's missing here is the full group of "the Attractions; instead it is the pub-rock backing of U.S. band"clover". I don't think some of the arrangements that guitarist John McFee made were the appropriate choices that he picked, for example: when E.C. and "the attractions" played together on later albums this sounded much better and more sonically intense. Therefore, I think this debut album is quite different than any other of his recordings. The deluxe 28 page booklet and the new liner notes are in my opinion a great addition to this Rhino record collection.

Perfection!
Simply put, one of the top 5 rock albums of all time! ... Read more

Album Description

The highly anticipated full-length follow-up to 2002's "Drunken Lullabies". Flogging Molly continue to breed traditional Irish influences and heavy-hearted storytelling with brazen, barn-burning punk rock. At the same time, the ballads that have become welcome staples to their live show (giving the audience a break from the frenzy) are also stronger than ever. Look for a couple surprises this time around, such as a Cajun vibe on "Tomorrow Comes A Day Too Soon", and a guest appearance by Lucinda Williams on "Factory Girls". ... Read more

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Although this Kentucky combo had a short lifespan, its influence has been extraordinary, presaging the underground "math-rock" revolution and spawning spinoffs such as Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol. But don't go thinking that the foursome is a mere footnote: The bracingly dense, dizzyingly complex songs that vein this, their second full-length release, perfectly capture the smarter face of early-'90s thug-rock. Yes, Slint's sound is descended from punk, but its members--particularly guitarist Brian McMahan--never subscribed to the "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy. Spiderland is so rife with breakneck tempo changes, off-kilter chord progressions, and bizarro-world themes, you'd be hard-pressed to go a listen without discovering something new. --David Sprague ...