Alio
They call me Avocado Baby
That absolutely deserves 5 stars
5 Star Albums - The Killers - Hot Fuss
- Thread starter Alio
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That absolutely deserves 5 stars
Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
Oh yes indeed m'friend.
ijjysmith
Calm
Hibbosculturedrightboot
Player Valuation: £15m
Good morning, afternoon or evening fellow Evertonians, how goes it?
Pretty bored this evening and felt like typing some words about some stuff, so here it is. Feel free to add your words on an album you think it worthy of a Top 5 Rating. I'm talking World Class. For those lucky enough to be part of the Not so secret Music Clique, you'll know we love nothing more than a band with less than 100 hundred YouTube views, no record deal, a singer who's first name is probably something like "The" or "Win" and no Wikipedia page or twitter feed in sight. However, we all like a popular album that will be remembered as a classic. What the hell is it and why?
*we'll start a "You've never heard of this album, but this is why it's ace, but don't tell anyone, as I want to be their only fan" thread soon, for some alternative awesomeness
Anyway, I've gone for Hot Fuss. Yeah there's better albums to start with, granted, but even the album cover is pretty awesome huh. It's the first vinyl I bought (and now appears to be worth quite a bit). I went to their first UK gig at Brixton which started at 3pm one Saturday afternoon back in 2004 I think. The album seemed to come out at a time where I wasn't really enjoying much else. The charts were full of Eamon, Westlife, the X Factor and DJ Casper, but this was the start of some of music revival, for me anyway.
I've not listened to this in quite some time, but I've found myself again buying a new Killers album and being yet again, a but underwhelmed by it. However, like any new release from a band you used to adore, you always put on their best album on, in anticipation of their forth coming release. I kind of wish I hadn't, as listening to Hot Fuss has made me really realise, their last few efforts have not really been all that in comparison, sadly. But they've all had a hard act to follow in my opinion
I've been trying to think of another album over the past 10 years that has a better opening 5 songs, than this album??
Jenny was a fiend of mine - Part of their so called "Murder Trilogy". A monster of an opening track. Anyone own Alan Partridge Series 2? Course you do, go put it on and listen to the music on the main menu when Alan's playing Air Guitar? Sounds very familiar huh
Mr Brightside - Need I say more? Whatever you think of The Killers (probably not a great deal) you can't help enjoy this number
Followed by incredibly catchy - Smile Like you mean it, the Indie Student Uni Bar anthem of 2005 - Somebody told me and the Anthemic - All these things that I've done.
That's some start to an album by my book, they all offer something different with a couple of them instantly going down as classics. Perhaps it tails off at the end, well, of course it does, but this is probably still one of the best albums of the 10 or so years, easy.
Anyway, not sure I was really trying to convince anyone there, but I'd like some of yours please bro's
Bored here and I miss the days when we had more Musical threads than we did ones about Everton, Pardew or Saurez
The problem with the album is that it tails off badly. Your review is telling - focuses on the first half!
Symptomatic of the Killers really, a lot of boss moments, but never truly consistent. Sorry man, can't class this as a 5 rated album!
johnnydawg68
Chairperson, People's Front of Saint Domingo
Not sure if I missed this first time around or meant to get back to it and never did, but obviously this is screaming my name.
I'll do a bunch but I'll start with a Music Clique fave, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea from 1998. Most will not have heard it. It is however, one of the mostly widely praised albums of the last 25 years. I've yet to meet anyone who likes a certain kind of music, and has listened to it who doesn't adore this record. I've never actually heard anyone say they don't like it. And that's odd because Jeff Mangum's voice is not exactly X-Factor material.
Honestly this is the type of thing you either get immediately or you don't. I'm not sure I can convince anyone to do anything other than listen to it and see for yourself.
The record starts with mid tempo acoustic strumming of The King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 as Mangum croons "And your mom would drink until she was no longer speaking/And dad would dream of all the different ways to die/Each one a little more than he could dare to try" and you realize this isn't going to be a "boy meets girl" type affair. As pt. 1 segues into KOCF pts. 2 -3 Mangum screeches "I love you Jesus Christ/Jesus Christ I love you/Yes I do...." and you're thinking to yourself "what have I gotten myself into here?". Then the horns kick in and the tempo cranked up and the guitars are run through a blender and you're off and running at 100mph singing "Up and over/We go through the wave and undertow/I will float until I learn how to swim/Inside my mother in a garbage bin/Until I find myself again again" and that rush will never ever leave you. At least it hasn't for me. Gets me every time.
Next comes the tile track, which can only be described as one of the loveliest songs ever recorded. Again, in the hands of an accomplished singer, the song could easily be in the top 10, but it might lose its rough edges and it's character in the process. Features one of the few horn solos in modern rock history as well.
Two-Headed Boy (the first song I heard off this album which led me to seek it out) is an epic slow burner leading with a simple acoustic riff and Mangum straining to hit every note as he sings "I am listening to hear where you aaaaaaaaaaare". I think the fact that he clearly isn't pop vocalist but has the balls to try it anyway and manages to pull it off is part of the endearing quality of NMH. This isn't some factory produced throwaway package. THIS IS ART. THIS IS A MAN SINGING HIS GUTS OUT.
Quite frankly, it's hard to top those first 4 songs. I'm not sure there's a record in my lifetime that open with 4 tracks that hit you right in the gut repeatedly like this record, but somehow, someway we still haven't even gotten to 3 minutes and 13 seconds of the pop perfection that is "Holland, 1945".
[video=youtube;rCca1pourVM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCca1pourVM[/video]
If you don't find yourself singing along to this one at the top of your lungs once you learned the words, you have no soul, no heart, and certainly no taste in music.
The back half of the record isn't as star studded, but a particular highlight for me is "Ghost". It's a track that gets lost a bit with all of the other classics at the front end, but it's one of the best songs on the record.
I'll do a bunch but I'll start with a Music Clique fave, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea from 1998. Most will not have heard it. It is however, one of the mostly widely praised albums of the last 25 years. I've yet to meet anyone who likes a certain kind of music, and has listened to it who doesn't adore this record. I've never actually heard anyone say they don't like it. And that's odd because Jeff Mangum's voice is not exactly X-Factor material.
Honestly this is the type of thing you either get immediately or you don't. I'm not sure I can convince anyone to do anything other than listen to it and see for yourself.
The record starts with mid tempo acoustic strumming of The King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 as Mangum croons "And your mom would drink until she was no longer speaking/And dad would dream of all the different ways to die/Each one a little more than he could dare to try" and you realize this isn't going to be a "boy meets girl" type affair. As pt. 1 segues into KOCF pts. 2 -3 Mangum screeches "I love you Jesus Christ/Jesus Christ I love you/Yes I do...." and you're thinking to yourself "what have I gotten myself into here?". Then the horns kick in and the tempo cranked up and the guitars are run through a blender and you're off and running at 100mph singing "Up and over/We go through the wave and undertow/I will float until I learn how to swim/Inside my mother in a garbage bin/Until I find myself again again" and that rush will never ever leave you. At least it hasn't for me. Gets me every time.
Next comes the tile track, which can only be described as one of the loveliest songs ever recorded. Again, in the hands of an accomplished singer, the song could easily be in the top 10, but it might lose its rough edges and it's character in the process. Features one of the few horn solos in modern rock history as well.
Two-Headed Boy (the first song I heard off this album which led me to seek it out) is an epic slow burner leading with a simple acoustic riff and Mangum straining to hit every note as he sings "I am listening to hear where you aaaaaaaaaaare". I think the fact that he clearly isn't pop vocalist but has the balls to try it anyway and manages to pull it off is part of the endearing quality of NMH. This isn't some factory produced throwaway package. THIS IS ART. THIS IS A MAN SINGING HIS GUTS OUT.
Quite frankly, it's hard to top those first 4 songs. I'm not sure there's a record in my lifetime that open with 4 tracks that hit you right in the gut repeatedly like this record, but somehow, someway we still haven't even gotten to 3 minutes and 13 seconds of the pop perfection that is "Holland, 1945".
[video=youtube;rCca1pourVM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCca1pourVM[/video]
If you don't find yourself singing along to this one at the top of your lungs once you learned the words, you have no soul, no heart, and certainly no taste in music.
The back half of the record isn't as star studded, but a particular highlight for me is "Ghost". It's a track that gets lost a bit with all of the other classics at the front end, but it's one of the best songs on the record.
DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
johnnydawg68
Chairperson, People's Front of Saint Domingo
I do remember that thread and CCF and I bonded over NMH a long time ago. You know where you stand with people who love NMH.
Ocean colour scene, Moseley Shoals.
J
Julian Carax
Guest
As sexy as that album is (I challenge anyone to not get the horn when listening to Night Air) we can't be handing out 5 stars willy-nilly.
Bigmaclad
No mate
I wouldn't say it's willy nilly, I'd put it on a par with this album for example.
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