Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse > Reviews > Bad news for people who like consistent albums

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Not applicable
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	-
Disadvantages:	-

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

One summer day last year, sitting in the garden with the patio doors open and the Black Crowes laying it down, my missus said to me "why don't you listen to some new music? Why do you keep playing these old songs all the time?" This is Mrs Pink speak for "and buy me one while you're at it, won't you?" Ha ha, and you ladies think we don't take anything in.....OK let's not go there. Back to Modest Mouse.

So Mrs Pink got her new CD, The Corrs I think it was, and I got this one. Now I've never heard any of their stuff, or even knew who they were, which is usually a recipe for disaster. But they had a kooky sounding name, the artwork is great, (six white arrows sticking out of a green wall with pink paint dripping down) so, in for a penny, in for a pound, or £6.99 of them in this case. Not bad for 16 tracks, but then again 16 tracks from this band is hard going all at once, as you are about to find out.......

Normally I like to know lots about the music I listen to, but for once I am totally indifferent to this lot, their line up is Isaac Brock, Eric Judy, Dan Gallucci and Ben Weikel. I don't know who plays what, nor do I particularly care, but I think Brock sings, because the lyrics are all his. I gather that the music is US indie/college rock.

No lyrics on the opener, Horn Intro, which is nine seconds of a brass section (The Dirty Dozen)......why? The band must have owed them a favour. This leads straight into The World At Large, a nice guitar-vocal only track (no bass or drums). A sorty of drift-along feel to this one. The single Float On follows, a high bass line dominates (I can play this!!!!) Quite funny lyrics too, "If things get heavy. we'll all float on OK", with a singsong chorus, and an acapella finish.

Ocean Breathes Salty comes next, layered vocals over a spacious guitar with more acapella at the bridge. "well that is that, and this is is". Something about getting out of jail too. These lyrics are starting to remind me of REM. A great finish to this, no music just singing "you wasted life, why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?"

Not content with the nine second horn opener, we have a 12 second acoustic guitar intro (Dig Your Grave)....I'm thinking filler alert!!!!!!! Bury Me With It comes along, another high bass line and military drumming....by the way, when a band always have a high bass on their records, it usually means the guitarist ain't up to much, this is certainly the case on this album.....my daughter likes dancing around to this song, frenzied vocals and we (gasp) almost get a guitar solo at the end.

We now get to Dance Hall, which is a dreadful racket, the bass player holds a high line (again!) , and the singing sounds like it was recorded through a loudhailer. Ugh, a horrible record. Bukowski is a lot better, quieter, banjos in the background, and a creeping bass / steel drum rythym. Quite a funny line too "who would want to be such an asshole?" Aaagh, no the horns again prelude This Devils Workday. More treated vocals and bizarre lyrics "all the people you know are floating in the river like logs", what the hell is that all about.

The View comes next, a stuttering, choppy guitar line, with a nice chorus and overall this has a nice galloping feel to it. The album so far has been passable but from here starts to get very bad, apart from one song. Satin In A Coffin starts off like some slow burning rock record, more military drumming too, a big chorus, but doesn't really go anywhere I'm afraid. AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH another "interlude", this time 58 seconds long, with a squeezebox and what sounds like a baby gurgling along in the background.

The quiet, careful Blame It On The Tetons is actaully my favourite song on here. A good simple guitar - shuffle percussion and and almost spoken lyrics, finishing off with piano. Black Cadillacs starts off in a similar vein, but ends up as a rehash of Float On, a sure sign the band were running out of ideas by the time this was recorded.

One Chance is a hands up attempt at stadium rock, but with a bizarre structure that does it no favours, deliberate feedback and the whole band join in shouting the lyrics. I must say the lyrics in this whole album are not your standard rock album type, again REM spring to mind.

The finale, The Good Times Are Killing Me, drifts along pleasantly enough, but another big chorus and more shouting just render it pointless to me. One minute guitars are crashing in and then it goes all quiet again. They don't put these type of songs on no 16 on the running list for nothing!!!!

I did laugh when the music pages on C4 teletext had this as the best album of 2004. If that is the case, 2004 must have been a really awful year for new music. It's not a bad album, neither is it a particularly good one either, especially the second half. I think this band need to find a direction with their next release, as they seem to be throwing everything up in the air and seeing what comes down first. This is not a record I prefer to play much, but fans of indie / garage rock should find it to their liking.