| Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News |
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 | Tracklist:
1. Horn Intro
2. The World At Large
3. Float On
4. Ocean Breathes Salty
5. Dig Your Grave
6. Bury Me With It
7. Dance Hall
8. Bukowski
9. This Devil's Workday
10. The View
11. Satin In A Coffin
12. Interlude (Milo)
13. Blame It On The Tetons
14. Black Cadillacs
15. One Chance
16. The Good Times Are Killing Me
| Ranking: #174 for 2004 | |
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On 28 Lists
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9 of 11 thought this review was well written
If Modest Mouse were actually a sort of rodent, I'm sure they would be the runt of the family. They would be the little mouse that takes Ritalin, but it never really helps him out, so he goes around all day spazzing out and running around in circles while the rest of the quaint little mice nibble on their dairy product and scamper about playfully before a sinisted cat comes to rape them of their existence and destroy their lives. Modest Mouse were the crowned princes of indie rock, and I guess you could say that they still are. Their popularity has grown by leaps and bounds since the releases of albums such as The Moon & Antarctica and their most recent, Good News for People Who Love Bad News. Critics have praised the latter as as a cohesive album, where the band becomes a finely tuned machine; producing well-crafted and melodic songs with little doses of peculiarity every so often. "Float On" was even a modest "hit" in the United States, probably the first instance of people even knowing of the band.
Sometimes, I tend to think that the title is a reference to the album itself. Good News for People Who Love Bad News is an uneven, hit and miss album. One moment, there will be a pure gem, and the next, there will be a boring, uninspired tune that can put you to sleep in a matter of seconds. Isaac Brock's trademark yelp helps in no way in the context of some of the songs. His constant drunken shouting in "Dancehall," overtop a boring, chaotic mess of what you might call music, provides the best example of just pure drudge. Filler tracks like the thirteen second "Dig Your Grave" and the the pump organ driven, French-sounding "Interlude (Milo)," though obviously serving as bridges between certain points in the album, somehow feel largely pointless in their execution, especially the former. The whole latter half of the album is average at best, with boring arrangements hampering what could be good songs. "Blame it on the Tetons" suffers from it's 5 minute length, dragging on the whole time. If it happened to be a bit shorter, it could possibly run for one of the best songs on the album.
When Modest Mouse happen to strike gold, though, it is definately a worthwile experience. "Float On" stomps out in a rather funky manner, providing an upbeat backdrop for the upbeat lyrics. The song is preluded and followed by two dreary, though still good songs. "The View" thumps away at a danceable pace, while "Satin in a Coffin" nihilistically thrashes away at the you, proving to be enjoyable, despite a dry lyric or two. "One Chance" and "The Good Times Are Killing Me" provide a somewhat upbeat ending to what seems to be a rather depressing, almost angst-filled album. "Once Chance," especially, with it's melodic bass lines and atmospherica guitar playing, proves to be a good effort, though not something spectacular. And that's what this album seems to suffer from. Most of the songs here would be good songs, but there always seems to be something that hampers or ruins them, making them come off as boring and lazy, with no real power or excitement put into them at all.
Key Tracks:
"The World at Large"
"Float On"
"The View"
"Satin in a Coffin"
"The Good Times Are Killing Me"
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Yeah, I think I read that in the other review too. I just wish "Dig Your Grave" would have been at least the length of "Interlude (Milo)". I just seems to pointless to have it barely over 10 seconds long.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Good review
Bury Me With It is great track
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I can't honestly say that I enjoy "Bury Me With It" very much.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
i think their older stuff is a lot better. this is still modest mouse so it is still good.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
agreed. a couple pretty good tracks on this album, but all of their older work is far superior IMHO.....particularly 'long drive' and 'lonesome crowded west', which are both excellent from the first track all the way to the last.
| | | Album Rating: 3
Pretty average album...
You forgot "Blame it On the Tetons". One of the better songs on here, in my opinion.
Digging: Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose | | |
A big "w00t" for getting voted against, once again.
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When the hell did you write this one???!!!!
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Good review. This album is just mediocre, I prefer LCW and TMAA a lot more than this. This album just doesn't have enough good tracks to listen to it all the way through.
| | | Album Rating: 4
The first half of the album is truly great.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Meh I don't think that any half was that great. I just thought that this was an overall dissapointing album.
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yea good review - float on and the good times are killing me are absolute gems - good job
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'Satin In A Coffin' is one of my personal favorites.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I agree with Kripes, the first half is stupidly good and Bury Me With It/The World At Large are stupidly good tracks.
Oh, i enjoyed the review aswell (Y)
| | | Album Rating: 3
Pretty nice review, I'd have rated it a tad higher m'self.This Message Edited On 12.16.06
Digging: Electric Wizard - Dopethrone | | | Album Rating: 3
I don't know if I would say I "adore" this CD but I definitly like it alot. It's not the best Modest Mouse CD that's for sure.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Right now I'm really loving 'Bukowski' and 'Black Cadillacs.' Some of these songs are really addicting and catchy but their are to many snoozers that hold the album back. (hint hint: Oceans Breath Salty)
| | | Album Rating: 3
I liked Ocean Breathes Salty.This Message Edited On 04.01.06
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I got this album recently and I'm loving it. Lonesome Crowded West is the only other MM album I know, but this one is much easier to listen to. There's some pretty good lyrics as well, simple yet clever and hard hitting, similar to some of Soundgarden's lines.
It's awsome driving music too, first time I heard it was during peak hour and the music kept me calm the whole way.
I'd give this about 4.5/5This Message Edited On 05.03.06
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If there old stuff is better why's this one more popular?
huh tell me that
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