Album Rating: 2.5

also the track 29 years which takes one of their most hard hitting lyrics and completely drains the emotion out of it (awkward to phrase considering it precedes)

Album Rating: 4.0

I have a feeling if I revisit Sad Songs it’ll go up to a 4 or higher, there are plenty who rate that a favorite and I can see why, a certain vibe to it that they haven’t really done since.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Boney, on revisit I think you might rate 'It Never Happened' and 'Thirsty' higher as they're more than decent alt country tracks.



The weakness for Sad Songs is the stretch from tracks 8-11...which is second only to tracks 5-8 here as the worst run of tunes since the debut.



Third worst run of songs would be 11-13 here, fourth 5-8 on Sleep Well Beast imo

Album Rating: 4.0

I always really liked “Sugar Wife” but I know that one’s often reviled.



P4k gave Sad Songs an 8.4 on initial release, Alligator only a 7.9, maybe they were onto something.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

'Sugar Wife' is just about the best of the four...though for a while I actually thought 'Patterns of Fairytales' was a great pairing with 'Lucky You'. It just faded away in my estimations over time.

Album Rating: 4.0

Hmm, “Trophy Wife” through “Patterns of Fairytales”...can’t say I remember what any of those sound like. You may be right.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

anat - yes, '29 years' needs to be buried somehow, removed from all new issues of the album or something like that. With the gift of hindsight, knowing how the lyrics would be use later, it is unnecessary to say the least.

Album Rating: 2.5

until a few moments ago I’d forgotten about the scream on slipping husband

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

At 'Sugar Wife' now...a little clunky



'can you make me a man, baby doll can you make me a dad'...rocker

Album Rating: 4.0

“Slipping Husband” is a deep cut for sure, I wouldn’t be disappointed if they played that one live. I’m speaking from memory now but I’ll be sure to give Sad Songs a spin later on.

Album Rating: 4.0

Gotta say though, the sign of a truly disappointing album is it’s making me want to go back and reevaluate the old subpar material more than to return to it itself...



Someone else said it but I find myself wishing they had made more of a true soundtrack style album instead of trying to make a “real” National album, it would’ve worked better both for inclusion in the film and would’ve felt like a more proper progression from what Sleep Well Beast was doing atmospherically.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

'P4k gave Sad Songs an 8.4 on initial release, Alligator only a 7.9, maybe they were onto something.'



You know, what's interesting is that although The National are considered a 'P4k Championed' band the reality is Pitchfork have never gone overboard with their ratings of their albums.



Lots of big n' bland flavour of the month stuff like the M83 double album and 'Currents' by Tame Impala, plus most every Arcade Fire album (despite the obvious and continued decline starting straight after the debut), have scored 90+.



National are capped at 84, average about 81

Album Rating: 4.0

Not quite, Boxer was 8.6, High Violet 8.7. But yeah they’ve never been a true P4k band.



Matt made fun of this himself you remember: “I can't even look at reviews anymore / I score an 8.6 on a fucking par 4” from El Vy. :D

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Still - no National album over 90% is quite amazing when you consider that they do acknowledge them as one of, if not the most, important indie band of their generation.



Plus lets be honest Boxer and High Violet have stood up to the test of time way better than Neon Bible or Reflektor etc

Album Rating: 4.0

Uh-oh - I’ve just listened to Point1’s “Slipping Husband”/“I Am Easy To Find” mashup - it’s better than the version here. That was one of the better ones here and now that’s ruined. Whoops.

Album Rating: 4.0

Arcade Fire have lost a lot of the magic for me. Formally they’re still one of my favorites just for how high I rate the first three albums but I never want to listen to them anymore. Same with Radiohead honestly. And Wilco. Circa 2010-2012 those were my 3 favorite bands. The National on the other hand have only gotten more essential as time goes on.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Yes, my LastFM list of most played is really starting to show which bands I 'respect' but don't actually listen to that much anymore - and those that endure and I always return to on the regular.



Arcade Fire, Wilco and yes, Radiohead too really, are in the former bracket for me too.

I don't know how I'm feeling about this. But being that they are who they are.... I'm going to have to spin this several times before opinions are made.

Album Rating: 2.0

Why do you guys even care about P4k? They’re not the bottom line on music critique, a lot of their reviews are so unbearably pretentious.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Demon they’re just historically indie rock ‘taste makers’ so it’s interesting in that way