This item is delivered in an easy-to-open recyclable box and is free of excess packaging materials. Learn more or visit the Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging Store. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Introduction (3.31) |
| 2. Yesterdays Tomorrows (3.47) |
| 3. The Flicker Of A Little Girl (3.29) |
| 4. Come Feel The Sun (2.27) |
| 5. E-Type (2.48) |
| 6. The Other Side Of The World (4.10) |
| 7. The Organist Entertains (2.32) |
| 8. The Hungry Saw (3.44) |
| 9. Mother Dear (4.18) |
| 10. Boobar Come Back (3.56) |
| 11. All The Love (4.50) |
| 12. The Turns We Took (5.29) |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Five years after their last album, and 18 months since their seemingly final gig, who would have thought we'd be gifted with a new Tindersticks album at all, let alone one that stands out as their best since their first two albums? Their lineup may be depleted, but make no mistake--from the first haunting notes of "Introduction" to the last soulful moments of "The Turns We Took"--The Hungry Saw is as good as it gets. The traditional Tindersticks sound--part smoky heartbreak, part sinister minor-key noir malevolence--is present and correct, and far more focussed, resulting in an early contender for the best album of 2008. Hardcore fans may lament the missing elements, particularly departed violin/second vocalist/arranger Dickon Hinchliffe, but the strength of the tracks, and the sheer thrill of hearing Stuart Staples' sleepy Cohen-esque croon tackle such gems as the title track, the gently mournful "All the Love", or the sinister "Mother Dear" prove that the band are as good as they ever were. The key moment is "Boobar, Come Back to Me"--as affecting and epic as anything they've done, and a good sign that Tindersticks still have a fruitful few albums in them yet. --Thom Allott
Review
Oddly, it seems brooding neo-indie veterans are feeling the threat of the credit crunch just as much as conglomerate behemoths. Tindersticks have undertaken a stark restructure, essentially halving the band and leaving a stripped-bare, unfussy take on proceedings.
Of course, pie charts and dollar signs haven't driven such a move, more an attempt to simplify the Nottingham collective's sound for their first album together in five years. For such a rudimentary endeavour, it's surprisingly refined. Stomach the unrelentingly morose introduction, and you're halfway to finding that out for yourself.
Their distinguishing vibe has escaped from the smoky lounge and made its way up a frosty hillside, where gazing into the middle distance is mandatory, and the very concept of melody is passé. Faintly harsh, perhaps, but there is a positive to be unearthed from this. The Hungry Saw is a complex and highly introspective venture, and makes no bones about it: This is an album for Tindersticks, by Tindersticks, and steadfastly refuses to stray from this.
Resultantly, it proves somewhat unforgiving territory for ears not accustomed to the cult of Tindersticks. Yet for those who feared Waiting For The Moon was the irrevocable swansong, The Hungry Saw will provide a welcome return. Incidentally, it's this material which The Hungry Saw takes its command from - while the band's musical path has remained relatively linear (within their own sub-genre, at least), their more melancholic latter period continues to play out here.
You may be required to dig pretty deep to find a level on which to engage with music so heavily maudlin. It would be easy to ascribe - or dismiss - The Hungry Saw with implications of bleak cloudiness or film noir, but look hard enough (on The Other Side of the World or E-type, for example) and it's apparent that the album does carry a veiled tenderness with a very human constituent.
Tindersticks know their craft, and can execute it with finesse. But if you hadn't already been spellbound by their uniqueness up until this point, it's safe to assume The Hungry Saw will be lost on you altogether. --Al Fox
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Nottingham cult band Tindersticks haven't put an album out since 2003's Waiting For the Moon, though frontman Stuart Staples passed the time with a couple of solo efforts and a major relocation to the other side of the channel. Recorded in his new French home studio, The Hungry Saw features a slimmed-down lineup consisting of Staples and other founder members Neil Fraser on guitar and David Boulter on keyboards. Augmented by hired hands, the core trio has produced an album that's pleasingly coherent in both tone and mood.
The atmosphere here is predominantly retro, feeding off the same fascination with the 50s and early 60s as evidently fuelled the younger Bryan Ferry. Staples has a Ferry-ish feel to his voice, too, and both favour a slightly mannered delivery pointed up by the retro touches - the spoken word melodrama on final track "The Turns We Took", the lounge-suit grand guignol of "The Hungry Saw" - a kind of "First Cut Is the Deepest" with added mythology.
Like 50s-obsessed magic realist movies Pleasantville and The Truman Show, the album is also suffused with plaintive melancholy, a kind of yearning for some unspecified lost innocence. It's most plainly expressed in the mysterious "Boobar Come Back To Me" and in the haunted "Mother Dear" which seems to beg for a return to the certainties of childhood. Elsewhere there are whirling instrumentals like the gorgeous "The Organist Entertains".
Like so many purveyors of past glories remerging right now, Tindersticks look set for a major return to form. Let's hope it catches fire.
The atmosphere here is predominantly retro, feeding off the same fascination with the 50s and early 60s as evidently fuelled the younger Bryan Ferry. Staples has a Ferry-ish feel to his voice, too, and both favour a slightly mannered delivery pointed up by the retro touches - the spoken word melodrama on final track "The Turns We Took", the lounge-suit grand guignol of "The Hungry Saw" - a kind of "First Cut Is the Deepest" with added mythology.
Like 50s-obsessed magic realist movies Pleasantville and The Truman Show, the album is also suffused with plaintive melancholy, a kind of yearning for some unspecified lost innocence. It's most plainly expressed in the mysterious "Boobar Come Back To Me" and in the haunted "Mother Dear" which seems to beg for a return to the certainties of childhood. Elsewhere there are whirling instrumentals like the gorgeous "The Organist Entertains".
Like so many purveyors of past glories remerging right now, Tindersticks look set for a major return to form. Let's hope it catches fire.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Having heard Tindersticks waltz themselves into a really sticky corner with 2003's "Waiting for the Moon" - lovely record, don't misunderstand me, but did it attract one single devotee who hadn't already been along for the ride? - it was still a delight to note the arrival of a new record from old friends. That said, I couldn't help wondering how the new line-up was going to shake things up. Lord knows, they needed to.
Or so I thought. On an initial listen, I was actually quite irritated by the fact that the songs seemed to remind me of nothing more than older songs by the band themselves. "Bit of a yawn, if I'm honest" was how I described it to my wife, a fellow devotee of Stuart and Co.
Then, as we'd purchased tickets (as an act of faith) for their show at the RFH in London, I sat there feeling somewhat ashamed of myself. In a set which bookended some very judicious selections from the back catalogue with both halves of this new album, everything just completely opened up and made sense. How could I have doubted them, or worse still, taken them for granted? Oh ye of little faith!
So, butt duly kicked, I really have to tell anyone who wants to know, that this record contains a collection of truly beautiful songs by a band who have graced the last 15 or so years with a sheer class and singularity of vision which you really have to look hard to find equalled. Yes, Stuart still sounds like Stuart (Hooray!) and yes, the music still evokes exactly what it always has, romantic longing, smoke filled bars, a very adult sense of sophistication, Lee and Nancy, late nights, lipstick traces...all the good stuff. But beyond that, it works so beautifully as a suite of songs that it really transports you to another space, it rewards close attention in spades. It's also this band's most "organic" sounding record ever, with absolutely nothing sounding forced. Maybe it's this quality, above all else, which the band were striving for during their lengthy hiatus.
Some great bands - Radiohead spring immediately to mind- exhilarate by taking dramatic left turns and pulling them off by dint of sheer talent. Others clearly know when they are on to something worthwhile and their careers follow an arc of refinement. Tindersticks are in the latter group. "The Hungry Saw" is another great chapter in their intriguing story and I hope there are many more to come. This is one of their best, however, and will suffice for some considerable time.
If Sebastian Faulks' truly wonderful novel "On Green Dolphin Street" ever get's filmed, they could do a lot worse than use this as the soundtrack. This band virtually lives in that beautifully rendered love affair.
Yes, that good.
Or so I thought. On an initial listen, I was actually quite irritated by the fact that the songs seemed to remind me of nothing more than older songs by the band themselves. "Bit of a yawn, if I'm honest" was how I described it to my wife, a fellow devotee of Stuart and Co.
Then, as we'd purchased tickets (as an act of faith) for their show at the RFH in London, I sat there feeling somewhat ashamed of myself. In a set which bookended some very judicious selections from the back catalogue with both halves of this new album, everything just completely opened up and made sense. How could I have doubted them, or worse still, taken them for granted? Oh ye of little faith!
So, butt duly kicked, I really have to tell anyone who wants to know, that this record contains a collection of truly beautiful songs by a band who have graced the last 15 or so years with a sheer class and singularity of vision which you really have to look hard to find equalled. Yes, Stuart still sounds like Stuart (Hooray!) and yes, the music still evokes exactly what it always has, romantic longing, smoke filled bars, a very adult sense of sophistication, Lee and Nancy, late nights, lipstick traces...all the good stuff. But beyond that, it works so beautifully as a suite of songs that it really transports you to another space, it rewards close attention in spades. It's also this band's most "organic" sounding record ever, with absolutely nothing sounding forced. Maybe it's this quality, above all else, which the band were striving for during their lengthy hiatus.
Some great bands - Radiohead spring immediately to mind- exhilarate by taking dramatic left turns and pulling them off by dint of sheer talent. Others clearly know when they are on to something worthwhile and their careers follow an arc of refinement. Tindersticks are in the latter group. "The Hungry Saw" is another great chapter in their intriguing story and I hope there are many more to come. This is one of their best, however, and will suffice for some considerable time.
If Sebastian Faulks' truly wonderful novel "On Green Dolphin Street" ever get's filmed, they could do a lot worse than use this as the soundtrack. This band virtually lives in that beautifully rendered love affair.
Yes, that good.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Have to agree with several other reviews I have read about this record making more sense after hearing it live. Had my doubts on first hearing "The Hungry Saw", but Tindersticks have always been a slow burner of a band. I owned "Curtains" for maybe a year before it worked its' way into my soul. You need to listen to this album several times before it works its' magic; but it is well worth the perserverance. Once it clicks, "The Hungry Saw" is simply gorgeous.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tindersticks not only on top form, but better than ever
Tindersticks have been a favourite for years - admittedly not everyone's cup of tea, more like a cup of Lapsang Souchong or glass of Laphraoig - love it or hate it. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2009 by Cheshire Gent
Musically most interesting Tindersticks release since Curtains.
I like this album. I have a big but. It may be better than any album release since "Curtains", but is still not the brilliance of their first three albums, except on the final... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2009 by Chris Gale
Staples and his backup band
I am a huge fan of the band. I've allways found them to be moving, cinematic, and all around perfect, with a repertoire that ranges from chamber pop ballads, jazzy and cinematic... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2008 by lovelocus
Worth the wait
I was starting to worry that we would never hear from these guys again. I have all their albums and this one is right up there with the rest. Read more
Published on 13 May 2008 by Mr. TG Crawshaw
After the third play you will never come back...or want to.
The lineup of Stuart Dave and Neil is not missing the other players. The new line up has refreshed them and whilst they are still cooler than cool they are approachable and after... Read more
Published on 7 May 2008 by jackdoorookrow
Tindersticks stripped down
I've tried to give this album every chance, but in the end its a disappointment. I'm a long time fan of Tindersticks, have (and adore) all their albums and have seen them play. Read more
Published on 6 May 2008 by S. P. Field
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
