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Product Description
Review
The side projects of internationally famous rock stars are very often worth a listen just for their sheer folly, but the name of this one promises nothing so entertaining–and rightly so.
Tired Pony are Gary Lightbody's brainchild, something he dreamt of doing while on the long haul around the States with his main band. It's a hastily convened combo, which includes REM's Peter Buck on mandolin, and, well, Belle & Sebastian's drummer, with the aim of pursuing the 'stadium-indie' singer's interest in alt-country. His favourites include, he says, "Wilco, Calexico, Lambchop, Palace, Smog–these bands that look at the darkness in America".
The opening "Northwestern Skies" sets the scene for method rustic desolation, with clumping percussion, acoustic strumming, and the wheezing of something accordion-like. Meanwhile, "Lightbody" moans of faint smiles, slamming doors and other harbingers of crumbling marriage, in the kind of circular song pattern instantly familiar from such Snow Patrol biggies as "Chasing Cars".
"Held in the Arms of Your Words", for one, recalls Wilco bleak-fests such as "Via Chicago" (i.e. Wilco before Jeff Tweedy got blissed-out on antidepressants), but by and large The Place We Ran From falls well short of the left-of-centre power and eerie intimacy of Lightbody's heroes' music. Instead, particularly on "Point Me at Lost Islands" and "That Silver Necklace", our protagonist's innate talent for grand-scale, stadium-level songcraft takes over, hinting more towards a poor man's Springsteen, circa Nebraska.
Even if the hapless listener can circumnavigate the sense of cultural piracy in a Northern Irishman, however well travelled, attempting to replicate the middle-American social observation in Springsteen, or indeed Smog's Bill Callahan, the fact remains that this is a wet weekend of a record.
Lightbody lacks any of his idols' vocal charisma, which might bring these funereal songs alive–in fact, its best moments are Get on the Road, a duet with She & Him's Zooey Deschanel, and I Am a Landslide, which is sung by someone else entirely: Iain Archer. Lightbody's considerable talents, as a conduit for the mass musical experience, will be far better deployed, no doubt, on the next Snow Patrol album.
--Andrew PerryFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Tired Pony began life as a doodle in Gary Lightbody’s jotter. During idle moments on Snow Patrol’s year-long tour for A Hundred Million Suns, Gary began writing songs for this imaginary band having earlier in the year hinted at his ambition to form a country band. Forward to January 4th 2010, a cast of characters assembled at Portland’s Type Foundry; from the extended Snow Patrol family there was Troy Stewart, the band’s guitar technician, Iain Archer, long-time Snow Patrol associate and collaborator, Richard Colburn, the renowned drummer with Belle & Sebastian, and producer Garret 'Jacknife' Lee, who brought in Tired Pony’s final two members, Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey, the Seattle musical polymath who’s been R.E.M.’s full-time auxiliary member since 1994. Tired Pony were joined by a number of guest contributors including M. Ward, his She & Him partner Zooey Deschanel (who sings harmony on "Get On The Road") and Tom Smith of Editors, who sings lead vocal on "The Good Book".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Place We Ran From - Tired Pony,
By Pamela "Russell" (England, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)
I love Snow Patrol and despite the dire review from the BBC critic I really enjoyed it. Just as well I don't base my purchases on someone else's review : if you like Snow Patrol you will enjoy this. The Place We Ran From
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't stop listening..,
By Londongal76 (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)
I bought this album after being a long time fan of Snow Patrol and The Reindeer Section, the whole album tells a story end to end, it's beautiful. Haunting lyrics, some lovely vocals from Zooey Deschanel (i'm off to find her album next - and some really amazing songs. If you're a fan of Snow patrol, and of folk music, then buy it. It is rapidly kicking other albums out of my top ten.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More of the same but it's quite good really,
By
This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)
There are obvious problems caused by the choice of band name here and you can see the headlines already, "Tired album", or "Load of pony" for example. Would there be any justification in this? To a certain extent yes but overall no.Firstly I don't consider this to be a "country" album. It is too like Snow Patrol for that. You know the nagging chord sequences, the straightforward and repetitive vocal style, the gradual crescendo by the end of the song as extra instruments join in, you know the score if you know Snow Patrol. So why bother listening? Well simply put it is rather good. For all the well worn criticism's of Lightbody's style, and he sticks to this template pretty much all the way through as I say above, it has to be said that he has a way with a melody, catchy singalong choruses and the aforementioned crescendos. They may all be a bit formulaic but they work so why change a winning formula? Of course this is all grist to a critic's mill so is there anything here that breaks the mould? And the answer is yes. A couple of "proper" country (more alt-country really) tracks are included, and very welcome they are as well. "Point me at lost islands" is a chugalong effort with a hint of mandolin, whilst "Dead American Writers" introduces a slice of slide guitar. "I am the landslide" is a bit Neil Youngy and "The good book"s subject matter is definitely "country" Otherwise this is an album that will appeal more to Snow Patrol fans than REM's but isn't as bad as some media critics have made out.
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