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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Blue Blood |
| 2. Miami |
| 3. Total Life Forever |
| 4. Black Gold |
| 5. Spanish Sahara |
| 6. This Orient |
| 7. Fugue |
| 8. After Glow |
| 9. Alabaster |
| 10. 2 Trees |
| 11. What Remains |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Foals, suggests Total Life Forever, are thinkers. Whereas most bands seem comfortable dropping a second album that sounds a lot like the first one but recorded a bit quicker, this Oxfordshire quintet have done their utmost to reinvent themselves as every turn. Largely gone is the furious dance-punk that powered their earlier singles, already beginning to fade as they dropped their 2008 debut Antidotes. Replacing it on Total Life Forever is a broader musical canvas that is becoming becomes increasingly hard to pigeonhole. Recorded with producer Luke Smith, formerly of Clor, songs like "After Glow" and "This Orient" are voluminous, heavily textured exercises in atmospherics and percussion that draw on shoegaze, the Fourth World funk of later Talking Heads and experimental electronica.
This is not to say, however, that Foals have entirely bred out their pop gene. "Miami" fuses boom-bap beats with a stiff funkiness and fluid guitar lines that recall Battles, while the title track is a cool ska strut that finds Yannis Philippakis crooning "I know a place where I can go when I'm low". It’s not all immediate, but Total Life Forever is plainly crafted with care and attention, the sort of record that sinks gradually into your consciousness and stays put. –-Louis Pattison
CD Description
2008 saw the Oxford quintet rise to prominence with their debut album Antidotes entering the UK charts at number three. From these early days playing house parties, to selling-out incendiary tours across the UK and the world, stand-out TV performances, and exhilarating festival appearances, they set the stage perfectly for their much-anticipated sophomore effort Total Life Forever, including the single "This Orient".
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
With 'Total Life Forever' Foals have lit a slow-burning fuse. The rich crackle of gunpowder, the whiff of cordite. Don't expect the cheap and, let's be honest, slightly one-note thrills of 'Antidotes'. This is a different beast altogether. TLF is a definite song-cycle and works beautifully as such. The first four tracks are a brilliant, funky suite with the incessant yelps of old maturing into a strange mix of The Cure's Robert Smith and My Morning Jacket's Jim James. From here on in it gets even more interesting with elegant, elegiac tracks like 'Spanish Sahara' and the fantastic closing salvo of `2 Trees' and `What Remains'.
After a few listens the hooks really get under your skin and take root in your brain. The longevity of the album will be borne out in this new intuitive approach - it doesn't give up its goods easily and leaves behind the repetitive sound bites of `Antidotes' for a more searching set of lyrics and emotions. The second disc offers some interesting snapshots of the album's genesis. Hardly essential but welcome variations all the same adding further flesh to TLF's bones. It's exciting to imagine where Foals might go from here, this being the reason for four stars rather than five - the sky's the limit and you can feel all the band's arms reaching upwards.
After a few listens the hooks really get under your skin and take root in your brain. The longevity of the album will be borne out in this new intuitive approach - it doesn't give up its goods easily and leaves behind the repetitive sound bites of `Antidotes' for a more searching set of lyrics and emotions. The second disc offers some interesting snapshots of the album's genesis. Hardly essential but welcome variations all the same adding further flesh to TLF's bones. It's exciting to imagine where Foals might go from here, this being the reason for four stars rather than five - the sky's the limit and you can feel all the band's arms reaching upwards.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A fantastic Album and nowhere near as much a departure as some people have been saying.
Its not hummer, cassius or balloons but electric bloom and Olympic airways definitely pointed in this direction.
Blue blood is a fantastic opener, spanish sahara a beautiful song and the absolute right choice as a first single/video whatever it was.
After glow, black gold and what remains are songs that brings a kind of emotional depth that is usually, if not lacking then certainly only cryptically hinted at in foals songs. In fact a lot of the songs bring the technical ability, stylings and song writing of antidotes but imbue them with an emotional gravitas that they were only beginning to hint at on their début.
For me personally this album solidifies what made me like antidotes in the first place and dismisses that niggling doubt I had that they were in fact just another NME hyped band not really worth their salt.
I always think its a great sign if your least favourite song on an album is the lead single. Cassius became my least played on antidotes and this orient is following the same way. Not that either is a bad song I just prefer the full album experience and usually the lead single is a stand alone entity for commercial or whatever reasons and that isolation makes it divorced from the album, and this is a proper, well put together album not just a collection of glitchy pop rock songs, which is why this orient sounds more impressive on the radio than on my ipod.
So, a progression? definitely, a complete change of direction? I don't think so. Glad I bought it? Hell yes. Would I recommend it? Of course.
Enjoy.
Its not hummer, cassius or balloons but electric bloom and Olympic airways definitely pointed in this direction.
Blue blood is a fantastic opener, spanish sahara a beautiful song and the absolute right choice as a first single/video whatever it was.
After glow, black gold and what remains are songs that brings a kind of emotional depth that is usually, if not lacking then certainly only cryptically hinted at in foals songs. In fact a lot of the songs bring the technical ability, stylings and song writing of antidotes but imbue them with an emotional gravitas that they were only beginning to hint at on their début.
For me personally this album solidifies what made me like antidotes in the first place and dismisses that niggling doubt I had that they were in fact just another NME hyped band not really worth their salt.
I always think its a great sign if your least favourite song on an album is the lead single. Cassius became my least played on antidotes and this orient is following the same way. Not that either is a bad song I just prefer the full album experience and usually the lead single is a stand alone entity for commercial or whatever reasons and that isolation makes it divorced from the album, and this is a proper, well put together album not just a collection of glitchy pop rock songs, which is why this orient sounds more impressive on the radio than on my ipod.
So, a progression? definitely, a complete change of direction? I don't think so. Glad I bought it? Hell yes. Would I recommend it? Of course.
Enjoy.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I walked out of a Foals gig at Newcastle about 15 months ago as I found them self indulgent on stage and totally the opposite of their 'Antidotes' album - the new release gave me the chance to see if they deserved a 'second chance'.
It also coincided with the chance to see them live @ Ncle Uni and on both counts I have to own up to being glad at offering them their 'redemption' - although Sahara & Orient are stand out tracks on both the CD and live it is all round a far better effort than their first album and certainly (for me) different enough to warrant some praise.
It is a more rounded album with a slightly different sound that makes it better listening as a full album than their first release - that, allied to a much better live performance shows a more mature approach.
Personally, I feel that if you liked the first one you will like this one but if you have heard neither try to catch a couple of downloads and take it from there - you may be pleasantly surprised!
It also coincided with the chance to see them live @ Ncle Uni and on both counts I have to own up to being glad at offering them their 'redemption' - although Sahara & Orient are stand out tracks on both the CD and live it is all round a far better effort than their first album and certainly (for me) different enough to warrant some praise.
It is a more rounded album with a slightly different sound that makes it better listening as a full album than their first release - that, allied to a much better live performance shows a more mature approach.
Personally, I feel that if you liked the first one you will like this one but if you have heard neither try to catch a couple of downloads and take it from there - you may be pleasantly surprised!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
AMAZING!
By far the best album I have ever heard. A mixture between soft and beautiful to indie rock songs. Brilliant buy! You'll be crazy to miss it.
Published 5 months ago by sam_123
A great follow up.
An excellent second album. More poise, more polish, simply more. But always, the Foals we know and love. This is a young band which is growing. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Anil Solanki
One of the Most Musically Accomplished Albums Ever Produced!
I pre-ordered this months in advance as a 15-year old lover of Foals waiting on baited breath for a mind-blower of an album: and I was definitely not disappointed! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Polly Hillbilly
Best album I've heard in years
I have been listening to this for the last couple of months and I like it more and more. Spanish Sahara is a fantastic track.
Published 11 months ago by Shane McEneaney
A Very Strong Second Album (A Grower)
I loved the 1st album, at the first few listens I didnt really feel this album, I enjoyed it but didnt love it, I gave it a break of a couple of weeks and put it on again, and that... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mokolpop
Do you hate liking things that top the end of year lists?
I hate liking things that make the top of these end of year lists and this album was near the top of all of them. Read more
Published 14 months ago by A. C. Scott
Absolutely brilliant
I love this album so much, brilliant quality, the cd case is gorgeous and even the cd has a brilliant artwork I would highly recommend this album.
Published 14 months ago by BekiH
Brilliant:-)
Foals are a fantastic band and this album is incredible!!!!:-) I love it- very mellow and really beautiful in parts.... Perfect for the sunshine!:-) love it- must have album!!:-) x
Published 14 months ago by Merlin
STUNNING ALBUM BY FOALS!!!
This album is, for me, the best album of 2010. Great tracks, great artwork, great MUSIC. I have the deluxe edition and it's amazing.
Published 15 months ago by Fredy Fernando Paredes
The right path...
I was underwhelmed by their first album. I then saw them support Block Party and then........Spanish Sahara was released. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Book F
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