Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A cast of thousands?, 16 Mar 2004
By A Customer
Extraordinary album this. A vast cast of musicians and influences seemingly sculpted in the studio by careful, intelligent production. Not just for indie fans, this has a universal appeal with the added lure of subtle shades of electronica (Capture The Flag), jazzy post-rock (Pacific Theme), and borderline psychedelics (Shampoo Suicide). The predominating theme lies in the richly textured MBV-meets-Dinosaur Jnr fuzz pop of tracks such as Stars And Sons, Almost Crimes and Cause = Time, which are as good as anything in the cannon of the current rock renaissance (i.e., The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, White Stripes etc.). It is an eclectic collection that sounds more like a label compilation than the work of a particular band, without seeming to try to hard. The distorted, looped vocals of 'Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl' evoke the surreal pop of The Sleepy Jackson while 'Lover's Spit' could be a less-histrionic U2, with its stately piano and haunted vocals. Furthermore, for someone like myself who is not traditionally a indie-music fan, this is a record of remarkable detail that takes many listens to fully digest and appreciate - such is the detail in the production that never threatens to over-indulge the separate players.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better late than never, 4 Sep 2003
Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It in People arrives on these shores nearly a year after it first caused a stir in its native Canada. Since then its reputation has been gathering and gathering to become one of the most hyped records of 2003, even if it remains virtually unheard of in the UK.A massive supergroup made up of members of various post-rock/experimental bands like the extraordinary Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mt. Zion, Broken Social Scene are a sensation. This, their second album (and very different from their instrumental first one), is made up of 13 tracks, none of which sounds like the one before it. This album is bursting with ideas and inspiration, starting with the ambient noodling of 'Capture the Flag', then bursting into the rocking second track 'KC Accidental'. 'Star and Sons', which is next, is simply a fantastic experimental pop song, with a really catchy and uplifting riff. In fact, what makes the many different styles coalesce into feeling like a proper album is this hands-in-the-air uplift that so many of the songs provide. Another favourite is 'Pacific Theme', which is like the best Do Make Say Think track, only more much more joyful and happy sounding. 'Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl' is also exceptional; filtering a simple, repeated female vocal in a completely charming and endearing way. Fantastic pop music in the best sense - but with an experimental edge. With this variety in mind, I'm tempted to say that there is something for everyone here - but realistically, not everybody is going to get as much out of this as I have. I don't think this is a perfect album, for all its eclecticism I think it ends a bit unsatisfactorily, and the first half is probably a bit better than the second. But if you enjoy experimental styles, but also know when to recognise great catchy songs when you hear them, then look no further - there's still time to be in on it before everyone else.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
all-time classic, 2 Oct 2006
I guess it's only fitting that, having already essentially kept post-rock alive in difficult times, the eastern Canadian scene would break out of that ghetto and into the larger indie-rock, er, ghetto. And it's not much of a surprise either that the result is simply epoch-making. It's no exaggeration to say that, in another 12 years, people will talk about this in the same hushed tones as they do about MBV's Loveless today - provided that they don't already, which they should.
For this second album, BSS extended from a duo to a ten-piece "official ensemble", with a further 15 or so 'guests' on various tracks. While that debut was a largely ambient affair, this covers everything. There's Tortoisey undertones on 'Pacific Theme', brushed-snare folkiness on 'I'm Still Your Fag' and string-swells on...well...everything.
The first part of the album is the more energetic - opener proper 'KC Accidental' repeats the same 8 bars with ever crazier climaxes until a brief vocal section leads into a few more goes at it. 'Stars and Sons' lopes on a motorik drum groove with barely-there vocals and FZ giving way to a feedback freakout, one of the album highlights. The first real release comes with 'Anthems to a Seventeen Year-Old Girl', whose sparse banjo-pluckings and ultra-treated vocals carry a beautiful theme into indie legend. Then it's time for standout track 'Cause = Time', which draws together all the elements for a searing, oblique social satire.
After that, the pace slows - a couple of weaker tracks meander too much for their own good. "I'm Still Your Fag" rescues things nicely, with subdued horns and guitars carrying the tragic ballad through to "Pitter Patter..." a refrain of Anthems which closes the record.
Apart from the saggy slow-mo cuts towards the end, this is an unblemished masterpiece - and frankly, I've forgiven greater sins to other bands. Buy. Right. Freakin'. Now.
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