Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Surprise For An Accidental Witness, 31 Jan 2009
One of the most wonderful things about music is that if you miss something first
time around it'll still be there somewhere, poised to pounce, just around a corner.
Everything you never heard waiting for an accidental witness
and so many corners to turn in a lifetime.
For The Wolf, Band Of Horses' second album 'Cease To Begin',
is a very fine example.
As it happens a very, very fine example indeed.
The ten songs in this collection are spun into sparkling reality by
Mr Bridwell and his able cohorts with skillfully subdued aplomb.
Mr Bridwell's plaintive and strangely affecting voice is the
solid raison d'etre for my enthusiasm.
It is a truly beguiling instrument.
The songs are all good.
Melodically strong, uncluttered, sympathetically and efficiently performed.
'Is There A Ghost' is a strong opening track.
It's wistful opening subject evolving into a powerful two chord thrashing coda.
'No One's Gonna Love You' is another cracking tune.
The quietly jangling guitar and unobtrusive organ frame the vocal perfectly.
'Detlef Schrempf' is simply stunning. Bridwell's haunting voice
again soaring out above the relative simplicity of the song's construction.
The chorus is heartrendingly beautiful.
The hokey humour of 'The General Specific' makes for a lightweight
and amusing barn dancing interlude before the transitional bars of 'Lamb On The Lam'
launch us into the magnificent emotional mayhem of 'Islands On The Coast'.
Country flavours emerge again in 'Marry Song'. The vocal harmonies are delightful.
'Windows Blues' is another classy melodic highlight and worthy closing track.
There really isn't an ounce of fat or gristle on this great little album.
It's all good, lean prime beef and The Wolf, for one, is very happy to
have found his way to the feast.
Highly recommended.
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8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another instant classic, 10 Oct 2007
As someone who has been listening to the first Band of Horses album, Everything All the Time, regularly since its release in early 2006, I have been looking forward to new material for some time. My anticipation was heightened upon seeing them live in May 2007, when they included tracks such as Is There A Ghost? and Cigarettes Wedding Bells in the set, and it's a relief to hear that the studio versions of these songs sound just as powerful as they did live. Other highlights for me on initial listens to the album are Detlef Schrempf, Ode to LRC and, although it's only about a minute long, the gorgeous Lamb on the Lam (In the City). I'm not hearing the likeness to Coldplay and Editors that the other reviewer heard in No One's Gonna Love You. To these ears it's just another top Band of Horses tune on another excellent Band of Horses album that is, if anything, more diverse than the debut.
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6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT amazing, 27 Jun 2008
First of all, this is poor and not a patch on the Band of Horses debut. To hear on release that this was the band's shot at the big time was of course a worry, and several months after purchase I remain ambivalent to the charms of this overblown and over-produced offering. There are some great tracks, worthy siblings of album no.1, but sadly too much of Cease to Begin is overly self aware and, thus, the very opposite of Everything all the Time. Raw edges are what we love, surely? BUT WHAT REALLY GETS MY GOAT, are those five star reviews where the reviewers fail to justify the 'excellence' rating. Nowadays there is no light and shade: everything is AMAZING - or crap. And how I hate that word 'amazing'. It used to mean something that did truly amaze, like an Osprey plucking trout from a lake or a gypsy juggling bicycles. But now, no, amazing can mean anything: even the Band of Horses. Please Amazon, crack open another five stars and let's do a ten star rating system: for those who are easily amazed, the temptation for five out of five seems all too strong and, thus, groups the true classics with the five minute blunders.
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