Samilktray Posted 9 June 2009 Share Posted 9 June 2009 The Underdog video is a free download off of Itunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGEROUS TIGER Posted 9 June 2009 Share Posted 9 June 2009 I bet the're fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosse Boy Posted 9 June 2009 Share Posted 9 June 2009 I bet the're fantastic. They're not. They weren't around forty five years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyfox1 Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 Brilliant album, I love underdog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Prussian Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 PopMatters being overly harsh? http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/93480-...lunatic-asylum/ I’ve been listening to West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum for some time now, and I’m still not entirely sure what Kasabian sound like. And no, that wasn’t intended as some sort of backhanded compliment implying that Kasabian are so supernaturally original that they’re beyond comparisons. Just the opposite: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is often so anonymous that it feels like it could’ve come from any number of British musicians who grew up listening to Primal Scream and the Stone Roses, had the bucks to hire a capable producer (Dan Nakamura’s talents have rarely been so misused), and had no reservations about going nuts with every single piece of equipment in the studio. Because why not? Why shouldn’t the not-quite-title-track “West Ryder Silver Bullet” have a children’s choir and a string section and an opening sample of a woman saying, “At that moment, poetry will be made by everyone, and there will be emus in the zone”? Why shouldn’t we just suffocate these songs in an avalanche of bombastic studio drivel, instead of giving them room to breathe on their own?Because do that and you end up with—just to prove that Kasabian aren’t beyond compare—the UK equivalent of the Chris Cornell/Timbaland disaster Scream. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum has a lot to do with spectacle and little to do with substance. I’m not just saying that because of this album’s heavy reliance on the studio, because many of our best albums—some might argue most of our best albums—obviously owe a good portion of their transcendent power to the studio. No, I’m saying that because West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum appropriates so many of-the-moment, crowd-pleasing aural fireworks that it might as well come with an expiration date stamped on it. Granted, Kasabian have never shied away from playing directly to the pub-crawling masses. The band were far more concerned on previous records with fist-pumping bravado than artistic statements. And that, when done right, and when you ignore all the fist pumping, can be perfectly enjoyable. Their self-titled debut, while often resembling a photocopy of a photocopy of a Primal Scream album, was at worst inoffensive and at best mindlessly catchy. Even when it was clear that Kasabian were tailoring their sound to reach as many 18-24-year-old ears as possible, it was hard to deny the instant appeal of all those buzzing basslines and crunchy (but not too crunchy) guitars—until you actually sat down with a pair of headphones and looked for some depth, of course. But even then, the songs never tried to pass themselves off as the derivative though enjoyable pieces of pop that they were. West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, on the other hand, finds Kasabian’s gaudiest affectations in full blossom. The actual songs—you know, those things that have verses and choruses—are often obscured by all the glamour. The opening “Underdog” alone is packed with enough stuff to fill out an entire album: a treated rock guitar gives way to airy acoustic balladry, which gives way to swooping strings, which gives way to a muted electronic bridge, which gives way to a multi-tracked (vocals and guitar and, well, pretty much everything) finale. It might sound at least somewhat interesting, and it is—but only in terms of how hollow the whole thing ends up sounding in practice. The recurring lynchpins meant to keep everything from falling apart—Sergio Pizzorno’s spiky, descending guitar riff and Tom Meighan’s flatline but serviceable vocals—never manage to draw attention away from the rest of pyrotechnics. As a result, the listener gets lost. Which he shouldn’t, because strip all the smoke and mirrors away and “Underdog” reveals itself to be a traditional verse-chorus Britpop tune, and a fairly forgettable one at that. Needlessly exhausting instrumental and stylistic shifts pepper the entire album, and if I were to discuss all the unintentionally puzzling miscellany that crops up throughout its 52 minutes, we’d be here for a very long time (though I’ll do the honorable thing and warn you about the gospel choir that takes the stage during the finale, “Happiness"). It’s especially frustrating when you look at the more unencumbered tunes on the album—the string-swept “Where Did All the Love Go?” and the head-nodding anthem “Fire”—and realize that while Kasabian will never be innovators, they’re still capable of writing a tight pop song. Thing is, most of the songs on West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, while never outright abhorrent on their own, just aren’t tight enough to keep from being devoured by all the sonic excess (which often can be outright abhorrent on its own). The buzzing chord progression and four-to-the-floor drums on “Fast Fuse” are moderately palatable, but the band can’t seem to resist mucking up the breakneck tempo with jarring acoustic interludes and a pointlessly expansive non-chorus. In doing so they force what could have been an energetic, modest slice of pop to stick around well after its charms have worn off. Apply that formula to nearly every song on the album, and you end up with a work that suffocates under the weight of its own excesses. (The electronic dancefloor number “Vlad the Impaler” gets excused, mostly because it fully embraces the fact that it’s nothing but an electronic dancefloor number.) Even Kasabian themselves seem to be gasping for air, and after spending so much time with this album, they still exist as some sort of formless, faceless entity in my mind, an entity glimpsed so faintly—a solid riff here, a nicely unadorned vocal turn there—beneath all the smoke and mirrors that, at times, it’s far too easy to question whether they’re even there at all. — 10 June 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 SNOB - "there's no depth" Just enjoy it for what it is, bellcheese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnegan Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 Is this actually worth a listen then? From someone who found their first album immensely bland will this still not be my thing or is it really a turn around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daggers Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 PopMatters being overly harsh? Having glanced through the reviews Bill Stewart has done, he appears to be a tool disappearing up his own student-review arse, but everyone is entitled to an opinion. He's just wrong on so many levels. @Finners - as third albums go it is a good one, better than the two before and holding its own...so listen, but I don't reckon it will be your cup of tea. I could be wrong, it's been know to have happened three times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Libertine Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 I wouldn't have thought so, but I'd see them live if you have the chance Finlay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 10 June 2009 Share Posted 10 June 2009 Is this actually worth a listen then? From someone who found their first album immensely bland will this still not be my thing or is it really a turn around? It's a decent album that hits you hard in the face but lacks depth. Like the first but with a (clumsy) emphasis on experimentation that sounds like they've thumbed through a manual of what to do on third albums. Since I'm enjoying it less with every listen I'm inclined to say it's not as good as the third but on my first listen I enjoyed it well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 11 June 2009 Share Posted 11 June 2009 PopMatters being overly harsh? It's one mans opinion, no more credible than yours or mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 11 June 2009 Share Posted 11 June 2009 I've just read this review, and whilst the score's a bit harsh there's a couple of points that are pretty true. (I hadn't realised how laughable some of the lyrics were until I just went and had a read, Where Did All the Love Go is actually pretty terrible) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 11 June 2009 Share Posted 11 June 2009 Personally lyrics come 2nd to the music for me... if what they are saying sounds good along with the music I don't really care what the words mean. If you're the sort of person that's going to analyse the meaning of a song, then Kasabian aren't for you. If you have ever used the phrase "oh he's such a word smith", then Kasabian aren't for you... you should probably go and buy a book of poetry instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Prussian Posted 11 June 2009 Share Posted 11 June 2009 Somehow, I wonder why Kasabian's third album is being ripped apart like that by most critics. As much as critics have a right to dissect whatever they're reviewing, it's ultimately having an impact on the consumer's decision to a certain extent. Having said that, who needs critics, anyway? The ones who love WRPLA will buy the disc regardless of other's opinions. I'm not saying it's a classic or highly original, but most of the tracks are simply lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flynny Posted 11 June 2009 Share Posted 11 June 2009 Personally lyrics come 2nd to the music for me... if what they are saying sounds good along with the music I don't really care what the words mean.If you're the sort of person that's going to analyse the meaning of a song, then Kasabian aren't for you. If you have ever used the phrase "oh he's such a word smith", then Kasabian aren't for you... you should probably go and buy a book of poetry instead. Don't get me wrong - most music I don't give two shits about lyrics, I'm pretty much the same. But, if someone points out that something is genuinely awful lyrically I can't stop listening to them. Most lyrics aren't that important but some music is good because the lyrics are great and some music is bad because the lyrics are awful - in between they don't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol' Bob Posted 12 June 2009 Share Posted 12 June 2009 Don't get me wrong, decent album, but not worth a massive wankfest like most others do just because they're from leicester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finchy Posted 12 June 2009 Share Posted 12 June 2009 Don't get me wrong, decent album, but not worth a massive wankfest like most others do just because they're from leicester. Has **** all to day with that for me, I loved them way before I knew they were from Leicester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Birch Posted 12 June 2009 Share Posted 12 June 2009 Thick as Theives and West Ryder Silver bullet are my favourites at the moment. WRSB would be brilliant live with a full orchestra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 because they're from leicester. Got nothing to do with it for me... I hated the 2nd album as proof of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol' Bob Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 ALRIGHT EVERYONE STOP SHOUTING AT ME!! Just that most of the poeple I know who have recently started to like them only took notice because of where they were from. I obviously know the wrong type of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daggers Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 Just that most of the poeple I know who have recently started to like them only took notice because of where they were from. I obviously know the wrong type of people. Yep - they sound a bunch of pr1cks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanSP Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 Like them since they were on FIFA 2004 with Lost Souls Forever. Favourite song since is CLub Foot. Yet to buy this latest album yet but seriously considering it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosse Boy Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 Like them since they were on FIFA 2004 with Lost Souls Forever. Favourite song since is CLub Foot. Yet to buy this latest album yet but seriously considering it. Likewise. That game had an awesome soundtrack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanSP Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 Likewise. That game had an awesome soundtrack. Yep, Goldfrapp were on there, as were Stone Roses and The Caesars I think. There was also this guy called DJ Testo (?) who had a track I like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reverend Posted 13 June 2009 Share Posted 13 June 2009 Underdog, Where Did All The Love Go?, West Rider Silver Bullet and Fire are absolute fucking belters. Had this in the car all week, not bored of it yet. Which is a good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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