Customer Reviews

Aldhils Arboretum [Vinyl]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If Of Montreal's The Gay Parade was their Pet Sounds, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies their Smile, and Then Who will Protect our Children their Smiley Smile, where does that leave Aldhils Arboretum? Why it's Wild Honey, of course. This isn't meant to slight either album, as both have their distinct qualities, but for Of Montreal and The Beach Boys it represents a change in musical direction to looking backwards and not forwards. Aldhils Arboretum doesn't have the same high concept as Coquelicot or the coherence of The Gay Parade, but this probably makes it a more likable album for the newly initiated. If you're listening to the group for the first time, this should be your album. It's really the Of Montreal sampler. You can hear bits of Cherry Peel (Jennifer Louise), The Bedside Drama (Predictably Sulking Sara), The Gay Parade (Natalie and Effie in the Park), Coquelicot (the most challenging song on the CD, Kid Without Claws), and even Then Who Will Protect Our Children? (the beautiful An Ode to the Nocturnal Muse which is sung in Japanese (Neru No Daisuki) on the aforementioned CD).

There aren't too many clunker songs on this CD, which makes it very listenable from beginning to end. Even the lower quality songs like Isn't it Nice? and A Question for Emily Foreman have charm. What holds me back from giving this album the 5 star rating and my highest recommendation is the lack of some truly brilliant songs. Doing Nothing could be a pop hit if Of Montreal ever wanted that kind of thing, and Kid Without Claws brings me back for repeated listens. They just don't set off bells in my head like some of their better songs from earlier CDs.

That said, Aldhils Arboretum is worth buying for existing fans and those drawn by their curiosity. The cheery relentless poppy hooks are all there, as are some of the finest musical arrangements this side of Circulatory System. Of Montreal is a band that loves to make music, loves to play music (if you can ever get to their live performances, they are routinely among the best performers I've heard), and loves to make you smile.

Aldhils Arboretum was my first Of Montreal CD. It is a very interesting CD and it seems like a good place for new-comers. They'll probably appreicate it more than hearing all the without hearing the supposedly awesome original neat concept albums like "Gay Parade"(which I'm dying to hear). It seems like old fans were kind of bored with this one for that reason. This seems just like a weird pop album without a concept like the others.

Songs like the humorus "Blank Husband", "Isn't it Nice?", "Emily" and most of the songs are off-beat pop songs, some are enhanced with horns and cello. All in all, Kevin and Of Montreal rock too. Lots of catchy songs. Definitely worth the ten bucks it is here. Oh yeah, neat artwork too, not too much but it look looks great.

First of all, download track one (Doing Nothing). If you like that song, buy this album as the rest will certainly appeal to you. Full of storytelling gems, this album reminds me of so many moments in my life. "Old People in the Cemetery" just offers such beautiful imagery. The catchiness of "Jennifer Louise" will remind you of a forgotten cousin. "Pancakes For One" is the perfect song for a breakup, while "Kissing in the Grass", with its haunting clarinet, makes you wish you had a lover again.
An album that reminds me of The Apples In Stereo and of the "Magical Mystery Tour" couldn't be bad, and it isn't.
Although a friend of mine disparaged this as a Beatles ripoff, 60s pop influences don't make it that. Instead it is an intelligent album that is definitely one of the top 10 of the year.
Give "Aldhils Arboretum" and Of Montreal a chance.

Elephant 6 band Of Montreal is at its best when they make goofy, quirky concept albums, or at the very least weird songs that make you wish you had whatever they're smoking. That endearing surreality is missing from "Adhils Arboretum," which is a fun indiepop album, but feels somehow too toned down and laid-back.

It opens with the disjointedly bouncy "Doing Nothing," which fits the lead vocals like a four-fingered glove. Things improve somewhat with the clinky pop of "Old People in the Cemetary," which one-ups the "What a drag it is/getting old" with lines like "It must be hard to relate/after the world of your youth/totally evaporates."

There's a more garage-rocky vibe to songs like "Isn't It Nice?" and the ringingly percussive "We Are Destroying the Song." But hints of their older style peep out in the second half of the album, like in the lilting "Predictably Sulking Sarah," perky piano-pop "Natalie and Effie in the Park," and the psychedelic swirls of "Kid Without Claws."

It's hard to know why, after the glorious psychedelic tapesties they've woven, Of Montreal would opt for a sound that is so... ordinary. It sounds a bit like garage rockers on acid, which is a cool idea in itself -- but Kevin Barnes and Co. sound pretty uncomfortable with such a stripped-down sound.

Their colorful pop has been toned down to some slightly muffled guitar melodies and solid percussion, augmented by cello and some electronic flourishes. But in the second half, the band starts slipping back -- they use a drooping violin, sprightly piano, robotic vocals, odd wavery keyboard, and a sort of French folk-club sound, complete with brass. That's more like it, people.

Kevin Barnes sounds good in songs like "Pancakes For One," where his voice flows naturally with the melody. In the rockier numbers, he sounds uncomfortable having to mold himself around the angular music. Their songwriting is is also less colorful, but they miraculously retain that childlike weirdness. It has meditations on aging and death, an incontinent Yorkie who brightens a little girl's life, what foods shouldn't be eaten alone, and climaxes with "I want to dance so I don't have to think anymore/about the steam cleaned caterpillar in the pinafore."

The stripped-down songs are a step backwards for Of Montreal, but "Adhils Arboretum" brings back their colorful vibe in the second half. Flawed, flighty fun.

Upon its release last year, Of Montreal's previous album, "Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies", took its place among my over-1,400 cd's as the Absolute Favorite in my collection. I wondered how they could ever follow something so huge, so colorful and ambitious. Like the Beatles moving backward from "Sgt. Pepper" to "Revolver", they followed it up by tightening the structures, trimming some whimsy, and turning the guitars way, way up. Horns, strings, and pianos are still part of the sonic arsenal, but are used more sparingly, moving their sound away from the psychedelic vaudeville of past records and into a more electrified, "live" feel.

The songs here, in perfect Kevin Barnes style, are still as sweet, colorful, and twisty as licorice whips. But where their last few albums utilized crates of Crayola color, making each song fan out like fractal "oil puddles in taffeta patterns" (to steal a line from Joni Mitchell), the songs on this record are leaner, colored with fewer crayons, pressing harder. This is an aggressively guitar-and-buzzing-organ oriented record, and easily their most "rock". The conceptual ideas of the last few records have also been shed, giving the record a somewhat haphazard, random feel, lacking the strong collective identities of "The Gay Parade" or "Coquelicot." That said, the absence of an overarching story brings the individual songs more into focus, and these are some of the greatest songs they've come up with yet.

I was a bit taken aback by some of the lyrics on this record, particularly "Old People in the Cemetary." It's a good song, but an unusually mean-spirited and condescending missive from a normally good-natured and open-hearted songwriter. The lyrics of "Isn't it Nice?" are also uncharacteristically glib and prosaic, and sound awkwardly mashed into place. However, I also chuckled aloud at them, so they're not entirely ineffective. :)

Of Montreal are simultaneously more confident and less ambitious on "Aldhil's Arboredum", and by scaling back their sound have given themselves another path forward. Another great record from one of the greatest bands around.

More acoustic giutar's used on this album but it doesn't take away. These songs are as great as all of there other stuff but it feels like this CD is more at heart especially with the lyrics even though they can be silly you'll see why if you get it. Another fine adition to there work and i hope they keep making music for a very very long time





Please Make The Right Decision And Purchase This It Such Nice Music

Aldhils Arboretum is of Montreal's perfect album. There isn't a single song on this album that you will skip when listening to it. Their other albums might be more complicated or more conceptual, but sadly, they sometimes get bogged down in the concept or the electronic instruments depending on which era of the band you prefer. This album is that perfect blend of their earlier records and their later records. This could definitely be the Beatles record of our generation, every time I listen to it, that's the only other band that I can think of that would put out any album like this. I would almost go as far to suggest this as The Beatles of this time, but just on this album. It is as though everything that could've gone right in the studio while they recorded it went right.

No record collection is complete without this album, and that is a LOT coming from me, because it takes a lot for a "modern" "indie" band to make it into my music library, but this managed to break through without a problem. Well worth the purchase.

Ofcourse the albums that everyone knows Of Montreal for are, Satanic panic, the long concept album which i cant remember the name of, Sunlandic Twins. Those are the "hot" albums. But no one really listens to Aldhils ARboretum, even though it has plenty of good songs. The whole 14 song album is amazing. Even though there are complaints that it is to toned down, and not as crazy as there other albums, but it is good for a fan because it shows another side of Of Montreal. Showing that this badn is not only good in cheery indie pop. But can also be sad like in the song old people in the cemetery it is in a happy of montreal tone but yet the lyrics are so depressing. I love it. I listen to this album as much as i listen satanic panic. Highly recomended. The only reason why i am giving it a 4 is because it is toned down and there is no exciting songs that make you want to dance. This album would deserve a 5 if it had two or three exciting songs placed in random parts of the album to make it differ. But even though it is not very dancable it is still very fun.

If you like good music then buy this album. It is definatley one of my favorites. In my opinion this album is right up there with dark side of the moon. If you're into psychodelic music then this album is for you. Headphones really bring out all the subtile instrumentals in the backgroud. First listen to it through speakers a few times and then try it with headphones. It's like a whole new side of the album. I love adhils arboretum.

Elephant 6 band Of Montreal is at its best when they make goofy, quirky concept albums, or at the very least weird songs that make you wish you had whatever they're smoking. That endearing surreality is missing from "Adhils Arboretum," which is a fun indiepop album, but feels somehow too toned down and laid-back.

It opens with the disjointedly bouncy "Doing Nothing," which fits the lead vocals like a four-fingered glove. Things improve somewhat with the clinky pop of "Old People in the Cemetary," which one-ups the "What a drag it is/getting old" with lines like "It must be hard to relate/after the world of your youth/totally evaporates."

There's a more garage-rocky vibe to songs like "Isn't It Nice?" and the ringingly percussive "We Are Destroying the Song." But hints of their older style peep out in the second half of the album, like in the lilting "Predictably Sulking Sarah," perky piano-pop "Natalie and Effie in the Park," and the psychedelic swirls of "Kid Without Claws."

It's hard to know why, after the glorious psychedelic tapesties they've woven, Of Montreal would opt for a sound that is so... ordinary. It sounds a bit like garage rockers on acid, which is a cool idea in itself -- but Kevin Barnes and Co. sound pretty uncomfortable with such a stripped-down sound.

Their colorful pop has been toned down to some slightly muffled guitar melodies and solid percussion, augmented by cello and some electronic flourishes. But in the second half, the band starts slipping back -- they use a drooping violin, sprightly piano, robotic vocals, odd wavery keyboard, and a sort of French folk-club sound, complete with brass. That's more like it, people.

Kevin Barnes sounds good in songs like "Pancakes For One," where his voice flows naturally with the melody. In the rockier numbers, he sounds uncomfortable having to mold himself around the angular music. Their songwriting is is also less colorful, but they miraculously retain that childlike weirdness. It has meditations on aging and death, an incontinent Yorkie who brightens a little girl's life, what foods shouldn't be eaten alone, and climaxes with "I want to dance so I don't have to think anymore/about the steam cleaned caterpillar in the pinafore."

The stripped-down songs are a step backwards for Of Montreal, but "Adhils Arboretum" brings back their colorful vibe in the second half. Flawed, flighty fun.