Customer Reviews

Alphabetical

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just got this album and have been listening to it non-stop. I enjoyed United a great deal thanks to Lost in Translation of course, but Alphabetical is a superb album in many respects. It's happy feel-good music that makes you want to dance! After I play it - I need to play Everything Is Everything and Holdin' It Together one more time. Those are my favorite tracks - then I need to play the whole thing again and again.

I haven't heard anything quite like this group. Each track has a number of different, unique grooves and I love how the lyrics kind of roll with it and play with different styles. It takes a lot of disco, some eighties, and electronica then spins it into a new thing all its' own. Pop at its' finest. This album should be making some waves.

The album is quite good as a whole and much more cohesive. Maybe nothing as memorable as Too Young - United has some super stand out tracks but a couple were off the wall. It's very rare for a second to top the first - to continue the sound but yet take it to new levels. Usually I am disappointed. If you liked the debut, then get this album!!!

Phoenix is such a dynamic group and they have really suprised me with this new CD of theirs. It's so different from their last one but it absolutely carries the signature of this awesome band. Not many bands can do what Phoenix did and come out with a completely different "groove" on a CD and have it sound better than the first. Phoenix is definitely my favorite band now. My favorite songs on the album are "Love for Granted", "If it's not with you", and "Holdin' on Together". But, the whole album is really good and a totally fun CD to listen to, I highly suggest purchasing it if you are a fan.

Before Air became America's favorite French duo, Phoenix were their backing band. So when the former indie punks from the Paris suburbs debuted with 2000's United, the surprise was that they sounded neither particularly electronic nor French - singer Thomas Mars, who might have hailed from L.A. or London, had the uncanny ability to sing feverishly and tenderly in English. Alphabetical, coming after the quartet's dazzling single "Too Young" fired the karaoke scene in Lost in Translation, extends the band's blurring of '70s pop-rock intimacy and warm rhythms. From "Everything Is Everything" - which jumps with the acoustic sparkle of AM radio - to more contemplative ballads such as "(You Can't Blame It On) Anybody," these songs create a series of vivid but minimal soundscapes.

This is the revival of seventies brilliant popmusic, remembering Steely Dan, now in a modern french glance of crispy arrangments standing on a stable rockground with wonderful melodies. Goes 8 hours a day. Strongly recommended!

Phoenix is one of my favorite bands because of the way that their songs make you feel. You feel better after just hearing a few minutes worth of their music. Alphabetical continues right where their first album United left off.

1. Everything is Everything- My favorite song on the album. Pop perfection. 10/10
2. Run Run Run- Another great song by this amazing French band. 9.5/10
3. I'm An Actor- A Darker sounding tune than the usual phenix song. Still very good. 8.5/10
4. Love For Granted- A slower song which has great backing vocals. 8/10
5. Victim Of The Crime- Another standout track by Phoenix. I like the lyrics on this one a lot. 9.5/10
6. (You Can Blame It On) Anybody- My favorite harmonies of the album are on this song. Great 9/10
7. Congratulations- An instrumental track which is pretty sweet, but i'm not gonna rate it because it is only a minute long.
8. If It's Not With You- Very chill track. Just soak it in. 8.5/10
9. Holdin' On Together- A disco sounding song which has good lyrics and cool synthesizer sounds. 9/10
10. Alphabetical- The title track is the longest one on the album and is very very good. It even has a hidden instrumental sequence at the end. A great way to end a fantastic album. 9.25/10

Phoenix is definitely the best French Pop band going right now. Their 3rd album comes out on May 15th of this year, get excited.

Overall: 9/10, 5 Stars

I mean it. But this album is that good. It's my favourite album of the year - either the year it came out, 2004, or the year I found this, 2005, take your pick. As with the very best albums, there is barely a wrong note in the entire CD, let alone a bum track.

Trying to describe the appeal of music that doesn't have much of a signature other than its quality is tough, but if I tried I'd say it's warm, catchy, and moving (in both senses) - with shades of the best bits of Hall and Oates in couple of tracks. It compels you to pay attention, sing along if you can, dance if you're able - so try not to listen when you're performing surgery, flying a plane, or trying not to make a fool of yourself.

Now I have to go off and submit a couple of two-star reviews to make up for this.

I love Phoenix. Thank you Lost In Translation!! I think this is an amazing amazing record. There is no day that goes by when I don't play it. Thanks to euro-only releases, I've had it since March. It has a great sound and perky summer status. If Phoenix doesn't blow up with this one, someone must be shot!! I love Run Run Run and Everything is Everything. I love the whole CD. It's a 37 minute tour de force. I hope they make a longer one next time, which will be well worth the wait!! Go Phoenix!! You're a rockin' french band doing amazing American music!!

This album falls into the love it or hate it category or perhaps the "it does it for me" or "it doesn't do it for me" category. If it works for you, you probably won't be able to get enough of this album. If it doesn't, you probably won't ever appreciate it. That said, Phoenix does the electronica chill out vibe very well. It's not downtempo, exactly, maybe subdued uptempo. This is electronica in the evolved keyboards and oh, they changed the beat a little, sneaky! school--kind of knobtwiddler stuff but warmer--not the wacky sample driven school. Take that and match it to slightly accented English which will either be very endearing or incredibly annoying, and you've basically got the formula behind this album. The result is hypnotic and often lovely, with some real feeling and lyrical tenderness evident. The Postal Service reference that another reviewer makes is not misplaced. While not analogues--Phoenix's sound is richer, more uptempo, while Postal Service (which I love) is an exercise in deliberate sparseness--there is a similar vibe once the superficial differences are pared away. Both are emotional and yet cool, almost calm, never offensive. (Compare the genius DJ Shadow, who will usually manage to strike one false or jarring note in the course of an album.) Both offer an intelligent pop take on electronic music with some originality and quirks. Like The Postal Service, I can listen to this album for hours.

Highly Recommended, but listen first.

I haven't really had a favourite band since I was a smooth faced freshman in high school, but after stumbling upon Phoenix last year I've become an absolute addict. I listen to it in the car, at home, at the gym, and when I go to sleep. There really isn't anything else that compares. At least now I'll be able to use the eject button on my car stereo, to switch between United and Alphabetical.

even better than their very fine debut , this is the album i've been playing most the back half of this year. It has a kind of seventies american soft rock feel at times and is also reminsecent of Air in the drifty, nostalgic slow numbers. Sublime .......