Customer Reviews

Bears

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

 

 

Bears are probably my favorite band of the year. I can't even remember how I found them but I'm really glad I did. Now the hard part, describing their sound. If you took two parts Shins, one part Elliot Smith, a ... oh hell, just listen to them.

As a genre, pop music encompasses a wide variety of sounds, and likewise a wide variety of quality. I'm not really into much pop because so many bands that do it are so uninteresting past the first listen or so. This band, however, is an exception to the genre and my tastes.

Bears' sound is essentially the quintessence of pop, and it works really well here. The first half of the album is admittedly the stronger half, but there are some real gems sprinkled throughout the whole disc, all thirty-some minutes of it. It's short, it's gorgeous, and it always leaves you wanting more. So few bands seem to understand that a really good album clocking in a bit short is far better than a longer album with a good deal of filler. Bears make magic from start to finish here, and with each track it becomes more and more shocking that two guys (or any band for that matter) could have ever written all of these painfully beautiful melodies. They are so good that you wonder how no one has ever thought to put those same notes in that same order in all of the history of music (I actually wondered that--I'm not making that up.).

Ultimately, writing a review for this album is a bit frustrating, because it's virtually impossible to describe the pop genius present on this record without risking sounding like you're simply worshipping the band. So to counter: Is it a perfect five stars? No. I can't call it a masterpiece--I won't even say that about their second full-length album, Simple Machinery, which I actually prefer slightly to this one. I've since bought all Bears and subsequent solo-project releases after taking a shot on this one, and they're all excellent. Unfortunately, one needs to go to their website [...] to get most of those, as only this and Craig Ramsey's "Parting Gifts..." are currently available on Amazon. Nonetheless, you'll be duly rewarded for your efforts.

This band should not be confused with the band "The Bears" which features Adrian Belew of King Crimson fame. It is another band of the same name.