Customer Reviews

Beta Band

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read a review in SPIN or Rolling Stone where they touted the Beta Band as the divining rod pointing the way where all music was sure to head or evolve. Now, while I knew that they could not be the second coming of music as we know it, I am a fan of other artists on the Astralwerks label and figured that a BAND that was released through a label synonymous with DJ's, breakbeats, trip-hop and such - was definitely worth a listen. The opening track - while some find to be insanely creative - I found to be wierd for weird's sake, that is until the transition into the rest of the album kicked in...fluid from one song to the next. There is probably no instrument left unplayed, no genre unexplored or mixed with (notably: "Broken Up A Ding Dong" which uses driving folk guitars, soft - almost passive vocals, with steel drums and an accelerated almost ska-like breakdown). The hip-hop style tracks are evocative of Beck in many ways (lazy, free form, odd-time signature lyrics) and the layering of the elements never gets in the way of the appreciation of the song as a whole but instead provides new discoveries with each listen. Nothing like this is out there - and quite possibly there will never be. All the more reason to own it.

This cd does stand up with the 3eps. If you enjoyed the tripped out melodies on the 3eps like Dry the Rain, Dr Baker, and Needles In My Eyes then you will feel right at home with tracks like Its Not Too Beautiful, Number 15, The Hard One and The Cow's Wrong. However if you prefered the more quirky beat filled tracks off the 3eps like The House Song, and B + A then Dance Oer the Border, and Broken Up a Dingdong will have you happily bouncing along. But IMHO neither the 3eps nor this cd can compare to what this band can do live. Any comparisons to other cds will leave you with an incomplete picture, this band is one of the most original bands that I have ever heard. If you are new to the Beta Band file this in between the sounds of the early Verve, mixed with the beats that Beck offers, and a touch of Syd Barrett to bring it all together.

Some of these reviews are the dumbest things I've ever seen. One actually said to avoid this until it is considered a classic in 20 years! Can you imagine someone who is such a sheep that they will not pay attention to this until it is considered good by other people?
Simply put, this album is insane. It's elements of insanity often don't fit together precisely, but that's kind of the point; any craziness that works in a linear and smooth fashion is just posing as genuine insanity if you ask me. This is the sound of a band just having fun, and pushing whatever madness they can think of to the absolute limit of listenability. There are times when this album doesn't "work"--many times in fact. But that's what makes it so special in my mind; the fact that they knew they weren't making something consistently wonderful but they made it anyway in the hopes that some of it would be worthwhile, that the recording process itself would reveal something about them as musicians and as people. I think the band themselves say not to buy it because ultimately its not even for our consumption; its a working out of their own demons.
Then why release it in the first place, you ask? Because there will be people like me (and there are a lot of us) who will like it for what it is. We have no expectations for it, we don't put our unreasonable ideas of what the Beta Band is "supposed" to sound like on it just because we have heard "The Three E.P.'s". We listen to this album on its own terms, and even if part of those terms is that the band themselves don't like it, I'm willing to accept that. I like this album. I respect the fact that many people don't, but some of the reasons out there are really dumb, in my mind. If you're thinking of buying it, just listen to the sound samples, and think about how much of that you can take. That's my suggestion. Hopefully you'll come to the right choice, and decide to buy it and love it or not buy it when you would've hated it anyway. I've been talking for too long. Bye.

Taken on it's own, this is a creative and unusual album, but when compared to the collected work of their previous 3 EP's, it falls short. The Beta Band sounds a bit unfinished and hurried to me - it lacks some of the depth and texture of their earlier tunes. I'd give it a 3.5 star rating. Get 3 E.P.'s first!

This is an amazing album. I first heard about The Beta Band when I saw an interview with them in NME in which they denounced this album, and told everyone not to buy it. Somehow, I was convinced that it was something worth checking out, and bought it, having never heard them. The first time I listened to the album, my reaction was a mixture of confusion, amusement, and disappointment, but after five listens or so, I was won over to this bizarre album's charms. These days it's one of my favourite albums. Utterly inspiring, atmospheric, perfectly orchestrated music. It brings the feeling of a big ol' hoe-down to modern pop music. The Beta Band know how to make a pop song which incorporates hand claps, cowbells, steel drums, accoustic guitars, echoes, animal noises, bike pumps, sped-up voices, birds tweeting, big thudding bass lines, hip-hop beats, words spoken over music, incongrous musical samples, stereo trickery, wow and flutter, whistles, and xylophones. Highlights include: 'It's Not Too Beautiful', with it's jarring use of an orchestral sample from the theme to a Disney film and its inversion of the chorus of 'Itchycoo Park'; 'Round The Bend', the most conventional pop song on the album, and a tip of the hat to the Beach Boys; 'Number 13', an incredibly catchy lo-fi reggae dub; 'Smiling', possibly my favourite dance song ever; 'The Hard One', a moving masterpiece which samples 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' - but not jokingly; and 'The Cow's Wrong', an amazing, atmospheric come-down to finish the album off. I wish there were more albums like this, but as yet I've only heard the one.

The only way to describe this album is good, that's about all I can say. It's hard enough trying to find, ne, create, a musical category this would fit into without having to delve into my thesaurus for synonyms. Beta Band use samples more wisely (and originally) than Beck or the Beastie Boys, but they sound nothing like either of those artists. If I was going to describe this album, I'd say it's like damp midnight in the country with a completely twisted 21st century pop band playing in the dark 10 miles away. There is no wasted space on this album; every noise, instrument, and sample is there for a reason. Some bands pretend how to play. Beta Band know what they are doing.

Apparently the Beta Band doesn't like this album. One gets the feeling they don't really remember recording most of it. For the record, I think its great. By the time you get to brokenupadingdong you'll think you've heard everything these guys can think up, but they keep throwing curveballs till the end. If Grandaddy had heard "Simple Boy" they might've gotten a few more good ideas on how to make machines sound broken. "Round the Bend" starts off relatively normally, but Mason leads it off the tracks with his stream of consciousness delivery. Many of these songs sound like the Betas tried to sabotage them, and ended up creating something far more interesting. Twisting Bonnie Tyler's melodramatic "Total Eclipse of the Heart" into lengthy beauty "The Hard One" works far better than you'd think it would. I did deduct a star because I always skip over the grating "Beta Band Rap" opener, which pains me, cause I really wanna give this a five. If this is the type of album the Beta Band makes and doesn't like, I can't wait for one that they love.

I hate how people keep saying this is one of the beta band's "weekest" or "worst" albums. i admit im not too fond of some songs on here, but "it's not too beautiful" is fabulous! one of my favorite songs, and "hard one" is definately one of the best 10 minute songs i've heard. "broken up adingdong" is definately a fun song too. "smiling" at the begining might sound kinda annoying or wierd, but as it progresses it becomes really quite original and cool. "dance o'er the border" has it's strange parts but it's a pretty experimental song, and i'm glad at least some bands take risks like that instead of sounding like everyone else. "the cows wrong" in my opinion is also definately better than just 'good'. "round the bend," featured in High Fidelity is good but deinfately not the best of them and that song doesn't even begin to represent the awesomeness of the Beta Band.

This is quite possibly one of the greatest albums of all time, but you must listen to it more that once. These guys are too good for any kind of verse-chorus-verse 1-3-5-3-7 songwriting. Much of their music lacks an exact form, so you have to listen to this album more than once in order to fully grasp this new approach to electronic influenced rock. This is a must-have for any musician.

I just couldn't really get into this release. There's really nothing wrong with it, but there's not much right with it. Much of the material seems quirky for its own sake. There just doesn't seem to be as much structure to these songs as there was on the three EPs release (these songs seem almost confused).

Compared to the three EPs, this disc just doesn't do much for me. I would really recommend getting the 3 EPs first, and if you like it move on to this release.