Customer Reviews

Bravery

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

...everybody else this year. I was talking to a hot rock'n'roll chick of a certain age (totally married, as am I) the other night, both of us expressing guarded pleasure in the fact that it sounds like 1981 on all the most "cutting edge" stations. I expressed my affection for Interpol, and she asked "aren't they the ones who sound like Gang of Four?" I told her I thought she was thinking of Franz Ferdinand. Interpol sounds like Joy Division. The Strokes sound like the Buzzcocks. The Killers sound like (early) Duran Duran. LCD Soundsystem (usually) sound like The Fall. The Moving Units (often) sound like New Order. New Order is even starting to sound like New Order again, except when they sound like Joy Division.

And the Bravery? Sound like the Killers, and the singer sounds rather way too much like Robert Smith (of The Cure, in case you're 19 or living under a rock), which is a good thing since I wonder how much longer Mr. Smith will be able to manage it hiimself. Despite that--and the fact that track two of The Bravery sounds almost actionably close to track two on The Killers' debut, Hot Fuss, as if it were like a pastiche or something... :o)--it's tons of fun.

While it has nothing in my mind to rival the sheer, jump-around-your-attic-in-your-boxers-playing-air-guitar quality of say, Mr. Brightside or Somebody Told Me (by The Killers, just in case you're 40 or living under a rock), I can see myself growing to like the album as a whole more than Hot Fuss, as I find it less pretentious, forced, and calculated.

RECOMMENDED, but really kids, if you don't have any music by the artists who created this sound the first time around, go buy some; it's all remastered and sounds great all over again. Yes, dance music is ALLOWED to have guitars AND live drums. No, there is no way you can have bass guitar as your lead instrument and a vocalist who sounds like Ian Curtis and then complain when people say you sound like Joy Division. And maybe I'm only so excited by the post-punk/synthpop revival because it sounds like what music sounded like when I first started to care. There are worse reasons to like something. Crotchety old guy in his early thirties lecture over. Buy this. And The Killers. And Interpol. And Franz Ferdinand. Etc.

Depending on how you feel about the latest trend in alternative music I guess you can credit/blame The Strokes for starting a new wave revival of sorts. However you feel about, its quite apparent that the sound has arrived.

The Bravery are another in a recent wave of NYC new wave revivalists proceeded by The Strokes, Interpol, Ambulance LTD and a handful of UK acts and a band from Vegas.

Scoring more points for execution than originality The Bravery have definitely listened to a few New Order records in their day as witnessed in "An Honest Mistake", the lead track. However, when the songs are this good its easier to forgive the lack of originality and just enjoy the show.

"Unconditional" & "Give In" are also highlights on a record that's pretty solid from start to finish.

I'm not sure where The Bravery will be in 10 years or how long this new wave revival will last but as for the here and now in April 05 they sound pretty fresh and vibrant.

(3 & 1/2 stars) Since the Amazon description of this CD is so UNinformative, here's my contribution. In their sound, The Bravery owes something to Depeche Mode, the Faint, and a bit to New Order. The lead singer Sam Endicott's voice has something of a "hysterical tenor" Robert Smith quality. Their songs are electronic dance-rock. Just as one example, track 4, "Tyrant," mixes a Deep Purple-ish heavy rock organ with a pulsating synth line a la early Depeche Mode (Speak and Spell era) and then a quasi-catchy melody vocal by Endicott. The song is one of the better ones on the self-titled Bravery CD, but unfortunately there is an overall lack of distinguishable songwriting on the disc. The songs do tend to sound "all the same." I say this after 2.5 times thru the CD. Continuing the Depeche Mode comparison, there's nothing on this that rivals even 2nd-tier DM. The CD contains the promise of better things in the future, but nothing much stands out on this debut.

Wow, where do i begin...?
I never heard of these guys before and I chanced upon this album through a mate of mine. On first listen, several bands came to my mind... (and i can certainly see where all these comparisons came from). New Order... The Killers... The Cure... U2... The Smiths... Duran Duran...

These Electro-Rockers hail from New York and this is a solid debut album. These guys have been panned as unoriginal. So what if they sound like bands mentioned above? Heck, we enjoyed those bands then, so why not now? The way i see it, music has come full circle and seems like we're moving backwards in order to progress. People should stop being so snobbish and enjoy the music for what it is... (Let's see you put an album out and see how it does!)

The lead off track "Honest Mistake" is a catchy lil bugger with a right stylish music video. "Swollen Summer" is a frentic, dance friendly rock track that just makes you want to bop around and not care what everyone else thinks about what you're doing.
Other tracks like "Give In", "Public Service Announcement" and "Unconditional" are noteworthy tracks in a thoroughly enjoyable album. While these guys may not be coming up with anything "new", they make fun, catchy music. It's a polished rookie effort, considering they did everything themselves, from the artwork to the records to the videos...

I'd recommend this album to anyone who enjoys danceable rock music...

After listening to The Bravery's debut cd 20+ times, I enjoy it. More so than I did the first five times. It took a while to settle in, and it IS more than a little repetitive. But, the music falls into the Nu Wave category along with such peers as The Killers, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, The Music, Caesars, The Futureheads, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Arcade Fire, etc. This is a GOOD thing. The best songs here are certainly "An Honest Mistake" with it's Duran Duran meets U2 quality with New Order to boot. "No Brakes" a la A Flock Of Seagulls meets Soft Cell approach. "Unconditional" and "The Ring Song". The other seven tracks vary in quality with "Fearless", "Tyrant", "Public Service Announcement" and "Rites Of Spring" being second best choices. Yes, the debut could have stood some greater variation instrumentally, but the lyrics aren't as bad and forgettable as some of the other reviewers here would have you believe. Just think early Duran Duran and you'll be fine. I agree with some of the other reviewers that The Bravery's debut does show promise for future releases, however, it is debatable whether this band has the originality to persevere against other, more formidable bands like Coldplay. If you are a fan of 80's new wave and have been looking for more current artists reviving that era, you could do worse than pick up a copy of The Bravery.

well most of what i'd want to say has already been said so i'll get to the point.. you either love this, think it all sounds the same and a cheap 80's rip off, or hate this and all that the 80 ectro had to offer.... i guess i'd fall into the cheap 80's rip off catagory... an honest mistake was at least a glimse of what the cd could of done but instead made a cd full of sound a like songs never crossing too far into a differnt style...to compare them to the killers which mostly everyone does, this cd is but a quarter of the worth that hot fuss was.. if you like all that is depeche mode and want more? buy the bravery's weak attept at glory. if you just like the killers and not much else of this style of music.. you can go without them.

This whole hollow debate about the Bravery supposedly aping the Strokes and/or the Killers is ridiculous. As if the Strokes or the Killers have presented us with original material noone's heard before and thus anyone would need to copy them. People are forgetting that all these bands are collectively aping the past, and this is only characteristic of the current rock scene where all these "revivals" are simply an emphatic sign that rock as a music style is looking backwards in order to move forward. Lack of ideas? Exhaustion of creativity? Reliance on past successful recipes? All of the above? Whichever the case, it's downright hypocritical to pick one band out of the pack of revivalists and criticize them for it. One could say that Bravery might look very much like band-wagon jumpers, but then again, who's to say that the others arent.

To the nitty-gritty then: the Bravery have launched an album extremely reminiscent of a few legendary 80s bands namely early Cure, New Order, possibly even a lil Duran-Duran and a few others that are less easy to ear-spot.
Question is, do they do it good? Oh yes, this is clear for anyone who'd want to be honest about it. This is a highly energetic album, but more importantly very contagious. The more you listen to it the more the tunes seem to stick.

With the synthies in center stage setting the tone in most of the tracks and with the guitars mixed in quite nicely what you get is basically a pop album with great potential. Not to mention the addictive vocals in it which for me are its ace up the sleeve. A pop album that delivers with quality and pomp.

Obviously all this isnt going to make any difference for those who've predecided to anyway dislike a band for reasons that could actually apply to many others as well. It's called double standards.

But the point remains, that no matter what label you want to attribute to the Bravery they have as a band a considerable arsenal of qualities. This release will easily fit with the summer just around the corner. It's just that type of music. The 30-somethings should be rejoicing (depending of course on how hardcore your principles might be) but the rest of the crowd shouldnt be complaining that much either.

I have read and heard about the Bravery being nothing more than a lesser-quality of the Killers, and I don't get it. Sure, there is a vague similarity of sound, but so what? I don't remember that when the Seattle grunge scene was big, everybody was saying "this band is a second rate version of that band". The fact is that many bands today are (re)discovering the glam 70s (see Louis XIV) and the new wave early 80s (see the Killers, the Bravery), just to name these. Have we become such music snobs that we will leave that stand in the way of enjoying good music? I sure hope not.

"The Bravery" (11 tracks, 37 min.) is the New York band's debut album, and starts off with the totally irresitable (and lead off single) "An Honest Mistake". I was afraid that radio was gonna play it to death, but it hasn't happened yet (knock on wood). Other great hum-alongs include "Swollen Summer", "Unconditional" (which is the second single, released in the UK), and "Public Service Announcement".

There is no great "artistic statement" on this album, just a bunch of fun songs, and done well at that. At 37 min., the album blitzes by in Strokes-like fashion, and you'll fing yourself wanting to play it again.

Alot of this album does have that haunting feel of "sameness" that seems to be a bad thing these days. Certainly, the fundamental impetus of the songs doesn't change. You got your beats, your synth, some riffs, and some truly understated lyrics.

These things do not change from song to song. The way they are delivered doesn't vary very much either. The opening track, "Honest Mistake," is great, and really does set the tone for the album. The tone, in case you're wondering, is "shake what your mama gave ya." The beats are *infectious* and are the strength of this album, no question. In terms of exploring ways to make you want to hit the dance floor, this album scores full marks. Like alot of dance music, however, this album suffers when listened to in a non-dance environment. The songs are still good. You'll tap your foot, nod your head, maybe annoy people you live with by clicking a pen in time to the beats - but when you actually *listen* to the music, you start to realize what's missing.

What's missing: Variety of sound, lyrics that make sense (they definitely mailed this portion in), musicianship, subtlety, culminations.

One at a time, I will address these concerns.

1) Variety of sound

They nail the electronic beat music very well, and the keyboards are there throughout. However, no territory is explored. They have a solid base built here but don't build towards anything worthy of being called a peak. In a perhaps unfair comparison, consider The Bends by Radiohead. I would say that Honest Mistake and Planet Telex are about the same level of "awesomeness," but Radiohead takes that and builds, and builds, and builds on it, reaching a mid-album climax and finishing very strongly. The Bravery's "Honest Mistake" starts at the same level but the level isn't taken any further than that. I rate Honest Mistake a 8/10 for a song, and do the same for Telex.

2) Lyrics that make sense.

Self explanatory. Some artists get away with ridiculous lyrics (The Tragically Hip, The Music) due to their use of vocals as an instrument that builds well upon the instruments. Such is not the case here. It's not that big a deal, but don't expect to be belting out lyrics from this album a la "One" style.

3) Musicianship.

There are no epic guitar riffs. There are no stunning drum sections. The keyboarding is as it has always been in 80 and 80-spin music: backup. Whether this is from lack of ability or design we will have to wait and see for another album or to see the band live (I haven't). It's wrong to expect Hendrix in the guitar department, but doesn't it say something when they don't even try?

4) Subtlety

No ogres here. No layers. No rewards for repeat listening. Can make listening to this album more than twice a week a bit of a chore. You were warned about this if you buy this and try to listen to this CD 5 times in one day.

5) Culmintations

No crescendos. No softer sections. Just a steady power the whole time. Consistent, and not bad, but music needs ups and downs.

In the end, I had to rate this album just shy of 3.5 stars. Say 3.4-ish. Still much better than average music being put out today, but you can't help but feel that this has all been done before. It has, but they didn't have to be so obvious about it.

But maybe that's why it opens with "Honest Mistake."

3 < The Bravery, The Bravery < 3.5

Recommendations above this album include Welcome to the North (For those who love their musicianship), Kasabian (for those who love their electronic), and The Killers (for those who love their pop).

This CD is a great addition to anyone's CD library, especially if you're into this particular brand of rock. If you like the Killers, chances are, you'll like the Bravery even more.