Do You Like Rock Music?

British Sea Power | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 12, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: ROUGH TRADE
• ASIN: B00111COHO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,031 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. All In It

2. Lights Out For Darker Skies

3. No Lucifer

4. Waving Flags

5. Canvey Island

6. Down On The Ground

7. A Trip Out

8. The Great Skua

9. Atom

10. No Need To Cry

11. Open The Door

12. We Close Our Eyes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

British Sea Power return with their third and finest full-length. Here they reintegrate the rock with a slew of blistering guitars and unpredictable studio noisemaking worthy of their visceral live performances. Witness fist-pumpers like "No Lucifer" or the Bonzo-styled drumbeat bashed out under a climactic synth-string section on "Waving Flags." Better yet, "Down on the Ground" and "A Trip Out" both feature guitar riffs worthy of the Judas Priest songbook, before they're enveloped in the vast expanse of their accompanying songs. The sound here is raw and spacious. Guitars remain largely drenched in reverb, and various acoustic instruments grace the arrangements, along with various random noises and happy accidents. On "Canvey Island," vocalist Yan describes the fatal 1953 floods on the Thames estuary from the viewpoint of a football fan decrying the loss of memorabilia rather than lives. On "Atom" he decries the "bright but haunted" modern age through the apt metaphor of the split nucleus: "Oh caveat emptor / Open the atom's core." Brainy explorations like that, along with BSP's notoriously clever sense of humor, make the self-conscious title no surprise, but there's really no better way to describe it. This is what rock music can and should be. --Jason Pace

Product Description

British Sea Power are a four-man indie rock band based in Brighton, England. Their style ranges from the sweeping, often epic, guitar pop sound to the visceral and angular. They have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Pixies. They have most often been compared to Joy Division. This is their third album and it features the singles 'Waving Flags' and 'No Lucifer Critics' The band is comprised of: Yan (Scott Wilkinson) - vocals, guitar Noble (Martin Noble) - guitar, Hamilton (Neil Wilkinson) - bass, vocals, guitar , and Wood (Matthew Wood) - drums. Reviews are 'A masterpiece of epic proportions.'-The Word. 'Ambitious, impressive and genuinely moving-chock full of epic music and seductive melodies! '- Q EMM/Rough Trade. 2008.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting back on track with their third album February 12, 2008

By Paul Allaer TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

After the astounding 2003 debut album "The Decline of British Sea Power", the band somehow lost the pedals on a so-so sophomore 2005 album "Open Season", leaving us to wonder whether the band was a one-album wonder. Now comes finally the third album, and the answer is clear.

"Do You Like Rock Music?" (12 tracks, 55 min.) finds the band in its winning ways again. After a brief intro "All In It", the album crashes in with "Lights Out For Darker Skies", and it's immediately clear that the band has moved on from "Open Season", with a refound focus. The first half of album just flows by, with great tracks like "Waving Flags" and "Down On the Ground", which is for me the best track on the album. The second half of the album is not as strong, hampered by the instrumental "The Great Skua" which really doesn't flow well with the rest of the album. It is in turn followed by "Atom" which goes from slow to super-charged. But the closer "We Close Our Eyes" (a reworked/expanded version of the opener "All In It") is an epic 8+ min. track that quite nicely bookends the album.

In all, this is a very welcome return to form for British Sea Power. I can't wait to see how these songs will resonate in a live setting. BSP will be touring the US in March, and will a little luck I'll be catching them. Finally, if you wonder what radio station would play BSP, look no further than WOXY, the internet-only indie-rock station ("BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll!"), playing the best music in the the country, bar none.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A life saver in dull times June 12, 2008

By Michael R. Mcdougall

Format:Audio CD

I have a somewhat torn taste in music as I loved the fast pace and distortion of punk in my earlier years and now tend to lean toward more melodic and instrumentally diverse music. I've always had a guilty love for epic build-ups in songs as well. I'd heard a description of BSP's sound while reading a magazine review one day and made note to check them out. When I eventually got around to it, I was instantly rewarded with my favorite album in years. I've listened to their other releases as well and there is no denying they are having visions of grandeur on this one. That may defy the taste of some older fans, but I personally love it. It's the perfect combination of punky distored rock coupled with the emotion and creativity of many revered indie bands. It's smart and fun at the same time. It can go from invoking dark emotion one minute to making you want to hop around and dance another. I hear their lives shows are even more grand if that's possible. Favorite tracks - Lights Out for Darker Skies, Waving Flags, No Lucifer, Down on the Ground, Atom. I guess you can tell I'm a sucker for the faster paced ones but they are all seriously great sans the odd instrumental in the late-middle. Thank you for making this record, BSP!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better with each listen February 12, 2008

By M. Irwin

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Most music I've picked up has always fallen into one of three categories: 1) instantly gratifying...and perhaps quick to fade as well, 2) instantly repellant...and no amount of re-listening or critical hype could win me over, and 3) slow to reveal its fascinating charms. These days, there seem to be precious few albums in this last category - I'll either like something or not and often my affections are too-easily disposable. Unfortunately, it's this last category that often would provide the greatest contribution to my list of all-time favorite albums. BSP have always been slow to reveal their charms, but their charms are prodigious. Give this and the rest of their catalog a thorough listen...and re-listen. If you like rock music, it will reward greatly.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as Open Season February 12, 2008

By Brooke Oates

Format:Audio CD

British Sea Power return with a new album that on the face of it appears to be somewhere in the middle ground between their first and second albums. I liked both of them a lot, however, I don't agree with the seeming majority out there about Open Season. I thought Open Season was an astounding, amazing record full of sweeping melodies, interesting arrangments, and well-produced songs. The first album, while still very good, was a bit more on the raw-edge/punky side, which is fine and enjoyable, but the songs were not as grandiose as on Open Season. With the new album, we seem to have a combination of the styles. To me, it sounds like half of Open Season mixed with half of the first album. Some tracks are mellow, well produced, and grand with melody...while others crank up the distortion and go for the gut. Overall, a prety good album, but for me not in league with Open Season and probably not the ultimate classic that folks are describing it as. If you like their first two records, you will like this one too, though. Also, to give you more indication where I am coming from...I gave the latest Editors album (An End Has a Start) 5 stars, whilst giving the latest Interpol (Our Love to Admire) 2 stars...if that gives you any reference point.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculously MAGNIFICENT March 7, 2008

By Whittington

Format:Audio CD

This is by far the best BSP album to date. Really though, it just falls in line with the rest of their grand catalog which never plays near mediocrity.
Triumphant, electric, pulsing with gorgeous melodies and vibrant lyrical content. Easily one of the best of 2008. From this writers perspective BSP and ELBOW are at the forefront of Indie music bar none.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious, bombastic whimper February 12, 2008

By Matthew T. Medlock

Format:Audio CD

Like Secret Machines did a few years ago, there's no denying that British Sea Power is seeking a spotlight upon a big stage before an elephantine audience. They want every nook and cranny of every arena in the world to shake and shiver before their suddenly massive sound. Every aching breath and chiming pulse before the inevitable scraping guitar soar has been scripted like a sales pitch; there may be room for some ad-libbing, but the end result must be the same. Instead of a sale, they want to rock the house, so to speak.

Going gargantuan has both its boons and detriments. I doubt anyone expected the BSP from the early days to ever seek out back-and-forth sing-alongs and towering choruses bathed in the glaring white light of a thousand lamps casting the entire band in silhouette. But now that they've rolled the dice in that direction, time will only tell what becomes of them. Some groups were made for big venues, generally because their performance and identity were, well, big. But after a frazzled and anarchic post-punk squealer and an intimate indie pop croon record, was arena rock really the appropriate next move?

For that answer, I look to the results. Just because BSP opens up their collective arms towards the rafters doesn't mean that the masses will stream along under the twelve-foot hang of the colossal platform on which they want to perform. They certainly know how to ascend/sweep (almost any track can prove that), but what's required to get teenage dolls and mulleted mutants to obsess with the thirty-buck T-shirt and two gallon beer at every retired hockey colloseum from Spokane to Orlando is the perfect hook.... You know what that is: the sort of needling, buried-in-the-gut virus that gets otherwise level-headed college-educated professionals to let slip a fist pump and hurrah when Bon Jovi or Journey comes roaring out of the jukebox. Most arena rock groups are an unctuous breed; they're not meant to be liked by discriminating music lovers, but they inspire a rabid following all the same. Is that really what British Sea Power wants?

There are hints of their old fashion buried under the polished play-by-play. "Atom" and "A Trip Out" have the seethe from "Decline" and "The Great Skua" and "No Need to Cry" both have the gentle melodic quality of "Open Season." But none of those songs feel lifted from either album; indeed, they'd feel out of place on those records. Instead, they've been fitted with explosions and nosedives to make Michael Bay drool; careful and precise melodies mathematically proven in the Aerosmith hitmaker labaratory to cause a reaction from less-discerning MTV robots; crescendos intended to get even the physically disabled to their feet; and bridges designed for rowdy, uncoordinated stomps from everyone all the way to the general admission seating. The raw vitality and faked hell-of-it experimentation is absent. Too many of these songs sound like they were written by a computer formula.

There's no doubt that some will squeal with delight at the band's new direction. There's also no doubt that a few of these tracks are actually quite good, and not in that "why am I doing this?" altered-confusion mindset when you start singing along against all instincts to some dreck pumped out by Foreigner. "Lights Out for Darker Skies" fulfills the all-drive/no-point intro, "All in It," by being a chugging and atmospheric rawk anthem, an epic that doesn't overstay its welcome despite the kind-of-obvious bridge designed to calm the audience before the next inferno. "Down on the Ground" starts out promisingly with a quick stutter rhythm before wheezing through its soupy refrain. The aforementioned "Atom" is derivative to be sure, and too processed for its for-the-love-of-reverb design, but succeeds in offering a little grind to the too-polished whole. "Waving Flags" is guilty of nearly every cliché and complaint the sub-genre has to offer, but if there is a guilty pleasure anthem that could inspire beer-swillers to chant, this is probably it. The eight-minute "We Close Our Eyes" is the best break we get from the arena anthem sound; its hypnotic repetition hammers away until you surrender (too bad it comes at the end of the album, so the break is pointless). And "Open the Door" may lean a little too much into Chris Martin's camp, but at least its enormous force isn't driven solely by arcing guitars and thunderous drums.

Some groups have proven that they can handle the task of selling out shows for thirty-thousand-plus (mostly old UK rock icons that are probably too old to be playing those venues anymore). I doubt that British Sea Power is capable quite yet, but the flash of promise is undeniable, and I can't imagine that this album is a statement to anything BUT that they want to quite badly. Maybe they can just go tour with U2 until they get a few top ten hits on the radio so they can headline them alone.

Best cuts: "A Trip Out," "Lights Out for Darker Skies," "We Close Our Eyes," "Atom," "Open the Door," "Waving Flags" Read more ›