Fallen Leaf Pages

Radar Bros. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B0007NMK58
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #364,438 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Most rock and roll bands have one particular sound, and they spend their careers trying either to refine it or run away from it (often losing themselves--what made them interesting--in the process). The Radar Bros. fall firmly in the former camp; they’re like the painter that works in the same style and with the same palette and using the same imagery for years on end. Warbly, lushly multi-tracked vocals sing lullaby lyrics of death and despair and heartbreak and the ironies inherent in the postmodern condition. Melodic, minor-keyed guitar lines snake in and out of slow-going, pleasant, Pink-Floyd-meets-Crazy-Horse tunes, while layers of strings and keyboards accompany the whole shebang sweetly, and slowly. The Radar Bros. have perfected a certain kind of moody, lay on your back and dream the world away kind of music, and it’s hard to fault them for not changing a gosh-darn thing on this, their fourth album. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fantastic find., February 16, 2007

By 

fluffy, the human being. (forest lake, mn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fallen Leaf Pages (Audio CD)

this band was a real pleasing find. music that sounds like it has been with me all of my life, yet i can't quite compare it to any other band. the 2nd half of the album does remind me a bit of an indie-rock pink floyd. lots of tasteful guitar and piano and winning melodic songs. not a quiet album, but definitely on the laid-back side of things. i highly recommend that you take a chance on this excellent band.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Band, August 12, 2006

By 

D. Fay (Laramie, WY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fallen Leaf Pages (Audio CD)

Since discovering this album more than a year ago, the Radar Brothers have become one of my favorite all-time bands. Which, is surprising, as I'm in my forties and not inclined to latch onto new bands, particularly ones with such obvious influences from my youth. In any given song, one may hear hints of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, or even the Moody Blues. However, the Radar Brothers are in no way derivative. They seamlessly synthesize these influences to into something new and poignantly beautiful. And the more I listen, the more convinced and fanatical I become about their genius...

The Radar Brothers have three albums that have become integral soundtracks to my daily life. The Fallen Leaf Pages, The Surrounding Mountains, and The Singing Hatchet. Gradewise, I rank them A+, A++, and A, respectively. Their earlier independent (non-Merge) effort is worth picking up once you've become a devotee, but it doesn't have the consistent quality of the most recent three.

By all accounts, I have overplayed their last three albums to the point where tedium and boredom, not to mention irritation, should have long since set in. Yet for some reason it hasn't. Although not overly complex, their music has a depth and gravity. Their lyrics are ever elusive in their meanings. Their melodic lines (and boy can these guys do melody), never lose their freshness. Every listen leaves me wanting more. Especially when driving, I find that I have the capacity to listen to the same album twice over, something I that ordinarily never do.

In short, I love this band. More accurately, "I am in love with this band". And I would add, I am not the only one. Several people that I work with, not to mention my wife, have become equally fanatical.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Magical Mystery Tour to Spahn Ranch, March 25, 2005

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fallen Leaf Pages (Audio CD)

At first, this latest Radar Bros cd sounded overproduced. I feared that it was a bait for the Dave Fridmann lovers--from the man who's reduced Flaming Lips to a cloying novelty act and Mercury Rev to a limp mousy simmer. Repeated listens have eased my queasiness, and the consistency (not monotony) of this LA trio over the past decade makes here for a bit richer sounding, more expansive (i.e., keys more than guitars) sonic palate. Background voices layered in a couple of songs, a stunning 10th track (beautifully delivered chorus: "when you show yourself, we will be free": millenarian threat or a promise of salvation?), and the usual rather deadpan (my son hears Pavement in the vocalist's pitch--both in the content and the form) rendering makes for another great Radar Bros cd, that they send us every few years. Worth the wait, great follow-up to "And The Surrounding Mountains."

They have a parched sound. Reminds me of a soundtrack for the Manson clan, pre-Marilyn, post-Death Valley '69. Eschewing cheap sentiment or shock, they painstakingly make songs that delve deep beneath their deceptively dry surfaces. Their records may be hard to find, but all are worth tracking down. Allow yourself to open up to their rather rigorous, sometimes sparse melodies--subtly, they sink in to your subconscious and will never leave. Their mix of measured menace and beauty lingers, their craft continues to be honed. As they sing this time around: "an apple in the weeds."