Customer Reviews

Flight of the Knife

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Flight of the Knife is like everything you've heard before, and nothing you've heard before. Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears bring muscianship and showmanship back to rock music. Their latest recording is an amazing flight that you will want to take again and again. It's a cd that gets better with each listen. This is by far the best CD I've heard this year, maybe even this decade. Bravo!

The entire album has been released; this even more impressive than the debut, which was an amazing record to say the least.

It shows much more continuity within the album, whereas Bryan Scary's debut seemed to be more of a compilation of great songs. While all the songs by themselves have their own distinctive qualities, they all have hard-hitting energy and immense theatricality that unifies them stylistically. Not to mention the technicality put forth in it: there are layers and layers of sound, unique chord structures, regularly syncopated beats, intricate vocal melodies and harmonies, memorable crescendos, and numerous other things. So amongst the almost-overwhelming haven of the vaudevillian onslaught of musical poetry, the listner is captivated at all times.

LIKE the debut, however, the lyrics are based on a specific location, and that's everything that has to do with the sky. That and they're utterly wacky and absurd -they reflect the music well... including little people flying on top of purple Champagn corks, a floating woman, an insane bird, um, I'm sure you "get it". If the lyrics were ever adapted to visual form, I'm sure they'd be Warner Bros. cartoons. Also... I wonder when I listen sometimes if Bryan Scary is a Thomas Pynchon reader, with all the sky-ships, sky-captains, rockets, light, etc.... Maybe The Shredding Tears know The Chums of Chance personally? Hehe.

All in all, the album is an excellent album with tons of character and originality. THIS is how you make fun, memorable music. BSST are in the process of putting their names on the map, they just need to make sure that the names are real visible places (dumb allusion to Against the Day)!

To call Bryan Scary "great" is an understatement. This band has stormed onto the scene in the past 18 months or so and they have mesmerized the enlightened part of the music lover's community. This album captures more of the magic that the debut had, and brings an amazing assortment of different sounds and styles of music that seem to evoke comparisons ranging as wide as: Ozzy Osborne, ELO, The Who, The Beatles, Queen, and David Bowie. Simply put, if you can find a more intelligent, more complicated and better album this year, it will be a huge surprise. Any music critic that has reviewed this album has put it in their Top-3 list for the year, and you will too!

My favorite tracks (if I can do that, because this is a rare full album that feels like a rock opera from start to finish, or a soundtrack to a Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro film) are "Mama Waits", "The Curious Disappearance Of The Sky-Ship Thunder-Man", "Son of Stab", "Imitation of the Sky" and "Heaven on a Bird"

I'm not sure if I'm the right person to critique this, since I prefer the more straightforward powerpop a la Beatles, XTC and ELO, which nonetheless heavily influence this performer. As a result, I'm tending to gravitate towards the more conventional elements of this album, and somewhat overlooking some of the more bizzarre parts. And, as with Scary's debut album, the songwriting is superb where it isn't overwhelmed by theatrics. Without exaggeration, Scary is one of the finest songwriters of his generation. I only wish it was just a tad more conventional.

On of the best albums in my collection. A very unique and catchy blend of rock and keyboard pop. Give it a listen, check 'em out on youtube, and if you like what you hear, buy the album to support this band so we can get more good stuff =D

I loved the first cd and this is amazing. They are so unique. I am really impressed. If you have taste for this style it is the best in my opinion.

I'll start this review with how I was turned on to Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears. At my record store in Long Beach, my boss tosses me a copy of "Flight Of The Knife" and says simply "You'll either love it or hate it"

Needless to say, 30 seconds in to "Flight Of The Knife (Part One), when the beats drops hard and David Ostrem breaks into his "oh so Chris Squire" bassline I KNEW this would be amazing, I didn't realize it would be ASTONISHING! Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears are THE best band on the planet in 2008!

If were to attempt to describe the sound of this album I would say it's as if Queen and Yes had a child that grew up on XTC, Split ENZ, and vaudeville, and recorded an album with Todd Rundgren; that just about sums it up for me.

Then I saw them LIVE

My girlfriend and I went to see them at Spaceland in L.A. and well, they could be one of the GREATEST performance groups around. Bryan switches effortlessly from thrashing piano to front in center, props and all. Best of all was ace keyboardist Mike Acreman towering over his Hammond and Moog with an intensity that rivaled Emerson in his heyday.

Do yourself a favor right now and if you've read this review and like ANY of the bands I've mentioned, then you OWE it to yourself to buy this record.

Get in on the ground floor here people! This undiscovered group from Brooklyn NY is talented! It's like they fed for years on 60's & 70's AM music and it's all suddenly bursting back out in a popful colorful rainbow of tunage! Wow, what musicianship, vocals, harmonies! Extremely creative, tuneful, lively, quirky, unpredictable, twisty-turny, catchy, funky, rocking, imaginitive; I'm impressed.... such music and lyrics I haven't heard in a long time. It's like new classic art/pop/rock. Your ears will be delighted and your brain will be rocked. Quality sound and song structures. Hear for yourself at www.flightoftheknife.com and start with "Imitation of the Sky". It's a concept album; the last song is a reprise of the first. If anyone reading this is from Yes, ELO, Kansas, Styx, Queen, or is Elton John or Paul Mcartney, I'm thinking you'll want to work with this band.

This is an amazing album that will blow your socks off. I can't stop listening to it. It is simply one of the best albums of the last decade. There is a bright future for Bryan Scary!

Wow, what a ride. What an experience!

It's unconventional, theatrically lush, ambitious ,clever, and really FUN. Bryan Scary plays with styles (psychedelic, prog, surf,glam, music hall, rock opera, among many others) and creates an original, cohesive musical language with them.

Tempos, instrumentations, arrangements turn on a frenzy, which is appropriate for his flight themed concept. But every time this album twists,turns and goes for the loop it's in exactly the right spot. And the beautiful ballads give you just enough time to catch your breathe before going upside down again.

It's zany yet approachable. Smart but fun. Innovative yet retro. It's one of those albums that every week you have a new favorite track. The songs are incredibly catchy and still get better with every listen.

Much in the way of Zappa and the Beatles, it's novel without ever becoming a mere novelity. Wow, indeed.