The Fragile Army

The Polyphonic Spree

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 19, 2007)
• Original Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: TVT Records
• ASIN: B000QEIOXK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,789 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

No one ever thought a '60s throwback with choral vocals and exuberant horn sections wearing white robes cast off from Godspell would become a hit, but that was the case for the Polyphonic Spree and their 2004 album, Together We're Heavy. Singer Tim DeLaughter and his co-composer and fellow singer Julie Doyle have taken their baroque sound and moved it beyond a gimmick on The Fragile Army. They've also been listening to a lot of English rock in the interim. Echoes of David Bowie abound, from DeLaughter's slightly whiney vocals to the dense production. "Get Up and Go" could've been right out of Ziggy Stardust, and the title track sounds like a cross between Bowie and Pink Floyd's The Wall. It's no mistake that Bowie pianist Mike Garson shows up on the disc. There are all kinds of psychedelic touches, with odd time signatures, multi-part song structures, and symphonic flourishes. Even the mix sounds very '60s, with echo-chamber voices, intentionally over-compressed drums, and strings sometimes panned hard left--something that often happened on early psychedelic records because they ran out of recording tracks. Songs like "Mental Cabaret" are hallucinogenic sprawls of classical strings, music-hall horns, and crushing, time-slipping grooves. You either love the Spree for their trippy, power-driven "Up With People" anthems or despite those attributes. Yet there's little denying their infectious attraction. If you took away the cultish robes and feel-good vibes, I suspect this would be heralded like the latest Arcade Fire or Radiohead disc. And you know what? The Polyphonic Spree have reportedly dropped the white robes for black military garb --and there's a touch of darkness to the album, with lyrics declaring "It's time for you to lose your excitement" and "One day soon the world comes down and says goodbye." But regardless of some ominous offerings, you ultimately just have to succumb to the joy. --John Diliberto

Product Description

Deluxe enhanced UK pressing of their 2007 features one bonus audio track ('Checking Out') plus one bonus enhanced track (the music video for 'Running Away'). The Polyphonic Spree's new album The Fragile Army is a passionate explosion that finds the legendary 23 piece symphonic rock group joyfully raging against the dying of the light with newfound zeal. See them on tour all summer. Gut. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Spree Unleashed At Last!, June 22, 2007

By	James S. Morris "TheOverseer4003" (Durham, NH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If there was ever any question as to whether the Polyphonic Spree could rock your freakin socks off, it has been laid to rest with their release of The Fragile Army. This album is, in short, nothing less than a masterpiece, perhaps destined to become the Spree's all-time classic. Almost every song is excellent. The Spree, under the direction of their visionary leader, Tim DeLaughter, have taken their ultra-uplifting, relentlessly optimistic approach to music and injected it with a dose of high octane rock & roll. The result is an album with everything we always loved about the Spree (tremendous choral arrangements, regal brass flourishes, and smiley-faced lyrics), plus a bunch of new things to love (cool guitar leads, compact song structures, and a slightly harder edge). Although I loved Together We're Heavy (and still do), this is a more focused, catchy, and immediate collection of songs.

The album begins with a cool intro taken from the end of Together We're Heavy, and quickly blasts into high gear with Section 22 (Running Away). This song is clearly meant to attract the attention of new fans, with its driving beat and catchy melody. The excitement level (and volume) stays set at 11 for Section 23 (Get Up and Go), which gives us the first dose of the Spree's compelling new sound. The stomping rock beat and strident guitar leads are sure to grab your attention, while DeLaughter's sports announcer vocals ring out over the din. This is followed by the epic title track, which features a great, building middle section. The best song on the album, and one of the Spree's best ever, is Section 29 (Light to Follow). Beginning with a startling techno drum beat and ambient synthesizers, it contains some truly impressive moments that set it apart even amidst the many other great songs. Other highlights include the gentler We Crawl, the broadway-esque Guaranteed Nightlight, and The Championship.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Never bothered to listen to these guys- mistake!, June 20, 2007

By	Brian Moore "kibogami" (The OC , baby. Nothing like the show) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I never jumped (or perhaps floated)on this particular band wagon. From friend's descriptions it sounded way too hippiesque for my tastes. On a lark I purchased this album and have not been dissapointed. This disc reminds me a bit of Pink Floyd during their Wall era with a dash of Arcade Fire althouh it is almost relentlessly upbeat.

20+ members, harmonies, strings, weird 60ish arangements. Pretty satisfying all in all. I don't know that I will become a convert but I dig this disc. If you enjoy some of the newer bands to come out as of late like the Arcade Fire and grew up listening to oldies this could be for you. Especially if you like a little more layering to your music, providing an opportunity to discover a little more on each listen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming into their own as artists, November 1, 2007

By	Glen Engel Cox "www.engel-cox.org" (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It used to be that an artist--be it a painter, writer, or musician--was developed. That was one of the functions of a producer, agent, or editor: to discover new talent and help it become great. Take, for example, the career of Kate Bush. Discovered in her teens by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and signed to EMI records, they elected to hold off releasing a debut album by her until she finished school and took some additional training in both performance and dance. Yes, she had a hit with "Wuthering Heights" off the first album, but the second and third were somewhat missteps and it wasn't until the breakthrough of Hounds of Love did she come into her own. Today, every new album or book needs to be a blockbuster, a milllion-seller, and if it isn't, then let's find the next big thing. Artists just aren't given the time to develop and find their sound or style.

But there's an exception to everything, and in this case it's The Polyphonic Spree. The Fragile Army is their third full release and it is the culmination of the promise that was implied in their first album but buried behind the muddy demo nature of the recording. The second album showed what a cleaner production could do for them, but the songs were still wandering between moments of greatness and parts better snipped in the editing. Both of those albums are echoed in the first track here, "Section 21 [Together We're Heavy]," by both the title (referencing the name of the second album) and the sound (a repeat of a musical theme on that album paired with a sonic production that sounds as if the instruments were recorded underwater). And then the second track starts and its a startling change: the instrumentation is the same, but it's as if they had surfaced for air and all the full sound can be heard. Later, the instrumentation will change between that full band sound and individual parts, but the dichotomy established early says to the listener of the earlier albums that this one is going to be different.

The creative force behind the band is Tim Delaughter, and what he discovered between the last album and this one is that silence is a part of music, too. It's easy to understand why it was such a problem earlier--when you have 20+ members, everyone's gonna want to make some noise. Like a good conductor, though, Delaughter has reined in that tendency and there's a full range of dynamics on this album, from sections of quiet beauty that is just an acoustic piano or harp to bombastic marches that are driven by the full force of each member's effort.

The strengths of the Spree remain the interplay of the multiple instruments, including the aforementioned harp, a flute, violin and a french horn, along with the power of being backed by a strong six-member choir. With Delaughter's newly re-discovered sense of song structure, this is the best album for new listeners to try. The songs are still titled as a sequence of sections that began with the first album, but the excesses of those early songs are missing here, thankfully. It's a bit like the transition that occurred with Pink Floyd between the psychedlic mess (glorious as some may have found it) of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn to the atmospheric, but structurally sound, Dark Side of the Moon.

The Spree aren't for everyone. Delaughter's voice in particular isn't strong, and his wavering vocals can easily put you off listening for what's behind them. I lent this CD to a buddy and his comment was that it was too akin to Broadway musicals for him, and there are a couple of tracks where the combination of voices and sounds does fit the description. But Delaughter's lyrics are too opaque to be able to draw a coherent story out of them, nor do the songs suffer from the tyranny of the lyrics (i.e., that the lyrics drive the song, rather than sharing that with the music) that infects the work of modern musical composers. Delaughter is, however, an incurable romantic and his optimism infects his songwriting. There's nothing as painfully sincere as "It's the Sun," and there's some melancholy lurking underneath some of the lyrics, but Delaughter remains committed to being upbeat as ever. If anything, it's a refreshing change from what gets played on the radio.