Customer Reviews

Great Eastern

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Soft Bulletin"? "Deserter's Songs"? I thinking more along the lines of "OK Computer": the quintessential, remarkable third album. The first five or six times I listened this I was afraid I might have added another mediocre CD to my collection -- something a shade below the previous "Peloton" and "Domestiques". But sometime in there, having owned "The Great Eastern" for a little over a week, listening to it at least twice while driving from Arizona to Kansas, sometime about 10 o'clock in the evening (Central time) on August 2nd, while entering Clay Center Kansas, I came to the conclusion: "I really like this CD. I like it a lot."

I'll admit, most of the tunes seem to begin a little wimpy, a little self-conscious and flat. But by the time last note is played they will have long transcended all of their seeming weaknesses. And I think it's good to hear intelligent pop music that doesn't rely heavily on irony and sarcasm to give it that aura of intelligence. This is a close second in my favorite CDs of the year 2000 (The Mendoza Line's "We're All In This Alone" is currently my favorite).

...The Delgados are truly wonderful composers of music that has many depths and layers. Ironically, they also can sound quite bare.

For those who fail to see the connections between, say a Soft Bulletin or a Deserter's songs, might I add that Dave Fridmann produced all three records (buy them all - they're all gggreat or grate as they say in the UK).

This Delgado's album is simply a harder edged Bulletin or Mercury Rev album. They are all unique but they share the glorious production of Dave Fridmann.

God bless Emma, Alun, Stuart, and Paul and their session musicians for making a remarkable piece of art that will last forever.

P.S. Check out their recent album, HATE. It lacks the edge that 'Eastern' has but is beautiful in its own right.

Few bands are a consistantly brilliant as the Delgados. Forget not releasing a bad album, the Delgados haven't even released a bad song. With the relese of Hate last year, I went through their back catalog and was plesently surprised, especially with this one. Their albums definantly stand the test of time. Their are a lot of great bands from Glasgow (Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, ect...), but the Delgados are far more consistant than those bands and I find myself listening to "The Great Eastern" far more than "The Boy With the Arab Strap".

'The Great Eastern' takes The Delgados sound a step higher from the Pavement-like 'Peloton'. A more polished and smoother production, lush and layered sound, along with orchestral strings, wind instruments and piano. Emma Pollock's vocals has this naive childlike pout about them, charming yet oozes sincerity. The Delgados still retain enough guitar-oomph to satisfy indie fans, yet the arrangements are far more textured, along with this soothing lullaby quality that strings all the songs together. Each track also tends to have these musicbox-type interludes, overall making for an interesting sound. It's not about high's and low's anymore, but about soft colors and subtle shades. This CD is a departure from their earlier gritty guitar sound, but what it lacks in rawness is compensated by grandiosity and songs of comfort. Listening to this album is like peering through a dark tunnel and seeing a light, and finding hope.

I bought this on a whim. It hit my like wham man! "American Trilogy" is a great, great song. I loved the interplay b/t distorted guitars and the symphonics and the back and forth between the singers. The pleading drabness of Alun's voice playing against Emma's siren call balance realism vs. romanticism beautifully. Okay, I know, get over myself. "Witness" "Accused of Stealing" "No Danger" are all very solid tracks and make for the best release of 2000.

Certainly a very beautiful record on its own, far more ambitious than their previous releases. I can understand the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev comparisons because the production is very similar (same person produced all three)but the sound is their own. I agree that it sounds as though they may not be entirely comfortable with the lusher sound, but in time I think they will grow into this new direction and perhaps use it better to their advantage. (it's probably more Prolapse than Mogwai, if comparing Jet Set groups)

For fans of FLAMING LIPS and MERCURY REV! Which isn't surprising, since Dave Fridman, who produced both those bands, produced this one as well. The Delgados attempt some very broad, orchestrated gestures here, but they do it, and they do it VERY well. It's very saturated, much like FL's "The Soft Bulletin" or MR's "Deserter Songs". It might take you a few listens to get into it (it did for me) but it is worth it. People will try to compare it to Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai, but LOOK PAST those comparisons - they're just lazy. Do yourself a favor and get thru at least the first 5 tracks (track 3 and 5 are two of my favorites, but so is 6, 1, 4)- you'll end up listening to the next 5, over and over and over....

i picked this cd up after listening to a few tracks in a record store while taking a semester in the U.K. really good, creative stuff. sort of a Fanclub-meets-Radiohead-in-1994 kind of thing going on. in any case, enjoyable music - "no danger" is one of my favorite songs right now.

the delgados are like a more polished Pastels, the much-beloved Scottish fuzzy twee risibly incompetent brain child of man child Stephen Pastel. still, there are much better bands in this swirly pop genre: THE BLACK WATCH, YO LA TENGO, AND ALL OF THE CREATION/4AD OUTFITS OF THE EARLY 90s. i dunno though, you just have to play this record a lot in order to appreciate its subtle beauties, of which there are, admittedly, a nice handful. i want to like the delgados more than i actually do, is what i am rather hamhandedly tryin' to say.

John Peel loved this band (check out the Peel sessions, especially the superb cover of Mr Blue Sky), and you can see why - trippy, visceral and fun. Def worth a listen.