Hair the TV the Baby & The Band

Imperial Teen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B000SM7R0Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,188 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Postpunk Pop, October 28, 2007

By 

Barrett (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hair the TV the Baby & The Band (Audio CD)

Punk did a lot of great things for popular music, and maybe one thing not so great: its cynical-when-not-bitter perspective on just about everything (except itself) made wit in rock about as fashionable as love beads. (The Ramones are the great exception, but their humor bascially came down to high-concept adolescent irony. That's no slam: they're possibly my favorite band.) Ever since, rock bands have found themselves either striving for humorless "cred" or settling for lesser status as "pop" acts.

Imperial Teen falls squarely (so to speak) into the latter group. As much as any indie-rock act I can think of, they've taken the pop notion and run with it. But their debt to punk comes through in the disconnect between their big, shiny, filigreed sound (think, Wall of Sound meets the Archies) and their wry acknowledgement of life's pratfalls. "The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band" is possibly their most sheerly charming release yet. The title cut sets the scene of a group of grownups balancing real life with the pop life, and several other cuts echo the theme to some degree. That contrast gives some heft to the ear candy, but you don't have to catch it to enjoy the instantly hummable melodies and almost eerily airy vocals.

Musically, the new disc lacks some of the oomph of its predecessor, "On" (2002), which is probably their best. But "The Hair..." is a ridiculously seductive slice of postpunk pop from a band that, whether fashionable or not, deserves a much larger fan base.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new album that doesn't suck!, November 3, 2007

By 

Kirk N. Rahusen "Squidwalk" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hair the TV the Baby & The Band (Audio CD)

Everyone's familiar with loving a band and eventually hating their "new album." Imperial Teen is a band that just doesn't follow that rule.

Don't get me wrong, Seasick was their best album. But The Hair, the TV, the Baby, & the Band has everything you loved about the old albums, along with just enough musical progression to make this 4th LP more mature than the 3rd one.

The songs in The Hair feel a little more aged and subdued, but they retain that burnt-out vibe Imperial Teen has always offered. The band is getting on in their years, and the topics they sing about are along those lines. Please understand, when I say the album is a little subdued, I only mean a little. There's still plenty of fun and energetic songs that keep the old band spirit.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friday nights are good, Saturdays are even better..., November 1, 2007

By 

B. Rosenthal "cowpunk1" (North Bergen, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hair the TV the Baby & The Band (Audio CD)

Quintessential Indie-Pop at its finest. Thankfully, these wonderful musicians have returned to form, Imperial Teen are one of those bands whose releases you can buy without even listening to, others of this ilk would be Spoon, Sloan, New Porno's, you get the pix. Anyway, the release like their 3 previous, is littered with catchy as hell tuneful paeans, where brevity reigns supreme and the hooks are a plenty. The two gals in the band have much air time, which is a real good thing. I firmly beleive that the best Rock music is that moment when you are hear a song for the 1st time and instantly identifies itself as a classic as like you absolutley heard this one before (check the first song), derivative? Yes, monotonous, hell no!
All four releases - essential.