Customer Reviews

Here's to Shutting Up

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own all of superchunks albums and must say they are aging quite well and to this day I am suprised that they are not a household name. Anyways the days of Mac screaming are gone hes now singin, which is actually a good thing.....
No they havent gone soft just added some variety to their arsenal. What Im trying to say is give the album a chance its wonderful.....

Should this be anyone's FIRST Superchunk album? Oh, no. Just as I would the Replacements, I'd point to a noisier cut of 'Chunk, probably 1994's "Foolish," and let the listener explore the maturing process if they so wished...

Is it their best? No, "Come Pick Me Up" is (so far) their masterpiece.

Still, there's a lot of interesting textures, and enough hooks crunch to make a lot of current bands dream of writing songs this good. You will find yourself humming melodies long after you've turned the CD off. You won't catch a lot of the lyrics, but half the fun is catching a line here or there.

Still, probably one of the top five of 2001...

The last few albums have seen Superchunk getting more and more laid back with their music. It seems their intense pure-energy rocking days are over and replaced with a much more refined mellowing sound. That isn't to say this album doesn't still have some peppy tunes, almost their songs have some kind of catchy hook or refrain buried in them somewhere. The addition of keyboards changes their trademark sound quite a bit, and I'm still getting a bit used to it but it isn't as bad as it could be, the keyboards sound right at home in Late Century Dream and it probably wouldn't have sounded as good without them. At first listen I wasn't too happy with this album and thought it was fairly monotonous and bland, but after listening through it several times its starting to grow on me and I already find myself singing certain bits of it to myself long after I turn it off. I still do miss the sound of their earlier works and do wish it had a bit more of that youthful energy to it that was captured so perfectly in their Incidental Music album (still my all time favorite) - this is the reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5, just a little too laid back. So if you don't like this one at first listen, give it some time to soak in and I'm sure you'll agree that its a worthy addition to your Superchunk collection.

Superchunk, the catchy quartet from N.C, have returned with a pretty good cd. It is clear Mac is still a talented songwriter. It's impossible to compare this album to their older ones. It is obviously not as good as "on the mouth" or "no pocky for kitty". I do not have many gripes with this album, but his lyrics are not his best. Also, I don't know why he is still using the falsetto, even though i must admit he's gotten way better at it. Anyway, I've written more than i should have. Buy this CD, its good stuff.

Considering the arc of Superchunk's career and the sheer volume of songs (most of them quite excellent) that they've recorded, it's no surprise that the sound and the energy of the band have changed over time -- no doubt paralleling their listening habits, life experiences, etc.

As young upstarts they delivered album after album of careening guitars and vocals strained to the point of cracking. Anthem after anthem, even when looked at objectively. As the flagship band of their own label (Merge, home to an indie-rockers dream roster of musicians -- Robert Pollard, Polvo, The Arcade Fire, The Buzzcocks, Camera Obscura, M. Ward, Spoon, Neutral Milk Hotel, need I go on?), they have every right to shatter their own mold. Which is what they do on "Here's To Shutting Up." Is the title a preemptive strike against critics who would diss them regardless of what they did? Many "mature" contemporary bands at this stage in their career are caught in the critical catch 22 -- they're either going to be accused of "not progressing" if they revisit their core "classic" sound, or they'll be accused of "going soft/jumping on bandwagons" if they experiment.

What's a band to do?

"Here's To Shutting Up" bares its pop teeth first and foremost with a collection of fluid, solidly written songs. Lyrics are a little more lighthearted this time out, though still littered with (most apparently) airplane disaster imagery. Considering the CDs release date of October 2001, this touches a pretty raw nerve in many listeners.

For my tastes, this trumps "Come Pick Me Up" -- lauded as a perfect album by many, though I find it contains the closest things to dud songs in the Superchunk canon. HTSU takes the lessons of CPMU and crafts them effortlessly into rough-hewn gems while still hearkening to the effortless punkishness that so often crops up on their B-sides (of all places).

Start here or finish here, but definitely put this in your stereo.

Superchunk has always ruled the NC music scene, and for the first time they seem to be reaching out to more than just the usual college fan base. Great album, especially "Late-Century Dream" and "Art Class."

Now off the underground's official radar screen, professional indie band Superchunk keep getting better. Here's to Shutting Up, their eighth studio release, continues in the vein of the wonderful Come Pick Me Up. They rock less (middle age can do that to you) but think more, and the trade-off is equitable. They're picking up new sounds - steel guitar on the country-ish "Phone Sex", electronica on "What Do You Look Forward To?", string quartet (!) on "Late-Century Dream" - while never sounding like genre-chasers. A lot of forgiving and forgetting is going on in these songs, signs of maturity and/or defeat. On "Florida's on Fire", which might possibly be about a certain election, the chorus of "yeah, yeah's" that follow each line are both funny and haunting, absurd laughter in the face of overwhelming disappointment. Excellent.

This album is extraordinary- a delicious blend of profound power pop peppered with poetic punk tendencies... Go buy this album and listen to it really LOUD 'cause it's simply BRILLIANT. Superchunk is a very groovy band and this is a supremely groovy record. Go Superchunk!

I've loved Superchunk's music for about ten years and I think that "Here's to Shutting Up" is their best album since "Foolish." Superchunk is one of the few bands to have matured out of their garage band origins without going completely limp like the Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum or Paul Westerberg. In fact, I think that Superchunk has matured into being a better band than they were before. Doesn't happen very often so enjoy the moment. Buy the album.

I had the pleasure of seeing Superchunk live recently, and they were AMAZING. Do yourself a favor and go see this band!!!

Anyway this is the first Superchunk CD I've bought, so I can't get into the whole "old vs. new" debate - all I can say is that the songs on this CD are awesome. "Late Century Dream" and "Phone Sex" are beautifully produced and mellow - but they also know how to rock out on songs like "Out on the Wing" and "Rainy Streets". It's the mix of quieter songs with all-out rockers that makes this a great CD from beginning to end. Every song is so catchy that you'll be humming them long after you turn off the CD player.

Buy this CD, you won't be disappointed. And go see Superchunk in concert - you'll become an instant fan like I did!!