Hooray For Tuesday

The Minders | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 2011)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Future Farmer
• ASIN: B0002T7YN0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,982 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes my Top Ten of the Decade..., December 19, 2000

By 

John C. Hornbostel "triggercut" (Northern VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hooray for Tuesday (Audio CD)

...at least when it comes to pop records. The anonymous person who gave this one star must've lost a girlfriend or boyfriend to one of the Minders, or owe them money, or something...

Anyway, unlike many Elephant 6 bands, you can actually believe the British accent with which Minder leader Martyn Leaper sings: he was born in the UK--so there. He's been blessed with the ability to write incredibly catchy, dramatic songs, too. Way too many E6 bands come up with one nice riff and try to make a whole song out of it; Leaper and Co. manage to use that great riff as a starting point for a great song with choruses, bridges, and dramatic turns: "Red Bus" has a great hook on the verse, but nothing prepares you for the sheer gorgeousness when the multipart vocal chorus comes in.

A final word on the backing vocals that have been disparaged elsewhere.... They're absolutely lovely. Someone in this band has clearly studied piano pretty seriously, because many times the vocals drift into contrapuntal structures--from firsthand experience, those are *tough* to do.

This clocks in at a beautiful 32 minutes, just perfect for what's being attempted. When I hear this, I hear elements of the Kinks (very Edwardian at times), the Fab Four, and even the Who. Highly Recommended!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strangely, one of my favorite albums in the universe, August 31, 2004

By 

P. David "good taste is the only thing I have" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hooray For Tuesday (Audio CD)

Okay, I haven't heard this new version with the bonus tracks, but I downloaded this from itunes a few months ago, and have been listening to it pretty much non-stop since. It's amazing...

For some background, I am predisposed to like this music. These guys are part of the Elephant 6 collective, which includes bands such as Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power and Apples in Stereo -- all of whom kick serious ass. It's also produced by Elephant Six big-wig Robert Schneider, who produced, among other things, Neutral Milk Hotel...

However, of all the faux-Sixties, nouveau-psychedelic music I've been enjoying recently, this album is the best I've found. There isn't a wasted moment on this album; it's just one perfect, sugary-sweet pop song after another, all of them catchy as hell, and more chock-full of hooks than your grandfather's box of fishing tackle. The music is smart, reminicent of your favorite 60's music, and would seem perfectly in place on a Wes Anderson soundtrack or Rubber Soul-era Beatles. I'd give it six stars if I could.

This album has been out of print for some time, and it's about time it's back. I dare anyone out there who likes fun, catchy 3-minute pop songs to listen to this album and not love it. Do it! Do it!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As if to provoke one long, wide smile..., February 11, 2000

By 

boeanthropist "Philip Welsh" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hooray for Tuesday (Audio CD)

As good as, if not better than, their previous 7" records; mercifully short (less than 30 min.) in an age of CDs more tediously overlong than the 3-LP 'concept' albums of the 70s, herein you will find a dozen of Mr. Leaper and Co's perfect pop songs. Bubblegum effluvia, ancient analog synth chirrups, harmonies proven to cause tooth decay by 5 out of 5 dentists, but entirely worth it for the sound of 100-proof candyfloss brewing in the secret hollow beneath a leopardskin nymphette's sewing-table. Erudite but never pretentious, tense but never histrionic, and affected with that same sunny, eccentric faux-Englishness which flavors the majority of Elephant 6 releases in much the same way that cardamom seeds flavor strong, black coffee. Get "Cul De Sacs and Dead Ends," too, which comprises singles and sundry other songs and gives you the makings of a fine 90-min. cassette to make unbearable traffic bearable.