Customer Reviews

How Strange, Innocence

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I think this album is somewhere between a 4 and a 5. Not quite outstanding, but close.

Here's what I liked about this album:

#1. I'd call this cd a combination of what we heard on the Friday Night Lights soundtrack and what EITS put out on their other two albums. The crescendo isn't quite as apparent and is distinctly different in the way the band approaches it.

#2. I had never laughed when I heard a song before from sheer giddiness until I heard Magic Hours. WOW! One of the most sensational instrumental riffs I've ever heard. The closing segments of the song were amazing. As good as anything EITS have done before.

#3. A Song for Our Fathers: very dynamic work. One of the better EITS songs I've heard. It's almost otherworldly. This, along with Magic Hours, would be perfect songs for s score if they ever made a film about the apocalypse.

All in all, a very good album. Well worth buying.

So like most I baught this album when it was re-released. I was really surprised to read that EITS wanted to "take back all the CDs" and destroy them. That remark was extremely harsh in my opinion. However, comparing this to their two future releases i can kind of understand where they are coming from. This album was suppossedly made in two days (which is not a hard sell). It is a bit rough around the edges and the quality is lacking a bit.

So why four stars? Easy. If you were to listen to this before their other two albums it would knock your socks off man. And if you heard it, like myself, after purchasing the next two releases, you would be just as excited as me in the progress they have made. I love this CD. I listen to it all the time. The first song is something special. The basswork, which I thought could be improved in the other two CDs, is outstanding here. Man, what an awesome band. What a start.

If this is possibly your first purchase of this bands music, good for you. It only gets much, much better. If you have the other two releases and are a fan, you will enjoy. Thanks for reading.

This might be the least thoughtful of 'Explosions in the Sky''s releases, but it's also quite possible their most enjoyable. To be sure, it's the lightest, for with 'Those Who Tell the Truth' (their best album if I'm honest with myself) and the subsequent 'Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place', their intended effect is much more pronounced, and therefore drenched in sentiment. 'How Strange', on the other hand, is gleefully unpretentious and the result of such an attitude is oh-so likeable. Like the opener on the album, 'A Song For Our Fathers', the music basically melts into your cerebrum (opposed to your heart, which they strove for later on).

'Explosions' is not my favorite post-rock band but I still love 'em. Those who fell in love with these guys for either of the albums mentioned above should prepare themselves for the inevitable absence of polish and lacking performances (when compared to their evolved selves), but hey, it 'is' their first recording, and once one gets past these things, there is little to dislike here. It might not contain enough genuine ideas for the 50 minute runtime, but even in its duller moments it remains pleasurable for the pleasing ambience.

The more I think about it, 'How Strange, Innocence' might actually be the best EitS album to begin with if you're unexposed. Well, that or 'Earth...', which is probably even more accessible and immediately gratifying. Even so, that one is still a great deal more melodramatic, if sincere, and nothing after 'How Strange' gave off the smooth, chill soundscape that the band came to fruition with. Really, it's an entirely different beast than their progressing work, for better or worse -- I.E., excellent, just like everything they've written since.

Explosions in the Sky's debut album, originally only released in extremely small numbers on CD-R, had been remastered and rerelesed, to much anticipation by fans. Ignore the band's self-doubt as written on the CD itself--this is a solid, amazing album. With less buildup/"explosions", EITS crafted a truly all-encompassing grandeur, and while this album feels less produced than their later efforts, it defintiely matches up with the more recent work. My only complaint is the less impressive sound quality. Standout tracks are A Song for Our Fathers, Glittering Blackness, and especially Magic Hours.

Expectations were certainly high for the re-release of this album, EITS's debut album of 2000, and i was not disapointed. Every song on the album is solid, with each song averaging around 6 minutes. That said, this album is very different from the bands two other albums Those who tell the truth... and Earth is not a cold dead place. THis albums is composed of shorter, more accessible songs that are compositions in themselves, while with the other albums, the songs all fit together in one piece, more or less. This album is not worse or better than the other two, just different. Buy all three (five actually, including the Friday Night Lights Soundtrack and The Rescue, which is only availible on their tours)

I am fairly new to Explosions in the Sky, and i initially got "The earth is not a cold dead place" which is an incredible album, but "How Strange, Innocence" has become my favorite. There is a distinct sound that they really reach on this album that i find truely beautiful. Perhaps i just feel that this album isnt getting quite the credit that it deserves, for an instrumental band to convice the listener that words would only bring the song down, is truely an accomplishment.

I've already had this cd from when they first released it and when i heard they were re-releasing it i decided i was going to review this album. The album opener is a mellow atmospheric song that gets harder as the song plays. From this song you'd think it'd be a great album but i found many of the songs a bit boring. My favorite track on here is "magic hours" This song is more upbeat but yet still mellow. The best part is when the distorted guitar come in over the soft mellodies at the end. The rest of the songs are ok and worth a listen. Get this album if your a fan but get their other 2 albums first since they are alot better!!!!

After reading Amazon's editorial review, upon finishing up Explosions in the Sky's "How Strange, Innocence", I can see how the band may have wanted to recall the copies that were out. This is no "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place", indeed. It lacks the inviting quality that characterized "The Earth..." plus it never rises to the same heights either. But it's not bad. It can't be deemed as bad, even by the toughest critics. This is one heck of a debut album, indeed. One that showed promise and put the spotlight on a band that would later show the world more of what they had in their musical backpack. It's just not their best album.

Glittering blackness moves and you feel your mind hitting the surface with reality. my words don't give it the right meaning. Watch things collide. explosions in the sky best describes their music. good song titles to fit their music. and I do love this album but I prefer to listen to my favorite songs on the album again and again instead of listening to it through each time and that is why i give it 4 stars, cause all the songs don't always keep me fascinated. but the ones that do do. Glittering Blackness and Time Stops are the best songs on this album and are worth the hole cd. A song for our fathers also really amazing. like an old man and a young child living a life in the same body. weary and new. fresh and old. two seperate unique individuals meet and time stops blackness glitters. this album explores opposites without controversies between the two, they more blend and combine them, making smooth transitions and creating memories and stories. a song for our fathers introduces this and explores the mind of time with that old man you know and feel like he is your father or you in disguise. a weird coincidence of differences.

Wow I just don't know where to start with this album.Well, about the album itself: I think this is best explained by the band, so here's what they think- "How Strange, Innocence" was our first attempt at an album. We recorded it in January 2000 in Austin: recording took two days, mixing one day, mastering one day. Altogether we pressed 300 CD-R copies of this album...We had been a band about seven months when we recorded these songs. A lot of feelings (excitement/confusion/glimpses of visions/waking dreams/inability to play instruments) went into this record, but we didn't quite know what to do with those feelings, none of us had even really been in a studio before, and it shows in the recording, the songs show it, too--it's a young record. There are no tricks in it. There's a lightness in a few of the songs that we probably won't reach again. It sounds strange to say that instrumental songs are about something, but to us these songs were/are about such things as a couple walking through the park on a winter day, a child playing on 70's shag carpet, the story of a boy hero leading a revolution against the tyranny of the coal mines. We've had a bit of a love/embarrassment relationship with the record. At certain points along the way several of us wanted to buy back all the copies and burn them. Listening now to this album, it almost seems like a different band composed of four different people. We finally feel okay in re-releasing it, probably because we've now made a couple of records that are recorded better and that are closer to our visions for them. Anyway, we truly appreciate anyone who is interested and listening. Thank you."

That was on the CD itself- hope you found that helpful. I like this CD for two reasons. 1.The wonderful way Explosions in the Sky can tell a story through their instruments. 2.This album has a distinct sound- one all its own. If you didn't like Explosions in the sky before, you will once you listen to this album.
-Sherman.