Customer Reviews

Keep It Like a Secret [Vinyl]

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On the fringes of music you can find some really spectacular things. It's a journey that's often worth taking- trying to scope out artists doing something unique and passionate in the face of everything corporate and plain.

Here's one of those few examples of true gems that can only really be found with a little searching. Think Sonic Youth but cut the abstraction, and make the music poppier and more accesible, and you've got in in a nutshell. In all honesty, I'm completely surprised that Built to Spill hasn't recieved something greater than the (albiet big) cult following they've appreciated over the last 10 years or so.

This album leads off, uh, perfectly from "Perfect from Now On." Where that very incredible album in its own right had sprawling song scapes and drawn out guitar solos that lent it an epic feel, here you get a taste of the epic but also the pop perfection Built to Spill had acheived with its earlier releases.

It starts off with probably the most concise statement of their musical direction yet, "The Plan," which combines sprawling guitar squalor, Doug Martsch's chiming boyish voice, and interesting drum play all into the space of 3 1/2 minutes. The next, "Center of the Universe," is probably their most pop statement, with a loping beat and vocal refections on success. "Carry the Zero" follows with ringing guitar and almost dreampop stylings. It's the best 6 minutes on the album.

The album swings from one spectrum to another, with stomping rock in "Bad Light," fun pop meets hair metal in "Sidewalk," phillosophical ruminations on "Time Trap," gentle harmonies and longing on probably their most beautiful moment "Else." The album concludes somewhat full circle with a stunningly epic track, "Broken Chairs," the aural equivalent of a relationship breaking. Few albums can sound so varied and yet seem so consistent at the same time. It's also amazing that despite middling in indie territory this band has been able to develop so nicely. The future doesn't bode well as Martsch has recently released a solo album, but one can always hope that the band will pull an REM ala "Out of Time" and get the success they deserve. If you love guitar rock and are searching for a band with depth and emotion in a stale time for music, do yourself and this wonderous band a favor and buy this album already.

This is an album I love and respect each time I listen to it. I respect it because Doug Martsch engages in some self-abnegation in order to produce more finely crafted, balanced songs. Much like guitar myth Richard Thompson, who saves most his guitar heroics for live performances, Martsch largely abstains from the astounding solos at which he excels in live shows in order to keep the focus on the songs. This isn't to say that he doesn't plan some amazing guitar on the album; indeed, the album stands almost as an encyclopedia of the uses to which a guitar can be put in a song. But it is to say that instead of solos or instrumental breaks that showcase his formidable skills as a guitarist, he opts instead for using his instrument as a means of texturing and coloring each songs. Martsch largely achieves this by magically synthesizing a host of predecessor guitarists. Contrast him with Thompson again for a moment: Thompson constantly plays guitar parts that sound like no one else in the history of guitar. Martsch constantly plays bits that sound like earlier guitarists, but the genius comes from the way he seamlessly blends them together to achieve a magical synthesis. He can sound in the span of a few songs like guitarists as varied as Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Neil Young, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television, J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Greg Sage, Richard Quine, Robbie Robertson, Bob Mould, and even the Edge. But it is Martsch's ability to spin on a dime to channel some guitar trick he picked up from somewhere and blend it with something else he learned in another place that can make this album so sonically exhilarating.

Thanks to Martsch's genius on guitar, these songs are perfectly crafted entities, but that doesn't mean that the album as a whole is perfect. As much as I adore Martsch as a musician and writer, he isn't the most compelling vocalist on the planet, and if you were to search for the album's weak link, it is his singing. He isn't a bad vocalist; he simply doesn't sing as well as he does everything else. Also, I don't care for the way the voice is balanced with the rest of the band's elements. The voice is way back in the mix, and barely stands out from the multi-tracked guitars, bass, and drums. Compare him again with Thompson, who always has his voice (admittedly a bit stronger than Martsch's) at the front of the mix. On nearly every song the band tends to obscure what is happening vocally, which is a shame because the lyrics are frequently quite interesting.

Still, this remains one of the finest alternative albums of the late nineties, and a must-own for anyone who loves great music or a master guitarist. The songs are all absolutely brilliant, veritable kaleidoscopes of sound.

Built to Spill is both creative and focused. Their sounds are beautiful and skillful. They are talented in all areas, both musically and lyrically. The guitar sounds bob and weave, bringing songs to a haunting conclusion. Broken Chairs is such a song. At a hefty 8 minutes, Built to Spill showcases wonderful guitar solos and other various instruments. The songs, at first, sound distant and unappealing. However, continued exposure will have you thinking, "Wow." Carry the Zero is an amazing song, which leaves you breathless and emotionally spent. It's sad melodies are representative of most of the album. For a change of pace, listen to Center of the Universe. This song had limited radio airplay, and is the most instantly catchy song. Also, Sidewalk, is an upbeat song, reminding me of British pop rock songs. The greatest gem on the CD has to be You Were Right. It is a power punch of a song dealing with fleeting fame and contains many rock references. Keep it a Secret is a masterpiece, and a testament of Northwest music.

This was the best CD of the decade of the 1990's in my opinion. By a VERY wide margin. Doug Martsch is the most gifted musician I have heard in a long long time. I've never heard music sound like this before. Darn near perfect arrangement on every song. Doug's skill is to layer seemingly independent guitar melodies on top of each other, creating an amazing wall of sound in which the guitars seem to be talking to each other. If anyone can do it better, I'd like to hear it. Perfect examples are Temporarily Blind, where especially towards the end, there are two or three guitar lines competing for your attention, and Else, which is one of the most beautiful guitar arrangements I've ever heard. I've owned this album since shortly after it came out, and it's been in my heavy rotation until this very day. As a rule, I don't judge people by their musical preferences because it only starts arguments, but it is beyond me how ANYONE could listen to this album and not understand its sheer brilliance. Though I am happy with Built to Spill remaining a secret to the radio waves, it's a shame that a genius like Doug Martsch probably won't ever be recognized, while garbage like Creed, NStink, and Britney are just raking in the millions, despite having no talent.

If you like rock music and creative guitar work, don't walk, RUN and buy this album. It's wonderful music.

Simply put, Keep it Like a Secret is the culmination of the greatest three album run in indie rock history.

My story with this album is something like MWM's just below. It's a little embarassing but it must be told. I bought this album when it came out in '99. Somehow, I didn't get it. Somehow, I stopped listening to it almost immediately. And somehow, I eventually sold it back. It wasn't until 5 years later that I got back into BTS via There's Nothing Wrong With Love. I quickly got every BTS recording including obscure stuff like the BTS/Caustic Resin EP. Having seen them in NYC last year, I feel comfortable now calling them my favorite band.

I too regret my lost time with this band, but my failure to connect immediately with them is not a random thing. This stuff comes at your ear from a different direction than you may be used to and it MUST be listened to several times before you start to get it. You hear the word "angular" used a lot to describe BTS and whatever that means it seems to convey this facet of their music. Great music is often uncomfortable to hear the first time and BTS was because it truly is something different, an advance in the history of rock music.

Humorously enough, my brother, who has similar musical taste to me is caught where I was 5 years back. He owns this one and never spins it. I burned him There's Nothing Wrong With Love and Perfect From Now On and he shrugged them off after one listen. Dude, if you're reading this, get into this band already.

For those new to BTS, this is a great place to start. There are definitely moments on their previous two albums that I would consider my favorites (Car, Big Dipper, I Would Hurt a Fly), but this is probably their most consistent and accessible album overall.

This band tends to be compared to Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse and Pavement, but if you're like me, you find those bands either too avant garde, too angry or too arch (respectively) to truly love them and setlle for liking them instead. While similar, Built to Spill are humble and earnest enough to connect with emotionally and they are adventurous and experimental without resorting to pointless noise. Get this, then go to town on their whole catalog, then wait breathlessly for "You in Reverse" in April.

There are very few things in this world that I find miraculous. The fact that this amazing band has recorded the two greatest albums in the history of rock, well, that is certainly one of them.

BTS's 1997 release, Perfect From Now On, is a slightly better record from start to finish, with it's eight musical epics blending seemlessly together to form one incredible symphonic masterpiece (think Darkside of the Moon, only with lyrics to match).

With Keep it like a Secret, BTS hits you much harder with each seperate song, so much so that it actually makes the album feel less cohesive than PFNO. That being said, the isolated experience of each of the first nine songs is literally breathtaking. I could write pages about the intense feeling and profound meaning I derive from the recordings on this album, but there is obviously not enough room.

Keep it Like a Secret has certain songs that are so intense, I feel like I'm going to pass out every time I listen. No joke.
Here is a little of what I'm getting at. I hope these examples make sense to you:

"Time Trap" - The slow indroduction and development of a song's core sounds is always interesting to me (there is an entire genre of "jam bands" dedicated to the concept, such as Phish). This song reminds me of how the pain of life's monotonous routines can really cause us harm. It seems necessary to go through routines, yet at the same time, the routines seem to be what drain the life out of us.

"Temporarily Blind" - In the process of creating the most brilliant layers of sound structure I've ever heard, this song reminds me of the desperation of over-exposing your feelings and emotions to someone you love, in particular, to someone who will never love you in return. This song feels like one of Shakespeare's tragedies.

"Carry the Zero" - The best rock song ever recorded, and I have heard much more than my share. I like to use this song as a test to determine whether a person is REALLY alive, or just going through the motions. I've NEVER played this song for someone whom I was certain was a good person, and not have them love it. Besides displaying the most stunning guitar work I have ever heard (think tighter, more structured Jimmy Hendrix, yes Jimmy), this song reminds me that the persuit of perfection is NOT NECESSARY. People these days seem forget this simple fact. After listening to this song for about the 100th time, a thought occurred to me, "Maybe God is imperfect, and that is the very reason why none of us are perfect." This is a rather peculiar thought, considering that I feel this song itself is as close to perfection as anything produced in our reality can be.

The only, and I mean ONLY problem with this album is the last track, "Broken Chairs". I've listened many times to every song on the eight BTS albums that I own, and this song is BY FAR the worst they have to offer. It just plain sounds bad. The only reason PFNO is the best rock album of all time, and not this album, is because of this last song.

Enough of my ramblings, just buy it, and maybe a few extras for the people you really care about.

I have always read articles about Idaho's Built to Spill, with references to them as "punk." Of course, I never listened to their music; I just dismissed them as another modern "punk" band (i.e.: Green Day). Then I turned on Conan O'Brien one night and saw Doug Martsch put me to shame.

BtS is probably one of the best keep secrets out their (no pun intended). When I saw Doug on TV ripping away to "You Were Right," I bought the CD the next day. Every track is a little gem. I find it much more refreshing than *gasp* Perfect From Now On, and probably in the same league as There's Nothing Wrong With Love. I'm still speechless many months later.

Doug is a master of the overdub. Being the sole guitarist, he overlayers guitar part after guitar part. While this usually sounds like calamity, it beautifully weaves together. From the ending freak-out session on "Time Trap," to the not-stop assault on "You Were Right," from the beautifully simple solo on "Carry the Zero" to infectious riff on "Center of the Universe," every guitar part, every note, is a work of art. Doug IS a guitar god, though no where near as show-offish as, perhaps, Jimmy Page or Steve Vai. Okay, enough rambling....get off your couch, put the Kid Rock CD down, and buy this. You won't regret it.

And if you do, you know squat about music.

PS...My only regret with this album is Brett Nelson's bass playing. It was unbelievable on TNWWL...while still excellent here, it lacks the freestyling from previous albums.

This CD reminds me a lot of Radiohead CDs--at first, you catch a couple of good songs on the CD, but the more and more you listen to the CD, the more you realize that every single song is a work of art. I can honestly say this is one of the few CDs I have in my collection where I enjoy every single track. This CD is a refreshing change from the MTV/Radio-type music that is hurled at us.

I HIGHLY recommend this CD.

If you're anything like me, you've grown tired of "jam bands" like Dave Matthews Band and Phish, if not because of their often grating noodling, then for the fact that everybody and their frat-brother thinks that they're rock gods. To be quite honest, I'm not much of a jam band fan. I do like the British band Spiritualized (I urge you to check out their recent live CD; it's phenomenal), but they're not a textbook jam band - instead of ten minute guitar solos, they have ten minute white noise solos. In fact, I had hoped to abandon these jammers once and for all until I purchased Keep It Like A Secret. I'm a first-time Built to Spill listener, but I'm an avid reader of Spin magazine, and a feature article about Doug Martsch and the band piqued my interest. And I must say that, after listening to Keep It Like A Secret, I would very much enjoy becoming a member of Doug's fan club. I have always envied people who can play instruments innovatively, probably because after five years of owning a guitar my greatest achievement is the fact that I can play the rhythm part of U2's Sunday, Bloody Sunday REALLY FAST. It goes without saying that Doug Martsch is now my idol; an axe-wielder who fights for all that is good and right in the world. Doug's bravura guitar-playing seems to function as a marshal for the melodies of the band, meandering around and changing direction at the drop of a dime. I can't really say that I have favorite songs on this CD; I have favorite moments. My most favorite is when the song "Time Trap" bleeds from a haunting intro into a jaunty post-modern reggae jig. Such moments as these are enhanced by Martsch's witty, pretty vocals (a real double threat guy, he is). "Carry the Zero" and "Center of the Universe" are two of the smartest rock songs I've heard in a long time. And while I did think "You Were Right" was too cute for its own good the first time I heard it, I found myself laughing along and trying to peg the references in the song by my third listen. But in the end, of course, it's Martsch's chops as a guitar player that carry this album to the next echelon. What's particularly refreshing about Keep It Like A Secret is its brief running time. I did a double take when I looked at my stereo and saw "47:00" merrily blinking at me. Why, I thought they were supposed to be a jam band! But with shortened song-lengths comes the enhancement the sheer power in each track (Dave Matthews, PLEASE take note). Built to Spill treat their melodies like they're pack rats, smuggling in juicy morsels into a confined space. The songs just SEEM longer than they really are, which I feel is a very good thing. I know it's only April, but I feel like I'm not going to buy a much better rock release this year. I want to congratulate Built to Spill on making such a fine album. Needless to say I will be contributing more cash to their coffers very soon.

I'm not the kind of person to just accept an album on one listen, but half way through this album I just knew the other half was only going to get better and it did. I can't recommend this album enough for people new to the band, like myself. This was an excellent combination of guitar virtuoso and tight pop songs riding layers of melody more complex than you would think either category would allow.

I am going to recommend this album to everyone I know. It's just one of those records you can't wait to listen to again. I think anyone who is a fan of guitars actually doing something in a rock and roll song will enjoy this album allot.

Comparisons would not do them justice as in just this one album they pull off bluesy Pink Floyd feats of eloquence and then shift over to moving, intelligent (the important part) and beautiful ballads. Then just to mix things up they throw in a great catchy pop song with enough musical complexity to drive the words trite and MTV/radio friendly right out of your vocabulary.

I can't recommend this album enough. It is certainly a jewel in a toxic sea of filth.