Customer Reviews

Mad for Sadness

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

 

 

Arab Strap have for years now been purveyors of a moping, desolate rock that differentiates itself from similar bands like Snow Patrol or Belle and Sebastian through it's pure authenticity and blackened heart. While Belle often sound like they spent most of their afternoons in the local library exchanging witty barbs with the chess club and filling in literary ad-libs, Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat sounds like he's misspent his young adulthood in the wrong pubs, bringing home the wrong girls, and often regretting it...before doing it again the next night. He's a character actor, a drunken Scottish chain smoker with an amnesiac conscience portraying the anti-romantic balladeer. They are certainly given to exploring consequences, giving them drama and weight and a noisy backbeat. Mad For Sadness is a brilliant exploration of this world of darkened corners,and along with Philophobia is the best place for a novice Strap fan to start. They strum and pound and moan and whisper and rock through ten perfect tracks, creating a satisfying soundtrack for rainy days and snowy nights. Check out the gorgeously volatile "New Birds," Girls Of Summer," and "Afterwards." You won't regret it, although you may start regretting everything else in your life.

Essential live recording of this band, recorded in London in 1998. Features amazing versions of "New Birds" and "Girls of Summer," which alone are worth the price of the CD. If you are an Arab Strap fan, you must own this. If you are new to this Scottish band, this is a brilliant introduction to their stark, introspective, and often acid mixture of folk and rock music. Fabulously good.

This is, quite simply, the best live album I own or have ever heard. Arab Strap create a uniquely claustrophobic and intensely alive atmosphere with their sparse arrangments that oftentimes culminate in an orgasm of sound and fury. "Girls of Summer" positively explodes at the 5 minute mark, its dancefloor beat creating an overwhelming wall of sound (sorry about the cliche, but it's fitting in this case). "New Birds" is another highlight, the dark, mumbled, drunken story accompanied to perfection by the crashing cymbals and foreboding bass that builds throughout.

Play this record as loud as possible, drink a few beers, and listen to a live show as it was meant to be recorded and experienced.

The Arab strap are an excellent band and each of their records is a good one but Mad for Sadness is overall the best one and that's probably because the live-formula is the more suitable for the band. It also represents an excellent entry-point! I think that on this record the Arab manage to convey the feel that on their studio albums has always eluded them.

The tales that Aidan Moffat says here are so heart-breakingly pathetic yet hilarious at the same time you don't know whether to feel sorry for him or think if he's being a stand up comedian. Of course this wouldn't mean anything if the music weren't as good as it was. Beautiful, shimmering guitars abound this album and it's kinda lovely in it's own pathetic misery. Indeed this is probably the best introduction to Arab Strap around and also a good companion for those lonely nights in bed to cheer you up and quietly celebrate your own misery ( even when it does get a bit noisy.)

I really dig Arab Strap way too much for my own good actually, I started with this one and was sort of bummed when I first heard it and found out it was a live one. This became a much welcomed albeit proper introduction to a band I still cherish and love now 6 years later. I have ravenous consumed every album I could get my hands on since as well as the singles. Here you get a dose of Malcolm and Aidan in all their live splendour, if you get a chance, Aidan's poetry live is good, you can tell the guy really feels what he's saying, though almost painfully. Their music is terribly moody, but has this little trick that can both rock and make you want to dance wildly like an insane person at the same time. It's a neat little musical trick. They rate very high for me because of this, no matter whether I'm driving to some party, sitting and moping or wanting to go out and find a lover.

This album is the best example of why this music does this to me.

Arab Strap manage to improve upon their already incredible songs in an amazing live perfomance with some guest vocals by Adele Bethel (Afterwards). The music is a little more drone and space, like Mogwai, but the Scottish whispered/sung vocals make this an excellent cd.