Customer Reviews

Monitor

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since I liked this recording almost immediately a few months ago I waited a few more months before posting a review to see if my enthusiasm would wear off. I still love it, consider it the best of the year and may even put it as one of my favorites in the last 10 years or so.

They wear their hearts on their sleeves - respectfully pulling from their influences but never sounding derivative (kind of like Wilco or Doves at their best). Its also brave that they pulled of a concept recording and have songs that run 7-10 minutes long. Definitely recommend not judging the band or recording by the you tube version of "a more perfect union" but getting the full version of "The Monitor".

I'm 42 and Westerberg has provided the soundtrack of my last 28 years. Yes, musically you can draw similarities to the mats -lyrical wordplay and musical ragged glory. My enthusiasm does as well - an indie band that's so deserving you want the world to hear yet selfishly you want to keep to yourself. That probably hasn't happened for me since discovering Sonic Youth.

So what do we have here then? In short it is a concept album using the American Civil War as an extended metaphor for a young man's journey away from his ancestral home in New Jersey to his new home in Boston, combined with a sort of half hearted homage to Bruce Springsteen. It doesn't sound very promising does it? Amazingly then it is all the more surprising that "The Monitor" by Titus Andronicus largely works and on times works brilliantly. Moreover a band which take their name from a minor Shakespearean tragedy turn out to be a high voltage, messy, punk American bar band who have recorded in the words of Drowned in Sound "just a stupendous collection of songs; one that demands to be listened to as loudly as you can possibly get away with"

The Monitor is of course the great American civil war iron clad battleship that fought to a standstill its Confederate equivalent CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads. It is no great shock then to find a 14 minute long ode to said battle on this album which in its ninth minute introduces the bagpipes!

Let us forget the concept for now and pose the key question what's the music like? The album starts with someone quoting Abraham Lincoln and then "A more perfect union" erupts. Squalls of feedback breach into a huge drum beat/riff which would put the Gaslight Anthem to shame and singer Patrick Stickles announcing that "I never wanted to change the world, I'm not looking for a new New Jersey / But tramps like us / Baby we were born to die". Indeed the current obsession of young American bands with the Boss knows no bounds except in this case its Bruce's nasty nephews at happy hour with ASBOs! At about 4 minute 10 seconds it seems to break into a different song that could be the Dropkick Murphys. Just hear it.

Second song "Titus Andronicus forever" is a 2 minute thrash out essentially revolving around a mental guitar solo and the band screaming the "enemy is everywhere". "Richard II" subtitled with some lack of brevity (Or Extraordinary Popular Dimensions And The Madness Of Crowds (Responsible Hate Anthem) is one of the greatest songs the Pogues never recorded and will lead to the most raucous live shows any side of the Atlantic. "A pot in which to p" is another 9 minute epic which contains within its boundaries just about the whole history of rock n roll and what I detect to be a couple of new chords! The albums epic highlight is "Fore Score and Seven" starting slowly with a Sickles offering a range of unprintable expletives. It has a bigger kick than a donkey with a migraine and turns into total rock 'n'roll mayhem where at one time Stickles announces that -

"We're all depraved and disgusting" I spew like a fountain,
"And debased, defaced, disgraced and destroyed,
"Most of all disappointed" I say atop this mountain

In this setting "Theme from Cheers" is actually quite a nice if rather anarchic pop song and for good measure why not reprise "Titus Andronicus forever" again call it "And ever" and off we go again "The enemy is everywhere"..... This album is work of a band whose motto is the title of this review. Titus Andronicus are a rude, raw rock band who will be lucky to ever sell a record and that would be a little Shakespearian tragedy in its own right (the comparisons with the Replacements in this regard are spooky) "The Monitor" is hugely inventive, lyrically funny and often literate, partly Irish mixed with Conor Oberst and more often than not completely scabrous. Spin has called it Born to Run's drunk stepchild on a epic spree. Wish I thought of that one.

This is the best album to come out in 2010 so far and I dont think any artist will beat it. Several songs are over 7 minutes in length and somehow they avoid getting boring. The songwriting is top notch. The final track The Battle of Hampton Roads is 14 minutes of pure epic you must buy this album.

I don't quite understand how this album and sound work so well. From the surface, it is sloppy and abrasive. Yet it combines punk, lo-fi, and classic rock together in a new and unheard way. The lyrics are interesting, and the songs work better as a cycle with the total being better than the sum of its parts. If you like The Hold Steady, Springsteen, the Clash, Okervill River, and Dylan all rolled up in one, try this. Listening to the 30 second samples I thought I wouldn't like it, but took a chance. Glad I did.

There are only three albums that I can say have really really noticeably changed the way I look at music. They are "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel, "Let It Be" by the Replacements, and this stellar record by a band that is in my opinion one of the finest groups making music today. Patrick Stickles has one of the edgiest voices I've ever heard (I named my singing saw after him). The lyrics and guitar solos and pianos are all in just the right places. My second-favorite album of 2010, behind Twisted Fantasy.

On a side note, if you can find the opportunity to see them live, do it. Chanting 'you will always be a loser!' and 'the enemy is everywhere!' at Lollapalooza is the highlight of my summer.

I finally got around to checking out Titus Adronicus by listening to "The Monitor" these past few weeks and while I do see the record's merit, I was not blown away like others seemingly are. I believe the album presents Titus Adronicus as a talented yet bit too grandiose of a band. There were parts of songs that I really got into, but eventually the songs carried on a bit too long to maintain their effectiveness. I also found parts of the album a bit over-dramatic and heavy-handed.

These criticisms aside, I am going to now check out "The Airing of Grievances" as it was evident that Titus Adronicus is a solid group of musicians. For their next outing, I hope the group harnesses their ambitions into what could be an outstanding album. I particularly enjoyed "A More Perfect Union" (despite the use of speech snippets) and "To Old Friends and New."

I'm not totally sure, but I THINK this album is a re-imaginging of the civil war as a battle for New Jersey between Bruce Springsteen disciples and frat boy-type douchebags. The band sounds like a three piece punk version of the E Street band and mixes their songs with Civil War era speeches, with lyrics that blend lines about hanging Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree with lines like "tramps like us, baby we were born to die." Triumphant rock and roll that does something NEW with punk rock. Jim Steinman-level ridiculousness delivered with unrivaled sincerity.

I went to see Okkervil River, and this band "Titus Andronicas" opened up for them. What a great band, seem to have the right chemistry to make this work. I admit I was there for OR. But I was dang surprised the amount of energy the band had the the avid fans in the audience who sang right along with every song.

They were wrapping up their last song, and it must have angered a few in the crowd that their set was over. One of the more angrier people in the crowd decided to get very rowdy. When I complained to him that he was knocking into me, he took the opportunity to punch me really hard in the throat. After being struck I could not breath and he punched me really hard in the stomach, at that time I was bent over in extreme pain when he brought his knee really fast up to my face while holding the back of my head to push it harder into his knee. The pain was unbearable. The band continued to play as I crawled out the front door of the small theater venue. No one stopped to help me, just moved out of the way. As I made it out side I called the ambulance, knowing that my nose was busted bad. When they arrived they left me laying in front of the venue, and proceded to atend to the guy who punched me who said his hand might be broke.

Why would someone do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?

that's democracy. I get the 3's. I give a 5.

Then it's alright the way that you live
it's alright the way that you live.

By the time the album's closer, The Battle of Hampton Roads began, I knew this would be the best album I would hear all year. Then the bagpipe solo hit and I fell in love with this record all over again. If there's one thing I would want to touch on with this album, its the lyrics. They are downright some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. At times they sound almost "emo", but the voice theyre coming from sounds so sincere and downright angry you can't help but become entangled in them and believe them.

"Everything makes me nervous and nothing feels good for no reason.
Waking up, it's rarely worth it - the same dark dread every morning.
Senior year here in Mahwah, a new world just around the corner,
Leave me behind, let me stagnate, in a fortress of solitude."

Its lyrics like these that really make the album. Sure, theres great guitar solos and snare-roll filled drumming, but I just love the lyrics and the singing. Its the type of CD you just put in your car and drive around listening to, taking the long way home to enjoy the songs.

If there was one criticism I could put towards this record its that the songs sometimes feel a bit bloated, but hell, thats pretty much they're style. Its something you can look past, and overall its a five star album.