Customer Reviews

Moo, You Bloody Choir

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Another brilliant release from what is becoming one of my favorite bands. If you've never heard Augie March before, their much-heralded previous release "Strange Bird" may serve as a better introduction. If you have, you may be a bit surprised by this album at first; but like all Augie albums, it is far too rich and subtle to be judged on one or two listens.
No, it is not Strange Bird 2, nor should it be. A band of this caliber is not going to rehash previously successful musical ventures. They will continuously grow and challenge. But comparisons to their prior albums are inevitable, so lets dive right in...
Pros: Immediately apparent is that this is a much more consistent album than their previous two releases (the first being "Sunset Studies", the second the aforementioned "Strange Bird"). The former of those two was a good, occasionally great album with lots of dead spots. The latter was a great album that started great, ended great, but dragged a bit in the middle. I feel this album is a marked improvement in this regard. It starts off strong, ends strong, but the best songs in my opinion are tracks 6-10. Add to this the fact that the songs are very diverse musically (though not as much as Strange Bird!).The result is an album that is very easy to listen to all the way through, even though it is a bit long (>1 hour). Personally, this is what I value most from a great album, and what impresses me the most- the ability to listen from beginning to end, without needing or wanting to skip songs.
Another area I feel is improved is the lyrics. Glen Richards is a hell of a songwriter, and the lyrics are what makes Augie really special. "Strange Bird" had some of the best lyrics I've ever heard, but a lot of songs were too esoteric, borderline pretentious. "Moo" reveals lines that are a bit less grandiose; easier to get the first time around, more introspective- even perhaps confessional- but still displaying the mastery of the language that is Glenn's trademark. The best example of this is the song "Bottle Baby"; the lyrics are direct and simple (for Augie March, anyways), almost humble; but still using vivid imagery and clever wordplay. They are some of Glenn's best.
Cons: Like the prior two albums, it is a bit long. An album with 8 great songs is better than one with 8 great and 4 mediocre! This album could be trimmed down to a lean 50 minutes or so of pure brillinace. However I feel this is less of an issue with "Moo" for the reasons mentioned above.
Perhaps more disapointing is the lack of one really killer song. It's like all the songs are 7's, 8's, or 9's, but there are no 10's. On the other 2 albums there is one song each that just made me stop and wonder "how the hell did someone write that?". On "Sunset" it's the heartbreaking "Owen's Lament". On "Bird" it's the driving-off-a-cliff-with-a-wicked-laugh "This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers". There are many great ones here- "Crowded Hour", the wonderful "Cold Acre", the title track (actually entitled "The Honey Month", and perhaps the best example of their unique style), "Bottle Baby", and "Clockwork" (a hypnotic pagan theme that reminds me of Ravel's "Bolero"). My favorite here is probably "Just Passing Through"; but none of these are quite as awesome as the first 2 I mentioned.
Observations: This is the first Augie album where their influences are blatantly obvious. The dewey, clean guitars and dreamy chord voicings of "Stranger Strange" recall '90's-era Radiohead...."Mother Greer" has the meandering melodic sense of Elvis Costello...."The Baron of Sentiment" actually reminds me of Oasis (don't know why, just does.); the most obvious one is the previously mentioned "Bottle Baby", which is drenched in Dylan. This is not a criticism, just an observation. This is a highly unique band that could not be formulaic or derivative if they tried. Just listen to "The Honey Month" or "Thin Captain Crackers" (though the title sounds like something off side 2 of Abbey Road) for evidence of the Augie March sound; No other band I've heard could write those songs. Incidentally, not since '90's-era Radiohead and their back-to-back masterpeices have I been this excited about a band!
I specifically waited a few months to review this album because I wanted to see if I would still be listening to it enough to warrant the praise I'm giving it. Well, I still listen to it almost every day. Despite some other really good albums that have been released since I got this on the first of April, it is still in heavy rotation in my personal playlist. To sum up, if you've not heard these guys before, "Strange Bird" might be a better introduction. If you have, get this album now, while the weather is nice (at least here above the equator). Listen to it all summer and let the beauty of the season mate with the beauty of the music and you'll have something very special indeed. (And don't wait for it to be released in the States- splurge like I did and just get the import).

If you're already a fan of Augie March, you don't need to read this review to know that you want to buy this album, so stop reading and go out and get it. If you're not yet a fan of Augie March, then I envy the fact that you have three albums still to fall in love with. It's like having three beautiful girlfriends that you're yet to know. Put a bit of effort into a relationship with an Augie March album, and you will have a soul mate for years to come.

Today is the second day of my relationship with the latest release, "Moo, You Bloody Choir", and like the previous two album releases, its beauty is slowly being revealed to me with every listen.

The first album "Sunset Studies" was once compared to a sepia photograph, and the follow up "Strange Bird" was therefore described as a photograph in full colour. Following on, one would have to say that "Moo, Yoo Bloody Choir" shows a photographer with oodles of natural talent in the process of honing that talent. It is certainly much more constrained and ordered, perhaps more focused. I'm reluctant to give too detailed a description, because although I may have listened to the new album five or six times, based on past experience I know that Augie March albums continue to offer rewards long after others have lost their shine. What I'm certain of is that in time, many of these songs will cause the hairs on the back of neck to stand on end, and I'll share many pleasant moments with them.

Perhaps I was spoiled by my introduction to Augie March, as I watched them play at an outdoor music festival just as the sun was setting behind the stage. Although I was vaguely familiar with their recorded material prior to then, it was the live performance (and perhaps just the right amount of beer) that picked me up and transported me to a place of wonderful imagery and insightful observations. Maybe I have a special affinity with this band as they are country Victorians/Melbournians just like myself, and much of what songwriter/singer/guitarist Glenn Richards describes is familiar to me, but regardless, this music is world class. Ignore the comparisons to other bands like Radiohead, Augie March are absolutely in a class of their own.

Okay, I'll stop banging on. Buy this album if you don't have it, and buy the other two albums if haven't had the pleasure of getting to know them. Whatever you do, if you come into the possession of any Augie March songs, give yourself over to them and let them unravel their secrets.

Front man Glenn Richards is a poet first, and if you are a first-time Augie March listener, this music may not be immediately accessible. The lyrics are full of literary and musical references that take pondering, and the seamless musicianship of all of band members gives it all a real coherence without slickness. The music is beautiful, not because it is easy or clever or flashy, but because of the emotional punch it packs if you let it. Anything by Augie March is worth the small monetary investment and the larger time investment. Buy and listen and read the lyrics and google the references you can't figure out and listen and listen.

I adore Augie March and believe they are the most criminally under-rated band going around. I awaited the arrival of this album as eagerly as any in recent memory. As an Aussie, I'm often embarrassed by the lack of original and quality music coming out of Australia, but Augie March's consistently world-class progressive folk rock certainly helps rectify the situation.

Moo, You Bloody Choir is their most accessible album yet, helped mainly by lead single 'One Crowded Hour'. Nevertheless, it's a deep and fulfilling album which will not fully reveal itself for many listens.

Classically trained pianist Kiernan Box is again the mainstay in most of the songs, although the songs are borne from the mind of singer/guitarist/Beat poet Glenn Richards, whose lyrics are as intelligent and subtle as always.

THe album kicks off with 'One Crowded Hour' which is not only Augie's best song ever but an early candidate for song of the year. The lyrics are ingenious:

"if love is a bolt from the blue, then what is a bolt but a glorified screw?"

"put me in a cage full of lions, I'll learn to speak lion [lyin'?], in fact I know that language well".

And of course, there's the chorus which is rousing, passionate and utterly heartbreaking:

"For one crowded hour, you were the only one in the room
I sailed around all those bumps in the night, to your beacon in the gloom
I thought I had found my golden September in the middle of that purple June
But that one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin."

'The Cold Acre' is equally brilliant, driven by Kiernan Box's jaunty yet contemplative piano. 'Bottle Baby' is a haunting lament on alcoholism and the wickedly infectious 'Just Passing Through' recalls the classic 'This Train...' from previous album Strange Bird, which, by the way, is my favourite homegrown album ever. Although this album is almost on a par.

My only criticism is that it tails off toward the end. THe second half is a marked change to the first, and proceeds in a more laidback fashion which at times becomes slightly bland. The exception here is the hypnotic, trance-like prog of 'Clockwork'.

But other than that, this album is everything I hoped it would be.

Since alternative music can be almost anything these days, let's get Augie March's style out of the way: the music tends toward the mellow, the kind of music you would play when alone with a lover, or with a small group of friends, instead of at a party. It's I-don't-mind-being-alone music. It's not rowdy, or even upbeat, not even on some of the faster tempo tracks.

If you're still reading this review, then you'll like this Australian group that sounds like a cross between Bob Dylan (a comparison they seem to welcome) and Coldplay. Lead singer Glenn Richards's croons more than he rocks, although in "Passing Through," one of the few up-tempo songs, he tries the latter - and his voice disappears. Listeners will have to read the lyrics while listening if they hope to learn them. My favorite tracks are (because of the music, not the lyrics): "One Crowded Hour," "Stranger Strange," and "Clockwork." "Bottle Baby" is too blatantly an attempt to channel Dylan, and I really dislike it for that. Much of the music on this CD has melancholy overtones, although a few try to break free.

If you like more mellow alternative music, give "Moo, You Bloody Cow" a chance.

As they saying goes, what's in a name? Well for one, names leave anyone with all kinds of expectations once knowing them. AugieMarch and their latest album, with it's name "Moo You Bloody Choir," left me feeling justified in expecting a cross maybe between Linkin Park, Korn and maybe some Three Days Grace thrown into the mix. Or on the flip side, I thought well it could be a reimagined mixture of Enigma, Deep Forest with some Enya thrown into the mix to well just be banal like the rest of that music trend is! Needless to say, my expectations were not high. And maybe for once that worked for the better in this case.

Unexpected is what this album is! Breathtakingly fresh, intelligent, and simply listenable. Feasting on anything that drives a ferocious instinct from me, music always remains a visceral experience as in usually a hit and run kind of thing. Not so with this album, but I still enjoyed it and will repeatedly listen to it again and again.

Does it stand out? No. Does it reel you in right away? No. It's more like a reflection on a pond that slowly magnifies and becomes clearer with time. Appreciates with each repeat playing, AugieMarch's literate, revelatory lyrics speak emotional truths while varied melodies carry them gently but bitingly into place. Nothing seems wrong or off kilter when you hear such bitter reprimands as "a heinous, heinous law of an endless, endless love that governs your poor heart" or even "why do we always dream of disaster when we pay our dues to disaster with some loyalty" from the smooth, soft keens of the group. It just fits. You want to hear the horrors of life beautified by the enchanting, flowing choruses.

Best of all, each song plays like a little package of it's own. Eclectic influences drive them to be their own musical treasure trove. A little surprise each time a new one plays. Amazingly concise and pure, each one blends with the other though and the album in a less deft musical duo would have become disjointed and jarring.

Check out One-Crowded Hour for a real taste of their brilliance. And once you have been sucked in by that gem, go on and listen to the other melodious marvels that await you on AugieMarch's "Moo You Bloody Choir." Because really the only complaint I have with this group, is their album title is bloody misleading!

I'll admit it - I'm a new Augie March fan. I'd previously heard "Song in the Key of Chance", and read the rave reviews for their previous two albums, but for some reason had never actually bought one of their full albums. Something about "Song in the Key of Chance" really struck me - it was the sound of a developing band, of unfolding brilliance. The organised choas really hit a chord with me. I was intrigued.

"Moo, You Bloody Choir" has cemented this intrigue for me. It obviously heralds the maturity of this band. The album, as a whole, is focused, deliberate and considered.

There's something really special and timeless about Augie March. Maybe it's the melodies. They're classic and innovative at the same time, whether it's the cascading alluring sounds of "Cold Acre" or the catchy beauty of the lead single "One Crowded Hour". Maybe it's the poeticism of lead singer and guitarist Glenn Richard's lyrics ("There's nothing there, it's like eating air,
It's like drinking gin with nothing else in..." on "One Crowded Hour"). Or maybe it's the lush layering of guiter on piano on drums on voice over voice that characterises much of Augie March's work.

Whatever it is, I really urge you to give this album a listen. I've only listened to this album three of four times, and every time I listen to it, another layer of subtlely reveals itself. This is an album of slow burn intensity and quiet fervour. It's exquisite. It has drawn me in completely. I can't wait to discover Augie March's other two albums.

I was first introduced to Augie March after hearing them, and hype about this album, on the radio. On the strength of what I had heard, I decided to pick up this album. I'm definitely glad I did because this Melbourne band has something special to offer. Being an Australian, it's refreshing to hear such great Australian music. This is not one of those albums that will assault you with sound. The music here is subtle and beautiful and it will slowly grow on you. There is a real unassuming beauty about these songs that will grab you without you even realising it. Listen to this album on a rainy day. Listen to it a few times, like I did. It mightn't hit you immediately, but it's worthwhile. Enjoy.

Without a doubt my top pick thus far for album of the year in a year that is churning out some interesting works by established artists as well as new enteries. Augie March embue everything that made listening a special experience for me, intensity, sincerity, melody, intelligence and honesty. Far and few are the albums that you can return to time and again and hear new and fresh perspectives of what's being presented. I can't understand why their American label (yep rock) after releasing 2004's sleeping giant "Strange Bird" would pass on putting this out in the states.
Do yourself a favor and support real art being created by artists who believe that music can still be magically invigorating rather then bits and pieces played and created for the I Pod generation.
Augie March are the real deal and rest assured I will be purchasing anything these guys have to offer regardless of being previewed. Music is magic and Augie March have restored my faith in that belief. God bless the Aussie's for giving us this unique and transendental group.

Augie March are an Australian indie/pop rock band. Formed in 1996 in Shepparton, Victoria, the band currently consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Glenn Richards, lead guitarist Adam Donovan, bassist Edmondo Ammendola, drummer David Williams, and keyboardist Kiernan Box. Box replaced Rob Dawson, the band's initial piano player, who died in 2001. The Quintet has found a secure following and this, their third album certainly shows why. Not only is the sound unique and the lyrics impressive, but there is a sense of honesty and commitment from the group that makes their singing and playing very personal - a sense that is easily absorbed from simply one listening. That is likely the reason for the statement that they represent the most impassioned and poetic bands in Australia's cultural history.

On 'Moo, You Bloody Choir' Augie March are more simplified than on previous albums. Ammendola considered their third album, led by 'One Crowded Hour', to be significantly different to their previous releases. Some important critical responses have noted the 'lush, mesmerizing music meld with gorgeous melodies brought to life by Richards' rich vocals that wrap themselves around each instrument. Another bit of praise from a critic states 'the lyrics to 'One Crowded Hour' are poetic, the lines "Well put me in a cage full of lions / I'll learn to speak lion / In fact I know the language well",] as well as the "full and glorious" chorus;
'And for one crowded hour, you were the only one in the room
And I sailed around all those bumps in the night to your beacon in the gloom
I thought I had found my golden September in the middle of that purple June
But one crowded hour would lead to my wreck and ruin.'

The sound and the spirit of this group are contagious. Buy one album and you'll likely return for the others. Grady Harp, September 11