New Despair

Gothic Archies, Gothic Archies | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 8, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B000093NU6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,191 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Merritt does it again, goth style, May 30, 1999

By 

Greg Shafer (Ocala, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Despair (Audio CD)

Stephin Merritt is perhaps the finest pop songwriter that no one knows working today. His records with the Sixths, Future Bible Heroes, Magnetic Fields and the Gothic Archies are all almost uniformly brilliant. Merritt mines the dark side of life and comes up with terrific three minutes chunks of songs that are as catchy as can be, no matter what instrument he chooses to use. Gothic Archies is another in this fine line, although, be warned, it is short, VERY SHORT, like 17 minutes short. But, as always, 17 minutes of Merritt equals 75 of nearly anyone else in his field, so it's well worth it. These songs are "gothic" in the sense that they are ominous, foreboding, but still contain the trademark hooks of Merritt. The acoustic "Your Long White Fingers" is my favorite track, and tells of how someone's fingers frighten children, etc., like some Nosferatu figure. However, all seven songs are well worth your time and money, and I strongly recommend yet another excellent effort from the reclusive New Yorker. Rumour has it that his next effort will be a three disc set called 69 LOVE SONGS. I can't wait!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's useless to not buy this album., February 2, 2003

By 

Justin E. Jacobson "silent_bombadil" (Fort Walton Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Despair (Audio CD)

Tracks such as "The Tiny Goat" and "City of the damned" are monstrously fun for sing-alongs at work while "Ever falls the twilight" and "it's useless to struggle" offer a wink and a nod to Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and how can one not go wrong with an album where the last intelligible lyric is "The world's a leech crawling down one's throat. / One would rather be a tick than be a tiny goat"?

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Merrit's self parody, June 3, 2001

By 

Poor Napoleon (TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: New Despair (Audio CD)

I think this album is something of a self parody, as well as a parody of a genre he sometimes flirts with - gothic music. Though not really goth, Merrit's voice has that tone and his lyrics are usually very bleak. But they don't get much bleaker than this. Perhaps the saddest most depraved song on the record is the Tiny Goat, where a goat's live is so pathetic that he places himself on a stove - with lye nonetheless! It's useless to struggle is an apt begininng to the album, perhaps describing where you'll be while listening to it - wanting to turn away from Merrit's depressing rantings, but not able to because their too darn funny. Cave ridicules the goth genre and himself with lyrics too depressing for the likes of even Ian Curtis on Andrew Eldrich. Sad, sick, twisted, depraved, depressing - but very very funny.