Customer Reviews

The Normal Years

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

 

 

I think its a great album. If you like earlier Pavement and Modest Mouse and Sebadoh and the like (melodic indie guitar rock) then i think you'll love it..... Terrible/Perfect, joyride,some things last a long time and whatever ****.... are incredible songs..

Even for the outtake collection of one of the greatest bands ever, the quality of a few of these tracks is really surprising: easily matching the best song on TNWWL, Stab -- but for the outtake collection of one of the greatest bands ever, there's an astounding quantity of throwaways.

Let's focus on the positive first. So & So, Terrible/Perfect, and Some Things all rank with Stab as the best stuff that Doug Martsh had recorded up until that time. It's a wonder that they did not in fact end up on There's Nothing Wrong, though to be sure they would have stolen a bit from the quaint personality of that album: and So & So in particular, with it's plaintive mood and bouncy but precise guitar-work, might have stood a chance on Alternative radio. As it is, these songs are surprising gems that, along with other solid tracks like Sick and Wrong and Joyride, elevate this collection far above a simple piece of interest for completists.

But it is pointless to rate this album just as an outtake collection. So let's talk about the bad. There are two duds (Shortcut and Girl), two inferior duplicates of TNWWL tracks, and Still Flat, which gets on my nerves because it starts great but by the end is a complete bore. On paper, these five flawed tracks might not seem so terrible, but they have a way of getting together and really dominating the mood of the album. There is, in the end, little point to listening to Normal Years all the way through.

This is OK. It has some good stuff, some interesting stuff, and stuff that should have been left on the cutting room floor. I'd say only BTS die-hards should buy it. It's not bad, but it's not top-quality.

I like this album very much. I do think it is weaker than other albums, but I have a sentimental attachment to the song "joyride." Still, despite being less coherent than the other albums, this is still a great album in comparison to a lot of other music. If it comes down to this and something else, get this.

As someone who was big into "alternative" music in the 90s, I'm damn shamed to have missed out on this buried treasure. I only recently heard of the band and half-liked most of their music. Then I heard the song "Car" on the radio and it just took me back - time machine style - to that mid-90s era. The song felt so raw and pure and good. At the time I didn't know it was from this classic album, but was very surprised to later find that it was from an album that was 14 years old - which explained everything about the sound.

The whole album sounds great. It captures that elusive feeling of a band that's not affected, not trying to be something else or someone else or capture a defined sound. This is the sound that others are trying to capture.

Of their catalog, this is by far the most genuine album. Give it a shot.

This CD is awesome. It's the closest sounding Built to Spill CD to "There's Nothing Wrong with Love" which is my personal favorite Built to Spill CD. It's catchy and upbeat, cleaner than the Halo Benders stuff that came before it. It's kind of punkish in way I guess.

One of their more unknown albums, yet up there with the top three. quit yer bitchen

heh i appreciated the "re arrange" review. did you take philosophy 101 just to come up with that??? but seriously that review was helpful. it seems that built to spill being comparable (if that's even a word you get the picture) to the likes of quitessential pavement and the over rated death cab for cutie (come on aside from transatlanticism their work is just lacking something maybe substance maybe it's straight edge minus the ideological value like a right angle *i believe ian mackaye would agree) critics of build to spill like albums more leaning towards death cab (ala 'perfect from now on'). well this album leans more towards pavement and camper van beethoven (take the skinheads bowling nuff said). plausibly in relation to this people don't appreciate this album for all it's worth. well, those people can drop dead and go to hell (if hell and hell will decide...) this album is worth it for joyride alone. i will admit, some of the songs kind of drag on; nonetheless, life just is a joyride drink a lot of beer and climb inside lay your foot down on the gas leave it there until you crash

This CD covers the period before BtS' 'There's Nothing Wrong With Love', one of the best indie-albums of the nineties. Here are two earlier versions of 'Car' and 'Some', songs that are better on the later album, but still worth it.
The level of the album is not that high compared to the albums that would follow, but it has it moments, mostly in the brilliant Doug-and-a-Guitar songs 'Girl' and 'Joyride', certain BtS classics/

I got this cd without knowing much about the band but with high expectations. It isn't bad, but it sounds kinda forced to me. But, what do I know?

It'll go in my "listen to once every couple of months" pile.