Customer Reviews

Oh Calcutta

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

 

 

I dont like giving 5 star reviews out but holy smokes I cannot deny what my ears are feeding me.

This album is still very Larry Arms for those who have been scared the band had made a drastic change with the success of Chicago peers Fallout Boy,The Academy is and such.

From start to finish the energy of this album is outstanding. The key change to The Arms this album is dual vocals. In the past Brendan and Chris have taken turns with vocals. On this album the boys combine their efforts flawlessly. The clean vocals of Chris trading off with the snotty nasally vocals of Brendan creates a fresh sound and in my humble opinion, the best Lawrence Arms album to date.

Another plus of this album is the production. All recorded onto Analog to 2inch tape, the album has an amazing sound. I suggest picking this album up right now and turning on "Recovering the Opposable Thumb" and see if you dont get those chills down you're spine. Enjoy! (and go see them live!)

I have listened to the arms for a few years now. I've always thought there was something special about their sound. The previous albums are great. Even so, I've always known that they could be even better. However, this album is a step in the right direction. The "softer" tracks that you heard on the previous release "Greatest story..." are blown away by kick ass punkrock anthems. Great, in my opinion.

The only thing that I could possibly miss on this record is a song like "Ramblin' boys of pleasure". Not one song on this album really reaches that level. There are attempts though, like "Jumping the shark" and "Beyond the embarrasing style" for example.

This album is filled with nice riffs and great, clever lyrics (as always when Lawrence Arms deliver). To sum up; "Oh! Calcutta!" is a solid punk/rock album from Lawrence Arms. Close to a 5 /5.

To me, there are 4 types of albums. 1)The ones you just hate. 2)The ones you just can't get into no matter how hard you try. 3)The ones you fall in love with by the first chorus of the first song. 4)And the ones that take a few spins but by the third or fourth time through everything clicks and that album will be glued into your home stereo, your car stereo, your ipod, your girlfriends car, and one for your boyfriends house too.

Oh! Calcutta! comes from catagory 4. The first couple times through, I didn't know what to think. There seemed to be too much to take in all at once. But then I started to get it, and once I got it, I couldn't get it out of my head, or my cd player.

The genius of Oh! Calcutta! is its mix of familiar and unfamiliar territory. This is definitly a Lawrence Arms album with all the things that made me a fan in the first place. The differences between Chris' and Brendan's vocals. Neil's energetic drumming. Aggressive and rowdy, melodic and catchy, punk rock poetry. But this album is not "safe". It's not just about what you'd expect, but also, it's what you should hope for, and thats the creativity. To try new ways of doing things, and incorperating new elements into their "Sound". Each song creates a new version of that "sound" by adding new twists to the familiar style.

One thing most fans will notice is the "unity" in the vocals. Most previous TLA songs can be described as "Bren songs" & "Chris songs". Here there is almost no such destinction. This time the guys spend most of the time singing together in unison or trading off lines. This is one of the greatest new things on this album. It's kinda like Hot Water Music's pre-Epitaph vocals, where both singers finished eachothers sentences and sung over and under eachother. This works really well here.

And lastly, Chris' vocals have never sounded better than on this recording. They have a more "raw" feel that they sometimes lacked on the previous two FAT releases, and never came through clearly on their early stuff (no doubt due to lesser recording quality). This time it feels like nothing was held back and was captured perfectly.

This is punk rock, how it should be done. It's got that "East Bay" style with that "Chicago" sensibility. Good Stuff. I give it 4 1/2 Stars.

Stand out tracks: 'Great Lakes,Great Escapes', 'Are You There Margaret...', 'Beyond the Embarrassing Style', 'Key To the City'.

This album is much more of a hardcore album than Apathy And Exhaustion or A Guided Tour Of Chicago. Brendan Kelly does most of the singing.

The hidden track is hilarious if you're aware of the rift between the Lawrence Arms and the Warped Tour.

Wow, this album is raw, heavy, emotional, classic lawrence arms stuff. These guys musical style is maturing in a way that someone who has been listening to them for a while can still appreciate. I've had this album in rotation since it came out.
"Recover! Recover! Revover!"
"Lets Cut it Up! Lets Cut it Up!"
"Gimmegimmegimmgimme Gimme the key to the city!"
Pop this in, turn it up, and you will be yelling these phrases too.

I have been a fan of Chicago's Lawrence Arms for about 4 years now and I was a fan of The Broadways, which was Brendan's former band, for even longer. I've seen The Lawrence Arms a few times and after the release of their last album; "The Greatest Story Ever Told" I was starting to think that the boys were losing their edge. Although the album had a number of really catchy tunes, it just didn't resonate like their previous works like "The Guided Tour of Chicago" and "Ghost Stories". With "Oh! Calcutta!", I am very happy to say that I was wrong in ever doubting these guys. Chris and Brendan have both wrote some great lyrics for this album and it rocks from track one, the "single", "The Devil's Takin' Names" all the way to the secret song "Warped Tour Extravaganza" (A whimsical musing on the current state of the popular summer touring festival). I recommend this album to any old Lawrence Arms fans who have gone astray in the past few years and to any kids out there who are sick of listening to some of the watered down radio friendly punk rock that gets shoved down their throats daily. *cough*falloutboy*cough*

Buy the album off their website, it's much cheaper than buying it from Borders or something and I'm sure it makes them much happier.

So, in closing, buy the record, crack open a frosty brew and enjoy.

I have been in love with the lawrence arms since 2000, so therefore have no critical distance. I can say, however, that this album has only deepened my feelings, my commitment.
I can also offer up some adjectives: dynamic, evocative, relatable (assuming that's a word--I mean, basically, their songs speak to my experiences) passionate, and, of course, fast and loud. If you like punk rock, what else could you possibly want?

I have been a fan of the band since they started. And I have to say that each album tells its own story, and sounds different album to album. This CD however, does remind me of the 'ghost stories' album, which byfar is my favorite. I think that the band keeps growing as musicians and the songs keep getting better and better. The band recorded this album using analog, which gives it a really nice sound. Matt Allison does a great job with the band, as a producer and engineer. Even though the CD is more rocking throughout compared to G.S.E.T., I like the tempo and stylistic changes that the band delivers on this album. If you never heard a lawrence arms album, start with Ghost stories. Overall, each album has its own style/story, I think this album is brilliant! Cheers.

-Michael

The Lawrence Arms have long been one of my favorite bands.

I got into them with their second album entitled Ghost Stories (still their masterpiece), which is a raw, gritty, incredibly poetic album, full of real emotion. I then backtracked and listened to A Guided Tour of Chicago, which impressed me, almost equally.
Then, when Apathy and Exhaustion was released, I immediately could take note of a change in their previously raw sound. Their sounds were immediately more accesible; with a much cleaner production and recording quality and a distinctly poppier sound. I still enjoyed Apathy; a lot. The same great, witty lyrics were still there, and pop music does not frighten me.
The Greatest Story Ever Told was the first album to disappoint me. It ended up being an Apathy... repeat, in my mind. Again, the lyrics were there, but the music was in the same poppy vein as Apathy... But! I STILL liked The Greatest Story Ever Told...

And now, without further delay, I'll tell you about Oh! Calcutta!!
Oh! Calcutta! still has pretty much the same great lyrics as expected, and the music is still very catchy, like their last two
releases. There are however, two noticeable differences about Calcutta!:

1. Brendan does most of the singing (or at least overpowers Chris).
2. The music seems to have reverted back to the more raw sounds of their first two albums. Essentially Calcutta fits between Ghost Stories and Apathy in terms of its musical sound, if that makes sense.

Overall, my main complaint is that Calcutta is still more of the same. I love the grittier sound of Calcutta!, but I wish the songs were more varied.

I saw this cd has an average rating of 5 stars, for me that's a bit much. It's certainly not thé best album ever. But it's quite good though, bought it on the blue and have no regrets, it's a good, raw punk album. Especially if you like the band this cd will be a good choice. If you're new to them, try 'Ghost Stories' first.
Check them out live as well!