Customer Reviews

Open Season

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's funny how people/critics will inevitably pan this album. BSP's debut "The Decline of BSP" was a noisy, post-punk thrash-fest, and it was excellent. Some fans expected Decline, Pt2... but got Open Season. Since expectations were not met, bad reviews will follow. The reality of it, though, is that BSP have crafted a wonderfully melodic (sometimes melancholic) sophomore album. All the hooks are memorable, and now that the distortion and angular noise has been stripped from the finished product, we are left with some of the most beautiful melodies released this year. Open Season is an angular verison of the Decemberist's "Picaresque". I say this because both albums convey the same feeling of being on a journey... they are wistful, nostalgic, but very present at the same time. Also, BSP seems to be forever compared to Bowie and the Pixies, and thats way off base. I'm sure that the guys listened to both bands, but the music is just UNLIKE either band. This is really one of the brightest gems released this year, and hopefully will remain that way for the rest of 2005.

This is a great sophomore achievement for British Sea Power. I goto a local pub and asked to have them throw this on after I bought it. I have never advised anyone to drink a pint with an album, but do. The relaxed overview of Open Season is very refreshing,unexpected and a considerable 180 from The Decline Of BSP. They write songs that have this Wedding Present or Teardrop Explodes with young souls vibe - I love it and am glad the follow-up turned up to hold the hype of this still exciting and talented band.

British Sea Power is a unique band that emerged from the first wave of new British music that included Libertines and Franz Ferdinand. The Libertines came out with their second album and disappeared. Franz Ferdinand are working on theirs. The Power have come out with their sophomore effort when the next crop of bands (Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Kasabian, and Razorlight) are already looking for some booty. At first this record is deceptive. Nothing initial stands out. I have already written somewhere that I found their songwriting on their first album to be amazing and totally inspired. Some of that vibe is continued on this journey. The first two songs sound like tracks from the first album. "Be Gone" is the most worthy song. "How Will I Ever Find My Way Home" is part of the new sound, which is remarkably like a Luna song. It has that relaxed and not trying feeling. There is a quiet mood on a few tracks (Honeycomb, North Hanging Rock) that are much like the Velvet Underground. "Please Stand Up" is probably their best song here. It competes with their great songs of the first album. The wander into Phil Spector territory on "To Get To Sleep." After I listen to this album a few times, I realize that they have made a subtle great album. It is something that has lasting power. If The Libertines are the Pistols, Franz are the Clash, then British Sea Power are Wire. They have that unclassifiable quality that has many dimensions and cannot be immediately reacted to.

Seeing Open Sea in the new section of a record store, I decided to give something new a try. Having never heard a British Sea Power song, but reading magazine articles about them I wasn't exactly sure what the album would be like. After hearing the album I thought it to be a mediocre title, and now I'm glad I didn't write the article then.

After hearing Open Sea I didn't listen to it again for a while, but when I did I found that it had grown on me. I adored every track. The group has done something on this album that few bands do successfully, they've created a soft rock that is powerful without having to blare guitars at you. It having lyrics that will slap you in the face as well.

The band having recorded the album in an secluded outside area, it captures the peacefulness and beauty that is the earth. The production is a superb achievement. The lyrics shine through the tracks as well as the hooks that blend together to make an amazing overall effect. Although being one of my favorite records so far for the year of 2005, I also have the feeling it will be one of the most overlooked records of 2005. If you will look at this album as what it is you will see it's truly a float through the clouds.

If you welcome the album with open arms and have the patience to listen to it, you will love it.

Open Sea receives
A Bliss of 7

a fine second album from these lads. this time, they have taken a less noisy approach but there's lots of great twists and turns in these songs. it's a bit more of a "night listening" type of album, as their first one was probably a good "mid-afternoon listening" album, if that makes any sense. Open Season may take a little time to get used to for some fans...but it's not so far removed from their first album that it could be considered a grower. some of the hooks are buried a little deeper and the guiar squeals and scrawls a little less here and there. but that unmistakeable voice and clever songwriting shine out. fans of the Pixies or Jesus and Mary Chain should seek this out.

Open Season is simply majestic--anybody with a trace of interest in great pop/rock should love this. It's echo and the bunnymen wrapped in shrouds of joy division and thrown into the arms of twirling polar bears. If you like Interpol, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal--anything half decent and better known--you will love Open Season. Listen to "it ended on an oily stage" and just try to resist...

Unafraid to display their gloomy, `80s influences such as Joy Division, yet never shying away from sheer rock power, British Sea Power create a truly passionate sound. My only complaint would be the somewhat cheesy/creepy vocals of frontman Yan. On some songs it sounds like he's whispering in your ear, trying to seduce you. However, that doesn't even put a dent in the solid songwriting appearing on Open Season. Each track is as dense and chilly as a patch of London fog, partly due to the production of Mads Bjerke. Quite a power indeed.

- Nick Walker
Synthesis.net

I really disdain most of the British pop lameness that critics and the uninformed laud with praise, Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol, there are many, just no chops there, I'm from the old school punk music days in the UK when the bands from the late 70's & early 80's were making exciting orginal albums,Buzzcocks, Close Lobsters, SLF, Damned, etc. And then the better newer bands derive their sounds from that ilk, it always been done that way. You got to have the instrumentation and know how to bring those melodies to the surface. BSP's debut was excellent, a hodgepodge of punk, shoegazing, pop and above and angry mood, a harbinger of any good listen. And now for their sophomore release, they streamline and bring the melodies from & center, Yan croons and whispers through a wonderful collection of songs and first foremoset the band kicks, shifting tempos that will stick in your head, this one stayed in my car for several weeks, i like it better than the debut.
Look foward to more from this very very talented band.

Three months after it's release, "Open season" just seems to sound better every time I hear it. Incredibly fresh sounding and upbeat.
The arrangements are very subtle and the songs rock in a gentlier way on this record, so don't be afraid to play it loud. These guys deserve to be way more popular.

I ordered this album before it came out, based on how much I liked The Fall of BSP. Then I started reading mediocre reviews by critics, so my expectations were lowered. Then I recieved the CD and listened to it, and I really like it. The best way to describe is probably by comparison.

Fall of BSP has some interesting moments but is fairly uneven. Really the only songs I listen to on it anymore are Remember Me, Something Wicked and Carrion. The songs on Open Season remind me of these tracks but are now a full album's worth. If you are more of a fan of Apologies to Insect Life then don't buy it.

Basically, I like the singing, guitar riffs and overall production. Yeah, the style is nothing new, but it's well done.