Customer Reviews

Out of Tune

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Only joking about the title! Mojave 3's second album marks an interesting progression for the band. Where Ask me Tomorrow was two parts Mazzy Star to one part Leonard Cohen, Out of Tune sees them going down an altogether different route. The mournful, twilight feel that infused the first album has been replaced by altogether sunnier vibes on the second, and in Some Kinda Angel and You Keep It All Hid, Mojave actually sound pretty upbeat. The Dylan influence is quite tangible, but elements of Nick Drake (All Your Tears) and Simon and Garfunkel (Some Kinda Angel) can also be sensed.

Favourite tracks are Who Do You Love, Give What You Take, the gorgeous All Your Tears and Baby's Coming Home. However, the album is worth decidedly more than the sum of its parts and there are no weak songs.

If you're in the mood for listening to 40 minutes of warm, wistful, quietly moving music, whether on a sunny day or on a dark winter night, Out of Tune comes highly recommended

This is a bit different than their previous release, but I would still consider the sounds they produce as good ear candy. I hear some strains of mid to late period Felt in a number of songs (the swirling organ), as well a bit of Nick Drake even (particularly in the last song).

Another stellar release from an underappreciated band. I hope this isn't their last domestic release here!

I don't know exactly where I stand on the whole 'shoegazer' scene (what's left of it, anyway), but there's one thing I can't deny; the influencees have definitely surpassed the influences (VU, Nick Drake, The Cure, Cocteau Twins, JAMC), and the world is much better for it.

"Out of tune" contains a number of tunes that should be country classics (but likely never will be; more's the pity). "Yer Feet", "Who Do You Love", and my favourite--the gospel-tinged "Caught Beneath Your Heel"--are as good as anything the band released as Slowdive, and in some ways, even better.

Now this album's the goods--they've picked up a bit of confidence, and we've got a sophomore album that improves on the debut "Ask Me Tomorrow" and then some. Recorded around the same time as this album are a few live radio sessions, and they do a great cover of Dylan's "Queen Jane Approximately".

This is the second record from Mojave 3, who rose out of the still smouldering ashes of the great Slowdive. The songs on Out of Tune are melodic and gentle, and Neil Halstead's songwriting just gets better with each release. If you like pop songs with memorable melodies and sweet harmonies, and the crisp sound of a strummed acoustic guitar, then this is the record for you.

Neil Halstead, barely recognizable in the photo collage included with the liner notes, transmogrified into some kind of long haired, bearded British disciple of Brian Wilson. Mojave 3 offers listeners weirdly aestheticized country/folk songs at radio friendly lengths--as an antidote to the dead end ambient experimentalism of Slowdive's final outing, Pygmalion. Halstead plunders Americana for the same distorted, soaring guitar washes (by exploiting the mournful, shoegazing potential of the pedal steel in "Give What You Take") and ghostly effects. Included on "Out Of Tune" are a creepy gospel chorus and Hammond organ atomizing in what sounds like a tomb or echo chamber ("Caught Beneath Your Heel"). The first two tracks, "Who Do You Love" and "Give What You Take" are the strongest and are alone probably worth the price of the CD. The last three tracks are pretty good too. The weakest ones, in the middle, get irritatingly sing-songy when Halstead's songwriting crosses that fine line between sturdy and spare into simplistic and repetitive.

Make no mistake, Mojave 3's second album does not return to the beautifully noisy Slowdive sound so beloved by the shoegazing set. If anything, the albums orchestrations have swelled even more magnificently, brewing horns and farfisa on several tracks and almost totally removing Rachel Goswell's vocal input (she does not sing lead at all, after doing so on half the tracks of the previous album.) While Rachel's voice is perhaps sorely missed, "Out Of Tune" is still a majestic triumph. This is acoustic, starstruck folk music for disgruntled lovers, filled with unrealized dreams, but still ultimately hopefull. Neil Halstead has certainly been getting drunk with Nick Drake's ghost, (compare "All Your Tears" to Drake's "Hazey Jane 1,") and most likely has a copy of Dylan's "Highway 61", (listen to the album's closing track,) but Goswells' Mazzy Star-ish musings have vanished, and Mojave 3 are starting to define their own sound, having put out a gorgeous lump of sugar. Suggestion: try ending that mix tape you're making for your girlfried with the sublime "Yer Feet."

This is a nice album, and one that you would probably listen to when you are in a mellow mood. In more ways than one it reminds me of james iha's (guitarist for the smashing pumpkins) debut album. if you like this cd then i suggest checking that out. I've never heard any of mojave's previous stuff, so i don't really have anything to compare this to.

a mistake occured! I definitely give this album 5 stars.I love this band, beautiful melodies,voices and harmonies as well as great instruments and arrangments. This is the first one I got and still my favorite, though I gotta admit "ask me tomorrow" which I got recently is growing on me (close second). Both albums have no bad songs (I admire that, always). I'm just in love with the deep organ on this one, wish the following albums included it as much of it.Anyways, I've listened to "out of tune" to death and still love every song! Some songs on the two following cds I find excellent too, but they each contain 1 or 2 songs I don't care for, so I say get this one for sure, it's impeccable,but don't bypass anything this band does, though, they're great, if you like slow melodic music.

First, this is not like their first album, Ask Me Tomorrow. This album has moved towards a country flavour though the basic elements of Neil Halstead remain. Unfortunately, this record is not as beautiful as the previous one which I would rank as a 10 out of 5, but this one sure is good. A definite buy as well as the singles that are going with it. For those not in the know, check out Slowdive for pre-Mojave stuff.

Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell created several spectacular shoegazing albums as Slowdive, and then made a dramatic transition to acoustic music under the name Mojave 3 with the release Ask Me Tomorrow. That first Mojave 3 release was fine listening, for although the instruments were unplugged, the production maintained the ethereal sheen of the Slowdive days.

But on 1998's OUT OF TUNE that ethereal quality is lost, as Neil Halstead takes over and reveals that he really longs to be the greatest 1960s pop singer that never was. The ten tracks here are the sort of folk-rock that peaked four decades ago, and Halstead wants to be the very centre of attention. Goswell, who could have acted as a balance, restoring the sound at least to dream pop, is reduced to backing vocals and no role in songwriting.

Judging from other reviews, there does seem to be an audience for this new style, but I would urge Slowdive and ASK ME TOMORROW fans to be cautious about Mojave 3's subsequent work.