Perfect From Now on

Built To Spill, ?????????? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 28, 1997)
• Original Release Date: January 28, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002NC4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,896 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BUILT TO SPILL
Title: PERFECT FROM NOW ON
Street Release Date: 01/28/1997
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major label debut??, July 5, 2001

By 

Rob Damm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect From Now on (Audio CD)

What other artist, after signing a major label deal toward which he had presumably worked his whole life ,would record THIS album? Who else but Doug (Dug) Martsch? I know Built to Spill is a band, but I've always seen Dug as a kind of Brian Wilson character. That said, this album is like his "Pet Sounds". The genius of this band is the ability to craft a 3-minute hook-laden pop song, dream up some of the most inventive and wildly original arrangements, play those intricate arrangements using only basic rock instrumentation, and then stretch that song out to its logical or illogical conclusions. 8-minute songs are usually boring. These 8-minute songs aren't. There are vey few bands that manage to sound original or distinctive with just a bass-guitar-drums line-up. Sure, BTS add the occasional strings or keyboards, but at its core, it's a guitar-rock band. Instead of using an orchestra, theremin, movie projectors, vibes, etc. a la Flaming Lips, Dug uses his guitar to create the sounds, tones, and moods needed for the arrangements. When you hear Dug referred to as a "guitar god", don't fear. You are not in for mechanical, "technical" or "fast" playing. Dug's genius is his ability to use the guitar as his own private orchestra, and to use those sounds and textures in service of the songs. He has an utterly distinctive tone, but also is able to shape-change into whatever kind of player the songs calls for. He's a guitar chameleon, and there aren't many guitarists you can say that about. He can muster everything from heartbreakingly lyrical passages to storming walls of sound and stop at all points between. Just listen to the first track "Randy Described Eternity". Much like the best Flaming Lips work, it uses odd-ball lyrics juxtaposed with transcendent music and ultimately builds to an emotional climax that defies logic or explanation. Just like you might wonder, whilst listening to "Clouds Taste Metallic": 'How can a song about a giraffe have an emotional effect on me?', you'll find yourself puzzled at how a song that begins with a description of a huge shimmering sphere can raise goosebumps in your heart. To me, that perfectly encapsulates the perfect paradox that is Built to Spill, The Flaming Lips, and great music in general: The existence of both the ridiculous and sublime in the same place at the same time.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the Impatient, July 13, 2004

By 

J A W (Norman, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect From Now on (Audio CD)

Anti-pop melodies. 6+ minute epics. Borderline violent transformations in mid-song that come out of nowhere. Sounds dubious, right?

Well, if you want to be grabbed into a song on first listen by simple pop vocal lines and clearly defined guitar riffs, this won't be for you. If you're looking for a little substance, this is definitely for you. Upon subsequent listenings, you will hear and appreciate the double helix-like guitar riffs, interweaving into each other and away from each other, the balance between the ethereal tenor voice of Doug and the throbbing guitars, you will hear it what it is: Music, Rock Music, done about as well as it can possibly be done. Innovative, challenging, complex.

Hurt a Fly is probably the most known song on the album, as it made rounds on college rock stations across the nation. The use of strings to back up Doug's speed riff harmonies at the end of the song is one of the most exciting pieces I've heard in rock. Stop the Show is probably my second favorite song, one that grows on you once the overlapping guitars sink in. Untrustable, which ends the album, is hypnotic and rewarding, an example of the album as a whole. This is one of those albums that you'll be listening to for years...if you are patient.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars laymans guide to BTS, July 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Perfect From Now on (Audio CD)

If you've landed here because you know BTS well, then skip this review. If, on the other hand, you're here because an Amazon link piqued your interest, then let me help you out. I landed here a while back because I bought the Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin". I have since listened to all the BTS records. Choosing where to start (and stop) in my mind is easy. Perfect is the album to buy - it is far and away the best this band has ever created and it is a minor late 90s masterpiece, certainly on par with the Soft Bulletin. Each of the songs on Perfect takes you on a mini musical journey, starting with one melody and transitioning to one or more others over the course of 5-8 minutes. The sound is intense and epic. Their other albums are nowhere near as accomplished. Like the Lips, BTS mined the short, alternative (i.e., loose, twangy, Pavement-like) sound of early 90s rock on earlier albums, like There's Nothing Wrong, and again on Keep It Like A Secret and the new Ancient Melodies. No doubt about it, Carry the Zero, The Weather, In the Morning, Reasons and Big Dipper are great songs, but compared to I Would Hurt or Out of Site off Perfect, they pale. Highly recommended.