The Place We Ran From

Tired Pony | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 28, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mom & Pop
• ASIN: B003Y5NBKO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,762 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Tired Pony, spearheaded by Snow Patrol s Gary Lightbody, is a collaborative project
featuring the talents of R.E.M. s Peter Buck, Belle and Sebastian s Richard Colburn, and
more, in addition to guest turns by She & Him s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Editors
Tom Smith and more.
Tired Pony began as a sketch in Gary Lightbody s imagination. During the idle moments on
Snow Patrol s year-long tour for their acclaimed album A Hundred Million Suns, Gary began
writing songs for an imaginary band. Upon the tour s completion, he decamped to Portland,
Oregon s Type Foundry studio, inviting along Troy Stewart, a regular touring member of
Snow Patrol; Iain Archer, a longtime Snow Patrol collaborator; Richard Colburn, Belle & Sebastian s
drummer and former collaborator with Lightbody in Reindeer Section; and producer
Garret Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party), who helped to recruit Tired Pony s final two members:
Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey, R.E.M. s full-time auxiliary member since 1994.
Inspired by his love of Wilco, Calexico and more, Gary set out to make what could be called an
American gothic album, a country-tinged gem that looked at the darkness of America. I wanted
to write a twisted love-letter to the States, is his way of explaining it, and oh, what a letter it is.
Instituting a no more than two takes rule, the album was made quickly, with the entire
recording session lasting only a week. At the end of it all, the players felt so close and so connected,
they decided to take Tired Pony out of the studio and into the world. As Peter Buck
puts it, It certainly felt at the end of the week like it was a band, and that this was a good place
to start. It would be crazy not to pursue this.
A record of real resonance and cohesion. It s the best work Lightbody has done; Peter Buck
hasn t been near anything this affecting in many a year either.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When Snow Patrol & REM mashup, September 28, 2010

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)

Tired Pony is a side project for Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and REM guitarist Peter Buck along with a few other friends. Their sound is solemn Americana, soft and beautiful songs that work their way into your brain and never leave.

"Northwest skies" opens the CD and reminds one a bit of Snow Patrol's "Chasing cars". The melancholic "Get on the road" features harmonies by Zooey Deschanel.

Upping the tempo is "Dead Anerican writers" with Lightbody singing "A broken heart will not get you far enough, all beat up wading through the tar and rough". That aside, it's back to melancholy galore with songs like the delicate beauty "Held in the arms of your love", the acoustic "The good book" (sung in a lower register), and closing is the experimental "Pieces" (with a distorted sounding coda) which is very Coldplay.

For a group named Tired Pony, this packs a rather powerful kick.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pleasant surprise, November 6, 2010

By 

Donald E. Gilliland (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)

After reading a fairly negative review of this album in MOJO magazine, I was wary of purchasing it. But I'm a big fan of both Snow Patrol and REM, so I thought I'd give it a chance. Wow! This is a very impressive set of songs, sung with passion by Gary Lightbody, and also couple of vocalists I had never noticed before: Tom Smith of the Editors (his "The Good Book" is a top track) and Iain Archer. My favorite track here is "I Am a Landslide" but there are many memorable songs to be found here. Unlike one of the reviews that Amazon posted, I certainly wouldn't describe it as "Americana" but it is a very good album.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sounds more like Snow Patrol than REM, November 10, 2010

By 

Scott Yanoff (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Place We Ran From (Audio CD)

I don't know if I'd classify this entirely as Americana, but there's some of that style in here. This pairing of Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol and Peter Buck from REM take some of the best components from two of the best bands out there. Gary's progressively gotten weaker lyrically, especially on Snow Patrol's last offering, A Hundred Million Suns (which is still a very good album). He's back in decent form here, although he still writes in his frequently cryptic way.

Opener "Northwestern Skies" jolts to an abrupt halt right away before picking up again. It feels jarring, but once the song really gets going it's catchy. The highlight of the album comes next in the form of "Get on the Road", Gary's duet with Zooey Deschanel. It is reminiscent of the song "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" off of Snow Patrol's earlier effort, Eyes Open. That duet, with Martha Wainwright, showed how complimentary a female vocal counterpart could be. My favorite lyric appears in "Get on the Road" when Gary sings "Kiss like a fight that neither wins".

Most of the other songs are decent, too, and have that Snow Patrol "sound", probably due to Lightbody's familiar vocals. The guest vocalists make this a more interesting album, and really change the dimension of the songs. Track #6, "That Silver Necklace", is classic Snow Patrol but, as other reviewers have pointed out, "The Good Book" with a guest vocalist from The Editors really provides a nice bookend to the strong opening of the album. There isn't really a dud on the album, but "I am a Landslide" doesn't have the best guest vocalist and is one of the longer songs on the album.