Read Music/Speak Spanish

Desaparecidos | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Saddle Creek
• ASIN: B00005YWIR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,955 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic album., November 12, 2005

By 

Christopher Coyne (Portland, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Read Music/Speak Spanish (Audio CD)

Do not listen to any review that refers to this band as emo. This is an independent band with socio-political lyrics. There's not self-examination here. The music is great and the singing is inspiring. Do not listen to this if you are going to bitch about Conor Oberst's voice; you are probably not the type of person who would enjoy it. Personal highlights: Greater Omaha and The Happiest Place on Earth. This is a great album overall.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is it., January 13, 2003

By 

"light_minute" (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read Music/Speak Spanish (Audio CD)

I'm sick of cheese pop like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. I'm sick of grunt rock like Limp Bizkit and Puddle of Mudd. I'm sick of faux punk like Avril Lavigne and Blink 182. Thank god for Desaparecidos, the Conor Oberst-fronted rock band which has the guts, talent, and intelligence to make music that actually matters. This definitely is not slick, commercialized, studio-produced music. Read Music/ Speak Spanish is loud, raw, angry, and intensely political. Oberst spews vitriolic lyrics in his distinctive tremulous voice, alternately sounding like he's ready to cry or go crazy with the force of his message. His heartfelt rants against commercialism, suburban hell, and modern politics have the intensity, conviction, and incisiveness to give them weight and relevance. In the pre-9/11 attack on American militarism "The Happiest Place On Earth" he sings, "I got a letter from the army so I think that I'll enlist. I'm not brave or proud of nothing, I just want to kill something. Too bad nowadays you just point and click. Swing Lo satellite, hot white chariot! In the computer's blue glare, bombs burst in the air. There was a city once while nothing's there. Our freedom comes at their expense. It makes sense, doesn't it? Dollars and cents." In "The Man and His Wife, the Former (Financial Planning)" the target is middle-class American Dream, with lyrics like "I just think and think until my head hurts of the payment plans I'm making. I just want to provide for you. But if you want to make a run for it my love I'd cover you. And if you need money for bills, my lover, I could cover you. Cause I sold some sh*t. I'm saving up. We can get that house next to the park. I'll get more hours at my dad's shop, yeah we'll plan for everything. And we'll enroll in that middle class. Get a compact car full of discount tags. If you're feeling trapped or too attached remember we wanted that." Desaparecidos has renewed my faith in the idea that music can make a difference. Their targets may not be new, but their passion sets them apart from the crowd.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HOLY CRAP AWESOME., January 11, 2005

By 

mark "face" twain (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read Music/Speak Spanish (Audio CD)

this is a great cd.
and in case no-one cleared it up earlier...

desparecidos = the disappeared. they were a group of political outcasts living in an oppressive regime in a south american country ( i can't rmemeber which). they were... removed.
by being thrown out of hellicopters.

something like that.

cute isn't it?

holla!