Customer Reviews

The Sun And The Moon

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I disagree with other reviewers here--"The Sun And The Moon" is very much a continuation of The Bravery's first album. Sure, it has less synth, but it still retains that new wave/punk vibe of the late 1970's/early 1980's. Check out the Clash-like "London Calling" riff on "This Is Not The End".





That said, "The Sun And The Moon" is about the same as their last album. It has 7 good songs and some filler. In this case, "Believe", "This Is Not The End", "Every Word Is A Knife In My Ear", "Bad Sun", "Time Won't Let Me Go" and "Tragedy Bound" are the solid tracks whilst the five tracks that end the album are repetitious. I don't mind though, because I'd buy a third album from this band because they continue to show potential. I don't think they've figured out how to make every song count yet, but lyrically, "The Sun And The Moon" is more interesting than their debut. Take the lyrics on "Believe", "Time Won't Let Me Go" and "Tragedy Bound". I like the doom and gloom, the mild nihilism, the gray outlook--that's what made earlier punk and new wave stand apart from the sappy top 40.





I'd also recommend The Killers, Keane, Interpol, The Postal Service, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor for other newer, similar sounding artists. If you want a history lesson, The Clash, Duran Duran, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Cars, Blondie, U2, Simple Minds, Thompson Twins, Eurythmics, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, OMD, Kraftwerk, The Psychedelic Furs, Roxy Music should broaden your mind (and ears).

The Bravery's first CD was incredible. The Bravery Unfortunately that means that subsequent releases will always be compared to the original album.

This CD while delivering some great tracks, for lack of a better word is not as "catchy." While there is not a total absence of "catchyness" (lol, not even a real word) there could be more of it. That's the limit of my disappointment. There are some great tracks as well as the expected strong lyrical backing. The album has a definite deeper feel than the previous release as well as some real upbeat tracks. It has lasting sound to it and you wont get tired of it too quickly.

I give it 3 Stars. Give it a listen, form your own opinion.

New York-based The Bravery sort of stormed onto the music scene in 2005 with their self-titled debut album, which contained one of the great singles of that year, "An Honest Mistake". After tireless touring, now finally comes the band's follow-up album.

On "The Sun and the Moon" (12 tracks; 40 min.), the Bravery does not falter far from the sound that made their debut album a success. The opener "Intro/Believe" brings a strong reggae undertone. First single "Time Won't Let Me Go" is a compelling ballad, Bravery-style. The songs generally flow well from one into another, and there are very few weak moments on te album. Other favorite tracks for me include "This Is Not the End", "Split Me Wide Open" (inviting an obvious comparison to the Cure), and "Above and Below", another one of those uptempo reggae-flavored songs. The only strike-out on the album is the pensive "Tragedy Bound", which misfires and simply is misplaced on this set.

This limited edition comes with a second CD (2 tracks, 6 min.). "Rat in the Walls" is a highly charged anthem that would've fitted nicely on the proper album. "Faces" is nice, but non-essential. Overall, while this certainly is not art with a capital "A", I have nevertheless found myself playing this album over and over again. This is uncomplicated but very entertaining from beginning to end.

As a last comment, am I the only one to notice how eerily similar this album compares to and sounds like the latest Kaiser Chiefs' album "Yours Truly, Angry Mob"? Listen to these 2 albums back-to-back and you'll see what I mean. That aside, the Bravery is coming to Cincinnati next month, and I can't wait to see how they sound live.

Gone is the synthy dance tunes on their 2005 album. Instead, what we have is so much better: less infectious and more melody-driven, less The Killers (which started a public feud between Endicott and Flowers in 2005) and more The Bravery. The tracks are less polished and more rock-infused. If anything, this disc solidifies The Bravery's Brit rock musicality and at least to me, that's a great thing. "The Sun and the Moon" is a departure from their debut but it is still a very enjoyable listen. In fact, I may enjoy this album a tiny bit more than their previous release.

With an album more in tune to the song than the dance this time around, The Bravery have put out one of the best albums this year.

There is a lush, exacting quality to the less electronic, more melodic sound here but songs like Time Won't Let Me go and Fistful of Sand show just how good their songs can be, without gimmicks or an over reverance to the 80s God bands like New Order and The Cure.

I'll take this group over the Killers or Interpol or a half a million other NY and elsewhere bands who have morphed the alternative 80s sounds into something listenable and categorically post punk.

With new instruments and a richer feel to almost every song, The Bravery have put themselves at the top of this over saturated rock and roll scene.

There are no weak tracks and The Ocean is a beautiful lightly techno ending to a great album.

Just pick up this album and you'll understand - the great intro (including the song "Believe" with its riffs) is one of the best lead-ins into an album I've ever heard.

Huge Bravery fan here since their debut. There were a couple songs - i.e. Bad Sun, Fistful of Sand, and Above and Below - with beautiful melodies that show a different side of the boys

And of course, the gorgeous ending - The Ocean - with powerful lyrics caps off a pretty solid sophmore project

"And I loose your hand through the waves......"

Review title says it all. Not a "In Rotation" album. Kinda mediocre to say the least.
Ok, so I bought this album without listening to it first. Big mistake. Be smart, listen to its entirety first, then buy if it blows you away. I suggest you borrow it from a friend or better yet, the library.

The second album by The Bravery is a radical departure from The Bravery, in a major improvement. Gone are the Duran Duran/Killers imitative songs and pseudo-new wave posturing, in are melodic songs with acoustic underpinnings. While a comparison to the radical shift The Killers made with Sam's Town is more than a little apt, The Bravery sound more like they boned up on Coldplay, The Rembrandts, The Cure or even a little Pink Floyd when they started laying the groundwork for "The Sun and The Moon."

The album is a low key affair, without the obvious single that marked "An Honest Mistake." But given time, "Time Won't Let Me Go" and "Believe" stay in your memory. There are a couple of darker moments, like "Tragedy Bound," about a woman so hard luck that "She's cutting herself just to see if it works." If you miss the breezy, easy pop of the debut, there's "Bad Sun," with an inescapable whistling hook.

They have not completely escaped their past, however. "Every Word is a Knife In My Ear" is on a par with "Stop Drop and Roll" from the debut as filler and "Split Me Wide Open" is way too heavy handed lyrically for its own good. Main Braveheart Sam Endicott can be proud of this effort, though. With "The Sun and The Moon," he and his fellow Bravery mates have transcended their roots and made an album that shows a band with more promise than their debut would have led you to contemplate.

I saw The Bravery perform on either Conan or Leno, and I was extremely impressed with the song "Believe." I ordered the CD, and I think the whole album is amazing.

With The Bravery's debut album being a very admirable part of the regrettably brief new wave resurgence movement in music alongside such similar artists as The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and Editors, I hoped that their second release would sound fairly similar to their self-titled release, which is one of my all-time favorite albums. I'm all for bands going in new directions, but unfortunately The Bravery seems to have moved in a direction that is more or less a bland alternative style, and comes short of the appeal of their prior upbeat 80's-ish style. Only two or three tracks maintain the style of the self-titled debut, and conveniently they are some of the album's better songs. I liked approximately six tracks including the intro; among them are "Believe", "This Is Not the End", "Tragedy Bound", and "The Ocean". I did not intensely enjoy too many of my favorites on this album however, unlike I have enjoyed past songs "Rites of Spring", "An Honest Mistake", and "Tyrant". Basically the band sounds like a blend of newer Arctic Monkeys with newer Kaiser Chiefs, except with an electronic touch on occasion. Although I am a fan of both those bands, I dislike The Bravery's take on the style used on The Sun and the Moon, and really was fairly unimpressed with the lyrics as well. Still, the album has a fair amount of good melodies on it, and while I didn't enjoy enough of them to justify a purchase, I'd still give this CD three stars since it was if nothing else a mildly decent effort.