Customer Reviews

TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS [Vinyl]

5 star:		(301)
4 star:		(92)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(58)

 

 

I bought this album because people told me it sounded just like Joy Division, who are my all-time favorite band. Well, somebody has to say this and it's going to be me- Interpol don't really sound much like Joy Division, and all the reviewers who say otherwise are just demonstrating that they've never really listened all that closely to either band. Yes, Interpol are a dark post-punk band, but the similarity really ends there. Interpol songs are not built around the bass line like Joy Division songs, they aren't nearly as manic-sounding, and the tone of Interpol's music tends to be moody and reflective whereas the tone of Joy Division is coldly futuristic and impersonal. However, Turn on the Bright Lights is a brilliant album in its own right, with some of the best songwriting I've heard in a long time, and songs that grow on you more and more till you hardly want to hear anything else. Of course Interpol have their influences like any band does, and one of those influences might be Joy Division. But they don't really need to be compared to anyone. They shine on their own.

This debut is quite extraordinary (perhaps as impactful as U2 'Boy'). The songs are elegant and complex of craft, with bright, spacious quitars reminiscent of Frank Black of the Pixies. The bass and drum duo often propel the beat with a Gang of Four style funkiness, all underneath the often commented comparison to Ian Curtis (Joy Division)vocals. Tracks 'Obstacle 1', 'Stella' and 'The New' rank with the best of U2 in their day, while 'Untitled' and 'Hands Away' are on par with RadioHead circa 'Kid A'. The wonderful CD closer'Leif Erikson' could have been a lost track from Joy Division. If you liked the Pixies, Gang of Four, Smiths, Furs etc buy this CD. Album of the year? Maybe, not a bad track on it. A band to watch. (Saw them live in NYC and every bit as tight and shimmering as on CD)

Interpol has thrown in a fantastic debut this year, really catching this listner off-guard. I had already pegged The Doves or David Holmes as my favorites of the year, but then along comes this wonderful thing.

Like the Strokes did last year, Interpol has dug up some much needed gritty influence of the past. Where the Strokes was a lighter pop affair, Interpol has gone right into the alleys and seedy clubs of both Manchester England and NYC. The record takes on a lot from Joy Division, Talking Heads and even Television. But it's the spooky quality of Joy Division that's adds some drama and beauty to the dark landscape within. Interpol draws from the past but keeps things sounding new and fresh. Songs like Untitled and NYC are as impressive as any I've heard this year. Like the Manchester music of the late 70's and early 80's, Interpol trys in vein to break out of their grime-laden roots. The result is an honest and soulful exchange delivered with art-ful passion. Matador have once again expanded their library and stumbled upon some truely great rock-n-roll. Turn on your ears to this great disc!

After owning this album for about half a year, I have characterized it as being dark and dreary with a soothing undertone. I know that sounds weird, but let me explain. Lead singer Paul Bank's voice is deep and dark. It sounds like what I think of when picturing a rainy day in New York City. Even though I have never been to New York City. However, the background sounds create an amazing haze that brings you to another world. The vocal/guitar combinations are intertwined to synthesize something very fulfilling. Yeah I know they are criticized for sounding too much like Joy Division, whatever. Everything comes from somewhere. I think that Interpol has done something unique with their album, Turn on the Bright Lights.

If you're looking for happiness within this album, go somewhere else. If you're looking for thoughts, this album might help you spark some. I first loved this album for the guitar chords. It definitely grew on me with each listen, and I didn't really like it right away. Just give it a chance

I hate to write a second review for this so I won't, I'll just address the people reviewing this...

How can this possibly receive 1 star? Listen to it. It sounds good. The sound is fresher than most stuff made today. These are true statements.

Others give it 1 star because it is so derivative. Yeah, maybe... but does that make it terrible? Hardly. Most bands today don't even hope to have decent source material; they're busy trying to make retarded rhymes or sound disturbed... some are so lame they even name themselves things like "Disturbed". Interpol is not as awful as all that.

OK, now to address the "this is the best thing since orgasms" crowd. Wrong again. All of the "It's derivative" people do have a point. Can you see that? This stuff sounds so much like 80's postpunk that it makes all of us over 25 go back and pull out the original 80's postpunk bands. Do not try to hide from this fact or bury it and say it's untrue. Nothing that is so closely connected to its source material can be ascribed the 'best ever' label.

Others have said that it's the only album in their vast collection that they can listen to start to finish. Well 10 CDs ain't exactly vast then. I've got over 200 that I'm happy to go coast-to-coast with... and yes, this is one of them. Interpol is very good all the way through.

In sum, let's not overreact or exaggerate so much that we all look foolish. If you like it that much then a 5-star rating makes sense, but it just isn't the best album ever made. And it sure isn't the worst... Haven't you guys heard Milli Vanilli or Loverboy?

Revivals are revivals are revivals, and up-and-comers will always get flamed for sounding too much like "insert name of well-known, band of the past".

Be that as it may, I argue that the Joy Division tag Interpol is constantly being given is extraneous. There is an inherent similarity, and comparisons are inevitable. But I think that what Interpol as a collective bring to the music is completely unique from Joy Division. After all, Interpol themselves don't even cite Joy Division as a notable influence on their musical development. Consequently, it seems the boys have gone on their own musical journey, and yielded comprable results, manifest in different ways.

The "gothic" tag too often given to Interpol is completely erroneous. While it may perhaps be accurate for Joy Division, these are NOT the same bands, contexts, or even sounds. The fact is, Interpol can be sad, and can be lugubrious, but can also be cheeky and energetic. For every "Untitled" and "NYC", there are songs like "Say Hello to the Angels" and "Roland", odes to lusty desire and Polish, knife-carrying best friends respectively.

Paul Banks seems to take himself too seriously at times, and at others not at all, on the one hand hoping that living free is not behind him, on the other encouraging a young woman he fancies to "1, 2, 3- do [him]". His lyrics sometimes toe the line of the ludicrous, but ultimately, this man is driven by an intellectual and symbolic objective (His "bad", dangerous girl doesn't drink, party, or sleep around; she can read). The simplicity of the instrumentation is buttressed by the sheer beauty of his voice, which seems to function as the most well-defined melodic device for the group. A description as monotone is tantamount to misunderstanding- it is exactly because of the range and the function over the repetitive rhythms of the instruments that his vocals are so effective: one comes to immediately recognize the nuances in his singing, and appreciate the deep moroseness and sorrow, or hollowness depending on the context, that he utilizes.

Simply put, this is a beautiful album, and despite its failure to invent a whole new genre of music, we must remember that is no reason to deem it unworthy. Interpol is an invitation to enjoy melancholy, and to ignore it as well. After all, it is important to note that these musicians were philosophy majors before their record deals, not drop-outs. "Turn on the Bright Lights" is an intellectual invitation, fraught with existential positions one need only pay attention to to recognize. This album is not a foray into depression, it is an acknowledgement of beauty in both the dark and the light, and is a hell of a lot of fun to dance to. These are not cheap, Joy Division knock-offs. They are be
autiful musicians, coming to fruition on their own.

If you rely on the reviews to decide whether or not to give Interpol a chance you'll wind up thinking that this might be yet another copycat effort in an otherwise dry and uninspired current rock scene.
So is this true then? Do Interpol sound like the Psychedelic Furs or the Joy Division or the Smiths, etc. etc. etc? Hmm, well, in all honesty, when i first heard the album i thought i heard tens of hints and references to several legendary bands of the 80s. Nevertheless, i couldn't come up with a direct comparison. Yes, Interpol combine many elements from the aforementioned bands while at the same time standing their ground with more than enough decency (that IS possible, you know)..
But, it would be unfair to compare these New Yorkers with the Strokes (the Strokes?? please..) or any of these "new" post 80s-postpunk-post whatever-post me a postcard bands. Why? Well, cuzz Interpol are simply better than that lot and because they emit a lot more pathos and involvement in their music. Sound good enough so far?
At their most capturing Interpol are best at their darkest. And dark they are mostly throughout as they narrate everyday stories which are paradoxically rare for the everyman.
Obviously they aren't rediscovering the moon but lets be fair here. There's a reason why the rock scene is stagnant these days and that reason is that it has become damn hard to sound original any more, if not impossible. On that term, this album is one of truly wonderful quality. And, lets face it, what are your choices if you wanna hear straight-out emotional, angsty and intriguing guitars? Limp Bizkit? I didn't think so either...

If you've ever wondered whether you'll be around for the appearance of another truly great band that transcends the ordinary of pop music by delivering the raw emotions few others can, take a listen to Turn on the Bright Lights. Untitled and Obstacle 1 introduce the listener to the atmosphere being painted by Interpol, with blurry guitars and dark distant vocals, while driving bass and punchy drumming keep your heart pounding. Screams of "stabbing yourself in the neck" echo in your ears. The peak of this album is reached early, with NYC and PDA. NYC is sad and cathartic as it walks the streets and subways of New York, while PDA plucks at the nerves like a violin from many drunken nights of desperation. Stella is a later highlight, with richly layered guitars and again the dank echoey vocals inviting you into her story.

Interpol's debut reaches the greatness of such icons as Joy Division and Nirvana. Like Unknown Pleasures or Nevermind, the album holds up to repeated listenings, and begs for more. But just like Nirvana or Joy Division, the pressure will be on to see whether these guys can deliver on their promise, or whether they will implode under the expectations.

Who cares if this is a commercial hit? It might be better if it is not. If you've had your eyes out for something different and a cut above, where the emotions feel real, your wait is over.

Interpol's first full length manages to incorporate the increadible beauty of their first EP and extend it longer into a true aural masterpiece for this year. Combining the drones and melancholy manners of early 80s synth-pop and a desperate calling from the early 90s, Interpol's CD is an earnest yet compelling work that doesn't just attack you as a sonic force but as an intellectual one, that hits you both lyrically and musically at the same time.

What makes the album really spectacular is the relative lack of crescendos and hook-laden choruses. The band stays together as a tight unit churning out music, not being compelled to shock the listener with intense moments and choruses but instead letting the minimalism of the work speak volumes. Songs like "PDA" and "NYC" don't journey on chord structures and stories, but explore minor changes in the music itself that change the entire feel of the song. It is in this minimalist fashion that Interpol has made a CD that you just put on repeat and LISTEN, a situation where it doesn't matter if you listen actively or passively, but remains wholeheartedly enjoyable.

THE JOY DIVISION COMPARISONS MUST STOP. Kiddies, just because a critic in Rolling Stone or whatever thought he heard some JD influence in this doesn't mean you all have to be "hip" and start saying the same thing. Just so you know...the band don't even listen to Joy Division (except for Carlos D but I doubt he's responsible for their ultimate sound). Why don't you be creative and compare them to another band? Everyone is sick and tired of hearing you little hipsters drone on about how they ripped off Joy Division...it's not new, and it's not clever. I've heard enough JD to recognize some similarities, but I'm not dumb enough to go off and say Interpol are ripping them off. Yeah, so Paul's vocals do sound something like Ian Curtis' but who can blame the vocal chords??? Then again...why not compare Paul to Jim Morrison? Or even Neil Young? They sound kinds of alike....why fixate on Curtis? I personally love the way Paul sounds. No, it's not some sort of BEAUTIFUL, talented singing, but it sounds perfect with the music. Imagine if Paul's voice sounded like Lou Reed's.... it would take away the charm from the music.

Anyways, onto the actual album....
All the songs seem to have sort of a 'dark' element to them without sounding too depressing or angry. The first track is mainly an instrumental one, without many vocals. This is one of my least favorite tracks as I find it repetitive and even kind of boring at times. "Obstacle 1", however, is one of the best songs on the album. The guitar chords are so simple and don't require much technique but with Paul's vocals howling over the guitar, it sounds incredible. People often say Paul sings in monotone and that they don't feel any emotion in his voice. If you are one of those people, listen to this song and you will be proven wrong. If you listen to the song as a whole, you might not have much reaction to it, but if you listen to every single element of the song (the drums, the guitar, the bass, and especially the vocals) separately you start to feel it. The same emotion can be felt in "The New". I can see how in this song he does mostly sing in a monotone fashion, yet I still feel the emotion in his lyrics. The song is pretty dynamic too, changing from a mellow beginning to a more emotional 'chorus' with Paul crying out his lyrics, and then finally changing to an almost fully instrumental ending of the next 4 minutes or so. Once again, this instrumental is ridiculously simple, with the guitar chords hardly changing but it doesn't require any impressive skills to make it sound mesmerizing.

Now I have to mention "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down". This is SUCH a great song. It's somewhat mellow, dynamic, and the drums and bass work incredibly well together. Here I do agree that there's not too much emotion in his voice except when he sings "she broke away, broke away". It's like I hear him WANTING to belt those lyrics out even louder. When he sings "Stella...Stella....Oh Stella....Stella I love you, Stella I love you, Stella I love you" I have to close my eyes and concentrate those tiny, almost inaudible vocal changes. When you concentrate that hard, you feel the emotion practically exploding within the song.
Now....Leif Erikson....when I first listened to the album in its entirety, I thought the song was boring and I skipped over it every time. I didn't start to like it until a month or more after listening to the album. It's a beautiful closer with strange lyrics, but somehow they compel me.

Excellent debut; I don't know how they could've made it any better than it is.