Customer Reviews

Translate Slowly

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally, recorded under the name, Zeitgeist in 1985, they had to change their name on their following releases because there was a New Age band out of Europe that trademarked the name. With all their record industry problems I get the feeling that if the Reivers had stayed on the indie circut they would have had a longer and more fruitful career. Side 1 of this album rules, if they could of kept up the momentum on Side 2 I would of gave them a 4 or 5 star rating. They really pioneered the indie sound, filling in the void between the Neats and REM. However, they manage to upstage them both by trading off between male and female vocals. "Things dont change" is the stand out cut on this album. It was surprising to see people rave about the 2nd and 3rd Reivers albums. To me this was the one. The band might have matured on their later releases but I think they only had better production. I still have the album cover but the actual album has been missing for some time. So you could imagine that I was thrilled to see it still in print again. Yeee Haaaaaawwwww. God bless Austin, Texas!

This, The Reivers first full-length album, was a great amalgamation of rock and folk with a little bit of an "alternative" edge. It attracted a fair amount of attention in the music press, and received primarily good reviews. As with much of their future work, the lyrics were somewhat impressionistic, as opposed to straight stories. Unlike their subsequent releases, the drumming here was very frenzied- helping to create a unique band sound. With vocals shared by John Croslin and Kim Longacre, the songs run the gamut from all out rockers like "Araby" and "Sound and the Fury" to acoustic folk like the spirited "Freight Train Rain".

Can't say that this is th best album ever, but I did listen to almost nothing else for six months when it came out.

Hootie and the Blowfish covered ARABY on a b-side! Strange bedfellows, bit their version was carbon copy, so someone un that band must be a fan...

When most people think of the music of the '80s, they think of Prince and Madonna; I think of R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs, Lone Justice, Suzanne Vega, The Dream Academy, and Zeitgeist (sorry, I became a fan when they went by that name, and cannot bring myself to call them anything else), and this album was perhaps their best. Even listening to it today, it still transports me back to a time (when I was in college) when music wasn't about selling soda (or sex), but about being creative and expressing yourself and making a statement. However, though tied to that time, the music does not sound "dated" at all, but rather timeless.

"Translate Slowly", the Reiver's first major label release from 1985 is somewhat non extraordinary, although a small handful of tracks stand out like their cover of the country classic "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Electra", not to mention the nicely done instrumental tracks on the CD. The Austin, TX quartet's "Translate Slowly" at certain points becomes somewhat redundant, but is overly a good album and is worth owning.