Customer Reviews

What Is Not to Love

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I too bought this album solely from hearing the single Yoo-hoo. I was completely blown away by how great the entire album is! I don't know how this group is going so unnoticed for so long. The songs are all extremely catchy... great music with great lyrics. I instantly went out and bought their other album as well - Seasick. It's hard to really pick a favorite. Seasick is a little more upbeat and playful, while What is not to Love seems to be a bit deeper both lyrically and musically. Both have a permanent spot in my collection and there is never really a time that I'm not in the mood to listen to them.

I think it's pretty funny that everyone describes 'What is not to Love' as 'shiny,' 'poppy,' and 'fun.' This is some of the saddest, most meloncholy music I've heard. Beyond the cheerful exterior is some incredible self-loathing, uncertainty, and emotional complexity. Most of the songs in one way or another realate to lonliness and separation, and even at their most defiant ('The Beignning') they would rather not fight. Culminating in the desperate feedback of 'Hooray,' this record makes a mockery of its own depressed state, I think as a form of therapy.

Awesome pop songs from start to finish. Imperial Teen has honed their song writing and become a truly magnificent band. The songs on this record are much better and more consistant than those on their first album "Seasick." This one is a little less slick, and the subject matter is a bit more suggestive, which makes it feel much more honest and real. If you havent heard much of IT's stuff, this is where I would start.

Someone below this review ignorantly rated this album a one, when in reality it is more of a 4.5. His argument was the music was simplistic and the talent level lacking. Wrong, wrong wrong. The songwriting is some of the best since the Pixies/Nirvana era. Every song is catchy, but not lightweight and the lyrical content will pass you by until you actually sit and listen. This is an album that takes patience, but once you break it down it is easily one of the best of the 90s.

Darker than their debut, the four Imperial Teens forge into their second album with the same wit that would make Sparks or the Pixies proud. Still as lyrically subversive as ever ("why you gotta be so proud, I'm the one with lipstick on") and spewing out hooks that make you hate radio for not latching onto the likes of "Yoo Hoo" (or "Seasick's" "You're One"), "What is Not To Love" is clever without being sardonic. If that sounds like a recommendation to you, then by all means, pick this up.

Well, if that isn't an understatement. I found Imperial Teen later than most. I hate the radio. They should be playing this album or Lovesick or Go ... not the other homogenized ... you hear everyday. Sure, there is some good rap, and occasional goot alt rockers. But, most of it sounds the same and is .... These guys should be blasting from the radio. Why not? I would have heard this album sooner. This is great rock, great songs, Poppy yet noisy too. Intelligent but sexual too. Too smart to cave to the demands of corporate radio. A great live act. This CD is a bit catchier and more tuneful than Seasick. Where Seasick was a little noisier and punker this has catchier hooks. The lyrics are great especially that line about doing a congressman. Ok, now I know why programmers can't play this.

This CD doesn't really break any new ground, although it definately has its own sound. Most of the songs are fairly similar sounding, and not really experimental, but its still the kind of CD you can listen to straight through. There's a neat feel of lightness and bouyancy throughout the music that'll probably be the main reason you'll want to stick it in your player.

By the way, the song Yoo Hoo is awesome, probably the best reason to buy this disk. For some strange reason I find it incredibly hilarious and it cracks me up every time I hear it, I usually start laughing even before the singer comes in. Roddy Bottum acts like he's talking on the phone near the end. "Hello, are you there? I know you're there! I can heeeeaaar you..." The song is just cool, plain and simple.

This is one of those CDs that has a sound that is really all its own and it is hard to pigeon hole. I'd say 9 out of the 11 songs are fantastic and really fun and different sounding, yet united through a common thread. The best song is Birthday Girl which has an underlying sadness to the lyrics and a real sense of urgency to the music. It is an impressive song. You'll find your own favorite songs if you get it, so I won't go describing them one by one. If you like the Pixies, Yo La Tengo, or The Flaming Lips or any kind of punky-pop music you will find something to groove to on this album. Check it out.

After hearing their first radio single 'Yoo Hoo', I thought that Imperial Teen was just another one-hit-wonder band. I was fortunate to see them in concert and was amazed at the many other songs in their set that blew 'Yoo Hoo' away. I quickly purchased the album and found the album to be very enjoyable. Some of the songs are rather slow, but the songs 'The Beginning', 'Year of the Tan', and 'Hooray' make up for the rest of the album's simplicity. Anyone who likes the Pixies will find similarities in Imperial Teen. It isn't hard to guess that Imperial Teen definitely had influences from the Pixies. Overall, 'What Not To Love' is a great 'toe-tapper', and well worth a listen.

This album sort of snuck by, but it's really one of the most innovative and interesting rock albums out in a long while. If you like the Pixies (and really, if you don't, what gives?)you'll like this album. And it's hardly just a knock-off: the lyrics are cleaner, more coherent, and wry, and the sound drifts happily toward Yo La Tengo at its best.