Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who'd a thunk?, September 4, 2007
At 56, it's difficult to find new music to relate to. For years I've been purchasing mostly new product from artists of my generation. A buddy of mine suggested this release and I was hesitant. Being a disc jockey at a classic rock station, I was familiar with Silverchair of the 90's. Not my cup of tequila. If I want Pearl Jam and Nirvana, I'll listen to Pearl Jam and Nirvana. And quite frankly, I could only listen to Pearl Jam and Nirvana in exceedingly small doses. So when I bit the bullet on "Young Modern" I was not prepared for their music or my reaction. I must admit that I didn't "hear" it on the first 3 listens, but when I took it in the car with me for a 2 hour trip, I was knocked over not only by its sonic beauty, but by the maturity of the songs. I admit that I was initially attracted to the familiar, retro feel "Young Modern" exudes, weather it be Beatle-esque changes or Beach Boys melodic twists and of course the orchestral arrangements of VanDyke Parks lend itself directly to this. But beyond that, the songs display a playful originality set against a frenetic urgency that differentiates this from a band who's just knocking off the past. The hooks are fresh, the melodies maddeningly memorable. When the thing rocks, it rocks. When it doesn't, it holds you captive through inventive twists and turns. It's not exactly the most lyrically accessable collection of songs, (neither is a Bob Dylan release) but that's an element that helps to enhance and shape the songs into something undeniably intriguing.
So if you're still rockin' at 56 and you've got the time to invest in a CD that will, after a few listens pay you back in divine dividends, then "Young Modern" is for you. McCartney oughta listen to this.
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35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They're having fun again., April 18, 2007
Silverchair's complete change of musical attitude plays a large part in my enjoyment of this record. I've been a fan since I was literally fifteen, and I can testify that despite the angst, the band members have always been a bunch of goofballs. Daniel, in particular, has a strangely ironic sense of humor that always showed up at concerts but never came out on a Silverchair album - until now.
Young Modern is WEIRD. Daniel knows it - he over-warbles and tinges his voice with self mockery. Quirky noises and backing vocals take the place of loud guitar sounds. He's stopped taking himself so seriously - and the results are akin to a band going 'Wheeeee!'
By coincidence or on purpose, the first single, Straight Lines, is by far the straightest song on the album. It's very pretty, and comes complete with singable verse, singable chorus, and singable bridge. The rest of the tracks sound like impish tree monkeys throwing nuts at normal music. I can't separate songs so well here - it's a massive casserole of awesomeness. Daniel still loves to write songs with two or three key changes per verse, but this time the entire mood changes with it, swerving from sentimental to ridiculous and back again. The band can still play about ten different genres, but here they do it all in the same song instead of alternating during the tracklist.
The thing that always bugged me about Neon Ballroom is that the heavy songs all sound like filler. The ones on Diorama are better, but they still feel like a `break' from the real music. On Young Modern, there is no break. It's fluctuous acrobatics all the way through. This is the band that put flutes in the middle of `Dearest Helpless' and joyful `doo doo doo's into the refrain of `Luv Your Life'. The melodies soar, as do the symphonic parts. It's a sonic soup of genius, a flying musical circus.
A few tentative favorites are `Young Modern Station', `If You Keep Losing Sleep', `Mind Reader', and `Insomnia', but that's likely to change tomorrow.
The closest that Daniel gets to angst on this album comes only in lyrical spurts. He references past health problems ("So sick of getting sicker") and seems to have retained some lovely gender issues also tackled on previous albums ("I'm a sex change / A damsel with no heroine"). But for the majority of the playing time there is nothing to suggest he isn't happy as a lark. Which, coming from this silverchair fan, is incredibly refreshing. Some might prefer the depressed, anorexic Daniel and the `anger' it brought. But on the opposite side of angst is a bizarrely flavored poetry, one that tangs the tongue and tickles your mouth into an inevitably wide grin. Try to stop it. I dare you.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!!!!!!, September 1, 2007
Heard Siverchair during "Frogstomp". Good record. A little too angst ridden for me, but at 15 years old, at least the band is trying.
Never really listened too much after that. The stuff that I did hear never really seemed to gel.
And now this.
Holy Mother of God!
This may very well be one of the most amazing albums that I've heard in the past 10 years.
From the opening cuts "Young Modern Station", "Straight Lines", and "IF You Keep Losing Sleep", you get three almost completely different bands.
And ALL of them are remarkable.
The songs didn't lock in that hard at first, but after the first listen, I put it down, and a few hours later, I was absent mindedly humming the chorus to "Straight Lines". I knew I had a winner here. That's the beauty of this disc, it seeps slowly into your brain and stays there. Now it's a staple on the IPod.
It's a rock album by all means. And by that I don't mean some singer whining (and by whining I mean real, honest to goodness whining) on about how "nobody understands me", or how "I'm so sad without you"............ blah, blah, blah, while "crunchy" guitars blast out two chords and an "attitude" (corporate made, of course, won't mention any names, but they're out there).
I mean this recording has much depth, strong STRONG melody, incredible musical diversity, and rock and roll hooks that sound so new and fresh that I had to check twice to make sure that it was really Silverchair.
I haven't bought many CDs that have kept me happy throughout the entire 40 plus minutes, but this one most DEFINITELY fits that bill.
A MUST have. Especially if you thought, like I did, that this band was a "one trick pony".
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check out that back catalog again.
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