Let's Stay Friends

Les Savy Fav

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 18, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: French Kiss
• ASIN: B000UVLSVE
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,200 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If there is such a thing as the "subtle anthem," then Les Savy Fav has perfected an intelligent, full-flail version of the art on Let's Stay Friends, their first wholly new album in six years. The delay was due to a massive case of writer's block, but you'd not guess it by the riches here. The way LSS mixes together so many elements of energetic alt-rock sounds from the 1990s continues to startle, and to evolve. Echoes of detuned, angular, post-punk firebrands such as Fugazi, the Ex, and Jawbox float about on most songs. But the group has clearly expanded its horizons and interests on this album, which features horns, dub elements, and stabbing vocal accompaniment by Eleanor Friedberger (the Fiery Furnaces). The cute, acoustic strum-heavy "Comes and Goes" has something of the hyper-literate anorak-indie sheen of the Wedding Present to it, while the heady "Brace Yourself" simmers and swaggers like a great, soulful Afghan Whigs number. A couple other songs sound like Spoon in their get-this-party-started phase. Needless to say, with the acute songwriting skills and croon-shouting of Tim Harrington, the group doesn't sound like anyone but themselves. Harrington's a great stylist, a true smarty-pants. Intense word play mixes with jokes that reveal themselves to be heavy truths, making Let's Stay Friends a contender for Les Savy Fav's best album yet. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

Since forming in 1994, Les Savy Fav has grown into a band considered among the godfathers of the independent rock music scene, releasing three albums and a singles compilation that resulted in sales of over 1000,000 copies worldwide. Their constant success can be attributed to the overseeing of every aspect of their music including the release of it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LSF built it up again, October 15, 2007

By	George a Pletz "cult explorer" (Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Les Savy Fav's previous release, "Inches", was not an album but a singles collection. Due to its sequencing of newest to oldest, it was easy to forget since it all held together so well. With "Let's Stay Friends", it sometimes feels like the opposite. The opener "Pots and Pans" serves the statement of intent purpose that "Meet Me in The Dollar Bin" did but after that it seems that all bets are off. By picking up the thread from Go Forth, the last full length, LSF are throwing new elements into the mix all over the place. And to further throw us off, the lyrics are far more direct than before. The mood here is more upbeat than what I had come to expect. Yes there are bits of darkness around the edges but this seems to be more about the joy of performance and a sense of comaraderie in the band. And the music gives us that in spades. The music and vocals just fuse together effortlessly. And believe trying to explain what it sounds like to a novice is not easy. You can throw out a bunch of names but nothing really gets it all. You could write paragraphs on the sound of Seth Jambour's guitars alone. Echoing without being dub, fractured but not noise, psychedelic but not noodlingly are good descriptors but, damn! They have a style which points in a lot of directions but it's simply their own. It has the post punk need to experiement and bring new colors to the palette. It has the aggressive force of mid nineties guitar rock before it descended into the cartoonish heavier than thou poses of nu-metal. There is a quirky and humane quality behind all the bombast. On the downside, it may take a couple spins for it to find its way into your skull. And don't bother reading the lyric sheet either. I think it works better coming in through the ear than the eye. Personally I like the 2nd half of the album better. A fun record that doesn't feel stupid. I think there one of the best rock bands going today. For aging indie kids like me anyhow. Four and 1/2 stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Glad They Didn't Call It Quits, September 18, 2007

By	ATeacherFromFlorida (Tallahassee, FL) - See all my reviews

Rumors were in the air about Les Savy Fav's demise, but fortunately they've returned to deliver their first full-length CD of brand new material in several years. Even better news: it's a contender for their best yet.

Let's Stay Friends finds the band expanding upon their signature sound. If there's a common thread on the album, it's how it appropriates some tropes of mid-80s and 90s indie music and updates them into the sound of Les Savy Fav. And what's that sound? A little bit of the Pixies, a dash of Fugazi, some PIL, a tad of Six Finger Satellite. Well, the list of subtle influences go on, but Les Savy Fab own them, and make them original.

To me, this sounds like a logical continuation from Go Forth, though that record came out several years ago. It bears more resemblance to that record, in my opinion, than it does to Inches, their compilation from a few years ago.

Most of the twelve tracks feature some of the band's best material yet. Harrington sounds just as unhinged as ever. And the songs veer in unexpected but melodic directions. Sometimes, it seems like LSF squeeze a few songs into one. And their tradmark codas are there---what they've always done best.

Standouts are The Year Before the Year 2000, The Lowest Bitter (one of their best songs ever), Scotchguard the Credit Card, and Kiss Kiss is Getting Old. The album only misses the mark on a few occasions (the tepid, mostly acoustic (!) number "Comes and Goes." Still, they're trying new things, and it's not entirely out of place on this record.

In short: one of the best albums of the year. I hope LSF sticks around and makes more records, even if we have to wait 5 or 6 years to hear the next.

4.0 out of 5 stars Cold hearted optimism, September 19, 2008

By	H. D. Bennett (Northern CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The title of this review comes from an interview I read last year with LSF's Tim Harrington. The passage from the interview goes:

"An area of interest for me lyrically," he (Tim) explains, "is to be able to address whatever the harshest and most negative elements are in life and society and defy that, not with a pie-eyed optimism, but with a really cold-hearted optimism. Don't expect the world to change. Change yourself. Change your perception of it."

This idea comes across in a number of songs on Let's Stay Friends, which in my opinion is their best album to date and easily the best rock album of 2007. "The Year Before the Year 2000" and "Kiss, Kiss is Getting Old" touch on what he was talking about, and "The Lowest Bitter" - the album's passionate and fiery closer - says it perfectly.

This is an incredibly fun and optimistic album, and their songwriting and playing has gotten even better with this latest release. I love how these guys are just hardcore perfectionists when it comes to the final product - always shooting for better. "The Equestrian" is an instant classic and one of their best songs ever, an infectious rocker. "Patty Lee" is the catchiest, and in my opinion captures the band in top form, in every way. The song is tight, structure-wise; the lyrics are as good as anything Tim's ever written; and the playing is awesome, especially the guitar-playing .. just brilliant.

Other highlights are "Kiss, Kiss is Getting Old", which sounds like it was AIMED at folks in their mid-thirties (like myself, I could be biased here), "Raging in the Plague Age" and "Slugs in the Shrubs". "Raging" has a great backup refrain, sung by either a boys choir or hired nuns. Or possibly friends of the band. "Slugs" has some great-sounding effects that integrate perfectly with the song .. in fact, both Slugs and Raging would have fit in very well on Cat and the Cobra.

LSF are one of the few rock bands out there that prove rock can still be exciting, intelligent and original. I truly hope they continue on, in whatever way they damn well please.