West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Kasabian

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 9, 2009)
• Original Release Date: June 9, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Red Int / Red Ink
• ASIN: B001WCBPCW
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,218 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Music > Pop > Britpop
  #16 in	Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative
  #29 in	Music > World Music > Europe > British Isles > Britain

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

2009 release, the third studio album from the English Alt-Rock outfit. For this album, the band recruited American Hip Hop and Electronica producer Dan The Automator, who is best known for his work on the first Gorillaz album. Two years in the making, the album is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers. A 52 minute mash up of sky-scraping melodies, Electro-Punk riffs, Morricone-esque symphonics, Mariachi stomps and Psych-Pop lullabies, it is both a stadium sized declaration of intent and a bar-raising benchmark for Rock music in 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Candidate for Album of the Year?, July 2, 2009

By	P. Rayner "bocabrit" (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm old enough to have seen rock music recycle itself several times over. In some ways this makes me jaded, not easily impressed by the latest 'hot act'. However about once every decade or so artists come along who make such a huge impression on me that I buy everything they produce, never stop listening to them, and they take their place in the playlist I'll be jamming to when the guy with the long scythe comes for me. In the 60s it was Free (Paul Rodgers), Hendrix and Small Faces; in the 70s it was Bad Company (Paul Rodgers again), Skids (Stuart Adamson) and Santana; in the 80s it was Big Country (Stuart Adamson again), The Cure and R.E.M. In the 90s I was blown away by Pearl Jam and The Verve. Now, with no disrespect to The Cure and R.E.M., who both put out perhaps their best albums in 15 years in 2008, the last 5 years have for me been dominated by Kasabian and Interpol. About Kasabian: I have sons who are older than Tom, Serge & co but that doesn't detract from my awestruck reaction to Kasabian as a band. Everything I have ever loved about British music is emcompassed in Kasabian's first three albums and this latest offering, West Ryder, etc. is perhaps the best of them all. If a better album comes out this year I'll be surprised. Buy it, you won't be sorry.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun Rock Album, Catchy Songs, June 29, 2009

By	T. Pryke "Music and Electronics" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me preface this review by saying I normally don't write reviews. I usually read them. And the fact that this album has been met with mixed praise from critics makes me wonder what I sometimes miss by relying on the good folks at Popmatters, CMG, Pitchfork, etc.

This album is fairly good. I've enjoyed it a lot more than many other albums this year that I've checked out. I bought this along with 3 other albums recently, and I keep going back to it.

I don't know what to really say about it other than the songs are catchy and I've already listened to it repeatedly. Some albums you really need to sit down, pay attention, and maybe even listen to many, many times before they begin to grow on you. This is not one of those albums. You pop it in, turn it up, and enjoy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one surprise after another, July 24, 2009

By	hempomatic (The Garden State, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (MP3 Download)

This is a really interesting album. That isn't always a good thing, but in this case, it certainly is. I LOVE putting an album on, and not knowing where it's going from one song to the next, or even from the verse to the chorus of the same song. Only a very few albums have surprised me that way in the past decade or so. Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot comes to mind, but it wasn't as riddled with wonderfully infectious pop hooks as West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is. I really want to see these guys live in a small club. I have no idea what the critics have to say about this album. If they like it, they are astute, if not, they are idiots, but that's always the way, isn't it? Thank God for the internet and streaming alternative music, or I would never have heard of Kasabian. It's a safe bet they won't be getting a lot of air play in this new world order of Britney, Beyonce, Kanye and Pink.