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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Music World Finally Gets What it Needs!, June 9, 2001
Thank God for this album! Big Wreck's sophomore Atlantic Records release is an absolutely powerful sigh of relief and daring rescue from the hardly-adequate music that record companies have the nerve to present us with these days."The Pleasure & The Greed" is proof that a band can evolve without losing their identities. Big Wreck's sound is very current and musical. The talent of all four members of this outfit is evident all over the album and is used most tastefully as it was on their last album, "In Loving Memory Of..." which was released in 1997. Already being a fan, I found that this album remains a nice sound palette with what I've become familiar, yet evolved, fresh, and new! Both albums are a multi-textural mix of hard-edged, progressive, and alternative rock and is very easy to digest! Ian Thornley's vocals really carry-out the feel of the lyrics in every song. His sound is reminiscent of Chris Cornell and then you realize that it's much better, and more emotional. These vocals' intensity are perfectly matched by three more awesome musicians who complete Big Wreck: David Henning(Bass), Brian Doherty(Guitar), and Forrest Williams(Drums). Keyboards and additional guitars are performed by Ian.... Instrumentally speaking, it's such a relief to hear guitar players play more than a few "power-chords." There is a nice balance of electric and acoustic guitars, tastefully played solos (when applicable) and use of alternate tunings. The bass lines get clean and dirty but never sloppy-very articulate and is never the same old boring, repititious pattern. The drums are hard, punchy, and tight- Lots of dynamics and no over-playing. Absolutely not the same-old repititious thing going on here, either! "The Pleasure And The Greed" is also a well-recorded album; a little cleaner mix than "In loving Memory Of...". Every vocal part, every drum and percussion part, every guitar track, and the basslines are all clearly defined without being a "sterile" sounding recording. There is quite the use of delay (echo) and reverb on this recording which is nice since most of the recordings done since the earliy 1990s tend to be too dry and often small-sounding. This album sounds big, fat, and in-your-face. Definitely not a wreck, never muddy-just clear, full, and big. In conclusion, "The Pleasure and The Greed" is fantastic! Hopefully, Atlantic will be smart and will make a large effort in the promotion of Big Wreck. Their first release, in my opinion is just as good but, from what I've heard, did much better in Canada than in the US. To not make the CD-buying public of the United States fully aware of this album is insulting to music lovers. Songs like "No Fault" (my favorite on this album), "Ladylike", and "All By Design" exhibit great commercial potential sans the bubble-gum! The rock and popular music has long needed Big Wreck....BOTH ALBUMS! They've done with "The Pleasure and The Greed" what a good band should do: leave you wanting more!!! PS: If Big Wreck happens to see this, I wish you guys the best of luck with this CD. THANKS FOR THE TUNES!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The pinnacle of Ian Thornley's career!, September 19, 2005
The band's second album The Pleasure and the Greed (released in 2001) was at disadvantage by poor marketing and was not as big a hit as their debut album, especially in the US. Sadly Big Wreck broke up a year later partly because of it. This is my review.
This is Big Wreck's biggest and best album, no bones about it. Their sound is less metal and more experimental with tunes like "Ease my Mind" and my favorite song of all time, "Defined by What we Steal". Though it shares the same score as In Loving Memory....., The Pleasure and the Greed would get a 14 if my score system went any higher. There exists nothing like this record. It's a beefy release at 16 songs, all more than worth the resources it took to record them. "Inhale", "Ladylike" and "Knee Deep", the latter being released only in Canada. Hence "poor marketing". It's also more than worth mentioning that Ian Thornley wrote all of the music for this and the last album.
"Defined by What we Steal" is first and foremost, the greatest song the band ever released. Sadly it was not a single, it absolutely should have been though. But it would have been violently cut in half like that of "Blown Wide Open", another lengthy epic, and I doubt Ian would have that. I'll let you draw your own definition for this song, though it hasn't been confirmed to my knowledge, my interpretation of this song goes as follows. It seems as though Ian is talking about possibly crimes or general thefts of ones past, that come back to haunt them. In the moment, it's a rush, "just for a moment we're sure we're alive". This song could mean multiple things, but that is just my interpretation.
"All By Design" is a great tune, just a great rock song. This should have been released as a single, I think it would have worked. That was always one of the things that puzzled me about Big Wreck, songs that could have been released just weren't. But I cite mediocre performance of previously released singles as the reason Atlantic didn't put a fourth tune(four on In Loving Memory....).
"Head in the Girl" IS exactly how it sounds, and no I won't and don't think I need to go into it. But man, let me tell you, it's a great tune. Big Wreck is one of those groups that only uses swearing when they think it's necessary, and Ian uses it a bit here. If you are offended by this, skip the track. But if not, it's one of the better songs on the record.
"The Pleasure and the Greed" is an interesting song. It changes a ways through into like, a totally different song. As does "Defined by What We Steal". Signature Big Wreck. It actually goes from a slow ballad sound to almost comedic and light. It's odd, but that's Big Wreck for you. And it's one of the things that makes them great.
"Ease My Mind" is the best description of experimental for modern rock music if you ask me. Think of something that you'd hear in the 40's, that's exactly what this is. They've filtered the vocals to make it posess or mimmick the imperfections of mid 20th century technology.
The Pleasure and the Greed is Big Wreck's greatest album, "sophomore slump" does not apply here. Look elsewhere snobby critics! Big Wreck was immune. Sadly their second was their last and as noted earlier, the band did indeed break up. Big Wreck wound down around 2002 after The Pleasure and the Greed's 2001 release. After playing instrumental work for artists like Sarah Harmer(ambient guitar) and Stephen Fearing before shortly going on to form Thornley in 2003, an appropriatley titled Canadian rock band of arguably equal talent. Do me a favor, do Ian a favor, and buy The Pleasure and the Greed, aswell as In Loving Memory...., because they are important, standout records and didn't sell like they should have.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Wreck goes experimental and ends up with same result, August 9, 2004
This album and their first are both classics. That's the only thing I can compare between the two. In their sophomore release (and probably their last), Big Wreck improved on their songwriting and produced 16 very memorable songs. Like their debut, almost every song on this album could be a radio hit. This is not an easy feat and Big Wreck has done it twice! Too bad we won't see it happen to Big Wreck again.
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