Didn't know they even had an album out until earlier today. There's something sad about seeing the first band I ever went to see live, the band that made me pick up an acoustic guitar again, get so shit. Bands who last don't peak with their first album. Hmph.

got a promo of this album ages ago, have played it quite a bit and enjoyed it. but can i remember any of it.... can i fuck!

it's worthy of a higher rating than that though, despite the terrible sleeve.

Have yet to listen to the album, but first single was awful.
So this review seems sadly very good !

"Funk doesn.t work with rock, guys. Just look at the Red Hot Chili Peppers."...

Aside from the fact that I'm a fan of rock, funk, rock mixed with funk, and
the red hot chili peppers, I'm really curious about this comment. Though,
it did take the red hot chili peppers 4 albums before they had a hit, I'd still
say that they were pretty damn successful at mixing funk with rock. Now, that
could just be my opinion (equally as valid as your opinion about how bad RHCP
may be). But I'd have to rely on the fact that when you were in diapers
George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic was producing their "Freakey Styley"
album as an example of both how well Funk and Rock mix, as well as how well
the chili peppers do it.

Beyond my defense of the chili peppers, funk itself is just an extension of
rock. If you are so familiar with funk, you are likely familiar with Clinton
and P-Funk, or Sly and the Family Stone, both bands were both heavily rock
influenced. So I'm really not sure how you can base your opinion that "funk"
and "rock" dont mix.

The first album was beautiful. The second album was patchy. On the basis of this review and the first single, the third sounds horrible. What happened?

The rule is "funk doesn't mix with white guys, unless it's done in a paranoid, postmodernn punky manner".

Oh dear...I'm dreading listening to it now. I'll be so upset if it really is that bad.
About the funk thing - everything works if you do it well, rules being made to be broked and all that. Just sounds like the Brakes didn't quite hit the funky nail on the head.
Sob sob

^aw...i'm sure it'll be ok, hehe. i'm hoping it will, have got a real soft spot for these guys, and am seeing them in june, so i hope they don't disappoint

brum

I'm quite enjoying the single, a good showcase of TB's strengths, delicate minor-key acoustic meloncholy. Yet I heard the title track on a live session they did and it sounded pretty terrible, their attempt at some cock rock behemoth-not a good idea for a new directon!

whats with the chilli pepper knock, the chilli peppers are crap now all of a sudden hey

oh i forgot, there successfull, can't be having that now can we,

a bit of a fuckwit of a review

Was very interested in this earlier review/thread. What do people who hadn't heard the album then reckon now that they have? And has it any 'grower' factor?

Personally, I think a lot of what Tom Edwards said in his review was pretty bang on (funk-rock faus pas aside). This album is a very poor relation to Ether Song, let alone The Optimist. What a disappointment. A lack of quality material can't be disguised with a few electronic twiddles and some 'daring new' rhythmic experiments.

"Rancid" is not too strong a description for the chorus of Asleep with the Fireflies, although I was enjoying its verse until the wanky bit started.
I also agree that Road to Nowhere is a bit too reminiscent of The Road. (Not the first time that's happened though - compare Long Distance with Mind over Money, for example).

I think more than two or three are "remotely listenable" though. Above the Clouds, Building Wraps Round Me and Fishing For A Dream are pretty good and the title song is growing on me. All in all, though, I really found this a let down and hope when I see them later in the week that they will not neglect the older stuff that many people like myself love them for.

Also, just out of interest, am I alone in finding the "we'll make quite a pair" line in FFAD a bit odd, in that he obviously can't quite reach the low note for "pair". Not a terrible thing (in fact it quite tickles me) but a bit of a strange decision to leave it like that on the single wasn't it?

To all who say Turin Brakes are 'crap' or that they 'peaked with their first album' I say "bollocks to the lot of you"!!!! A friend of mine introduced me to Turin Brakes just before Jack In A Box was released and I was hooked. It's a very rare occasion when I can say that I genuinely enjoy every track on an album but there isn't one Turin Brakes song that I don't like. I saw them live at a one-off gig in Newcastle a few weeks ago and they rocked!!! Also, they are genuinely nice guys. I got to talk to them after the set while they were signing autographs and they are two of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet! I think their songs and albums are just getting stronger and they definitely don't get the recognition they deserve. F*** your Coldplay, Franz, Kaisers etc. Turin Brakes are here to stay and they just keep getting better. LONG LIVE TURIN BRAKES!!!!

Well,
I gave a friend's copy of this a listen today. And it's kind of sad. Optimist WAS the album that got me into music, it WAS the album that made me pick up an acoustic guitar. If it wasn't for that album, well, I wouldn't even be on here, posted, angry as hell. They were my first ever gig. Hell, that's still precious, even if it was promoting Ether Song, which I've not listened to in nearly two years. And this is just...well, it makes me annoyed as hell. I had such an attachment to them from that first album, they had such tunes, such fragility, such charm. The songs aren't charming, they're...sterile. There's nothing here that marked them out as special from Optimist. I thought they had the ability to carry on making beautiful music. But I guess it's as Emma from the Delgados (RIP) said: "Things which once were beautiful are bland." And that makes me sad. :(

Also
I'm sick of these people who come and sign up just to slag off a review. It'd be a boring world if we all thought the same! So quit taking reviews as a personal insult and start seeing that any band can make mistakes. No-one in incapable of error. Savoir?