The Monthly Music Trading Post (album, review, 1979, Computer)

duga · 04-29-2010, 10:59 PM

storymilo sent me:

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

I was fairly interested to listen to this album once story sent me this thing since acoustic singer/songwriters are something I really love. A Chicago native, Andrew Bird is was trained from a young age on the violin. Early in his career, he did some collaborative work with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. This made me very excited since I happen to love the Squirrel Nut Zippers. His first band Bowl of Fire released a few albums to little commercial success and disbanded in 2003. After this, it was all solo time. Eventually, his style would shift from a full backing band to his more acoustic work of Noble Beast (released early 2009).

That is where I come in. The first song, "Oh No", was right up my alley. Nothing too groundbreaking, just a really solid acoustic based pop song. Sadly, this was easily my favorite song on the album. That really bugs me. If you have one intensely strong track, save it for the middle or something. The next song "Masterswarm" is also a fairly good song, and left me with high hopes for some strong tracks like that first one. Alas, it was not to be. The rest of the album can best be described as "typical". It isn't bad, it just didn't strike me as anything other than "Oh hey, acoustic music". When I go for acoustic singer/songwriter music, I go for it because of the raw emotion involved in writing it. You either have to do something incredibly intriguing and original, or you better be prepared to make me cry. This is why Elliott Smith will always be the supreme commander of all things singer/songwriter in my eyes.

The album wasn't without its decently catchy moments, however. "Tenuousness" and "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" were pretty good and as I said, none of the songs were really bad. Actually, I'm listenign to "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" again right now and I'm enjoying it far more than I remember. For that, I give the album a 6/10. Maybe in a different time I would have rated it higher, but after you hear Elliott Smith...there is just no going back.

Thanks, story!

04-29-2010, 10:59 PM	#10 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	storymilo sent me: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast I was fairly interested to listen to this album once story sent me this thing since acoustic singer/songwriters are something I really love. A Chicago native, Andrew Bird is was trained from a young age on the violin. Early in his career, he did some collaborative work with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. This made me very excited since I happen to love the Squirrel Nut Zippers. His first band Bowl of Fire released a few albums to little commercial success and disbanded in 2003. After this, it was all solo time. Eventually, his style would shift from a full backing band to his more acoustic work of Noble Beast (released early 2009). That is where I come in. The first song, "Oh No", was right up my alley. Nothing too groundbreaking, just a really solid acoustic based pop song. Sadly, this was easily my favorite song on the album. That really bugs me. If you have one intensely strong track, save it for the middle or something. The next song "Masterswarm" is also a fairly good song, and left me with high hopes for some strong tracks like that first one. Alas, it was not to be. The rest of the album can best be described as "typical". It isn't bad, it just didn't strike me as anything other than "Oh hey, acoustic music". When I go for acoustic singer/songwriter music, I go for it because of the raw emotion involved in writing it. You either have to do something incredibly intriguing and original, or you better be prepared to make me cry. This is why Elliott Smith will always be the supreme commander of all things singer/songwriter in my eyes. The album wasn't without its decently catchy moments, however. "Tenuousness" and "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" were pretty good and as I said, none of the songs were really bad. Actually, I'm listenign to "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" again right now and I'm enjoying it far more than I remember. For that, I give the album a 6/10. Maybe in a different time I would have rated it higher, but after you hear Elliott Smith...there is just no going back. Thanks, story! __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...