Premature Evaluation: The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
Who wins in a cage match -- Danielson Famile, I'm From Barcelona, or the Polyphonic Spree? Daniel has the biggest reason to fight: Tim DeLaughter nabbed dude’s choral robe idea, landed car commercial placement, etc. On the other hand, I'm From Barcelona are Swedish (sneaky), include five more members than the Spree, sport adventurous facial hair and glasses, and manage to drag 29 folks around without always sounding like 29 folks -- it's that sleek, quick-like-a-butterfly thing. Even without the extra person power, the Polyphonic Spree would be pretty easy to knock out: Anything but fragile, the titanic Texans disregard restraint in favor of what has by now become a predictable, easily telegraphed, at time self-parodying crowded house.
Maybe that’s why The Fragile Army’s best moments happen when the group drops out, allowing DeLaughter to center himself, momentarily lonesome, beneath the multi-colored spotlight. Easy enough to fix then: More rock, less rock opera, right? Well, problem is when DeLaughter doesn’t have his posse unleashing that lovely tone color he sounds too much like Wayne Coyne. That's always been present, but here it gets kinda eerie; try comparing "Overblow Your Nest" to "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" or "Younger Yesterday" to "Race For The Prize (Remix)" and just sorta mumble "Waitin' for a Superman" here/there. Temporarily considering Polyphonic Spree's two major components separately raises another question: Instead of buying their records, why not listen to The Soft Bulletin with Danielson blasting in the next room? (We're not entirely complaining: "Get Up And Go" sounds like a Broadway cast doing Hot Hot Heat – we prefer Lips rips to that.)
Nitpicking aside, we dig how the album sounds -- the opening fizz of "Together We're Heavy"/"Running Away" can sends shivers and there's something undeniably fantastic about people singing and shouting en masse (granted, we could also get that at a Mets game). Also, Coyne imitator complaints aside, DeLaughter's fleeting moments of solo-seeming doubt and mortality chase the Jim Jones sugar with needed doses of melancholia. In "Younger Yesterday," he sings, "I was younger yesterday / and I'm feeling not so great." Hate to say it, but that’s seriously good news!
The Polyphonic Spree - "Light To Follow" (MP3)
The Fragile Army is out 6/19 on TVT.
Posted at 2:55 PM in MP3, Premature Evaluation
Tags: The Polyphonic Spree
I've gotta say it - the whole "royal we" voice that Stereogum uses these days is rendering this site all but unreadable.
Looking forward to the Spree album though.
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myspace.com/chickenday
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Killer Track! Thanks!
Just started a Blog to coincide with a Friday Party I throw in Miami called Off the Radar.
Hope you can check it out.
Off the Radar::Blog
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My thoughts have always been that texas is such a fucked up place that that's why the good music that comes out of there is great. Like that planet they make Sardaukar kids grow up on.
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Automatic 5000 point bonus for obscure Dune references.
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Danielson Famile wins by a landslide. The other bands can choke. Although I wouldn't mind if Polyphonic Spree choked while eating the remains of I'm From Barcelona.
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I'm with Fnnnnnhhh.
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Don't be silly, stereogum.
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Spree?
Really?
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If you've made two full-length albums prior to your newest album's premature evaluation/pre-release watercooler in the last 8 months or so, you can count on the 'gum not diggin it.
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I find the Coyne references completely off base, not to mention it seems 'Gum has forgotten that Tim has been around just as long as Coyne and the Lips. I know people forget about Tripping Daisy, but that's their mistake--not Tim's. Tim has been making weird pop-rock just as long as the Lips, so insinuating that the Spree is riding the coattails of the Lips is bad journalism. Of course this is a blog and not an actual attempt at being professional, so I can see why you wouldn't do your homework.
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I love Spree! Too bad its almost impossible to get the original version anymore. You have to search far and wide for a place that carries anything other than "Chewy Spree."
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Good boy, Justin.
(and he's always sung like that too)
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Very good album this. Utterly mad and very good.
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had it for a week or so and i'm not very tired of it. good stuff.
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I hope you guys do a Premature Evaluation for Tegan and Sara's new one.
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Danielson definitely wins. They got Soof before.
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I think i like the album cover more than the album it's self.. well... it's a close tie in the favor of the cover :)
http://whudahexup.com/
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I personally think this is a great album, and much more well rounded than both of their previous albums. But honestly, I would be shocked if people in the Blog world like sterogum would even give the spree an honest chance. all they can see still is a bunch of chanting hippies in white robes. oh well. 9/10 Album for me.
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I was never a fan of the Spree, especially "Reach For The Sun", after it made the rounds in car commercials and what-not. Gave me a bloody headache, I'll tell you.
But THIS, this is something else entirely. This is as if Arcade Fire and ELO had a love child. It's big and small and very enjoyable. It sounds more like Queen than Flaming Lips, but since I've summoned up that particular ghost, "The Fragile Army" is the quantum leap forward. It is "The Soft Bulletin" jump away from "Zaireeka" and it shocked me to find how much I like it.
2007, baby. It's a banner year.
DwD
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omg killer diller track
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wow. wow. wow. i really wasn't expecting to like this. the arcade fire meets elo comment is dead on.
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I think it's a really good album. While the Wayne Coyne remarks aren't totally ill-founded, I would say that the best moments are actually the frenetic choral bits, not the solo Tim bits.
Heh. Tim bits. Timbits.
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and an automatic 5000 point bonus for the Tim Horton's reference.
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I find the Coyne references completely off base, not to mention it seems 'Gum has forgotten that Tim has been around just as long as Coyne and the Lips. I know people forget about Tripping Daisy, but that's their mistake--not Tim's. Tim has been making weird pop-rock just as long as the Lips, so insinuating that the Spree is riding the coattails of the Lips is bad journalism. Of course this is a blog and not an actual attempt at being professional, so I can see why you wouldn't do your homework.
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Neither had a hit until the early 90s, but the Lips have about eight years on Tripping Daisy.
You should probably do your own homework before criticizing someone else's.
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funny.. coyne always sounded a bit too much like cat stevens to me ;).
everybody go find a copy of jesus hits like the atom bomb
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everybody go find a copy of jesus hits like the atom bomb
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It's true! Go get it.
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danielson win by a long shot, but the spree are cool too.
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