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Avg: 4.0 (48 ratings)
- Date Released: November 6, 2006
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Rough Trade / World's Fair
Country punks get a little less twangy, a lot more funny.
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We Say...
Eamon Hamilton makes angry hilarity sound easy. And when you're as pissed and funny as the Brakes' singer, easy it just may be. The band's punk has gotten a smidgen less twangy than on debut Give Blood, if only because they've gotten faster, wriggling too desperately to waste much time weeping into their beers. (They only get mournful about real serious issues, like poor cell phone reception and record shopping by yourself.) "Hold Me in the River" is a whirlwind travelogue of life during wartime: "I woke up late and found my liberty lost/ It had been written down in law as a security cost...I'm sure as evolution, I was not born guilty." But the best cuts are the most simply absurd: A new dance called the "Spring Chicken" and "Porcupine or Pineapple." The latter's lyrics, almost in their entirety, aside from the spluttered title: "Who won the war? What the f**k was it for?" Makes you wonder what all those other bands are trying so hard to do anyway.
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They Say...
There's a good chance you may be caught off guard by Eamon Hamilton's mildly absurd sounding vocals on The Beatific Visions. His voice kind of resembles Frank Black with a slurred Scottish accent. It's pretty darn adorable in a Shrek sort of way. It's also an intriguing culture clash, since the lad is from the U.K. and singing Americana-tinged garage rock, but this is just one of the many enigmas of Brakesbrakesbrakes -- a band that changed their name from the Brakes (to avoid confusion with a band of the same name) and still commonly refer to themselves as Brakes for short. The tunes recall the finer qualities of classic '80s alt rock bands the La's and the Lemonheads as they flash glimpses of old classics like the Ramones, Neil Young, and "On Your Side" even recalls the Byrds' "Wasn't Born to Follow." Brakesbrakesbrakes also manage to effortlessly craft songs in clashing country-rock and punk genres, but their ability to make these varying styles sound like their own is even more impressive. It's similar to when a popular vocalist, say Neil Diamond, makes an album of random cover songs, but his vocal tonalities are so Neil Diamond that it still feels like a cohesive listening experience. Similarly, Hamilton blankets a wide variety of styles with his uniqueness (even though he has more in common with Shane MacGowan than Diamond). All this is to say The Beatific Visions sounds like a pretty congruent, straightforward indie rock album, but it covers a lot more ground than just rock. The lyrics are ironic and often doused with apocalyptic paranoia, while simultaneously remaining upbeat and clouded in enough metaphor that they don't seem overtly political. A song that could be titled after a drink, "Margarita" addresses the media using fear as a method to control society, while a song that sounds written by the Clash with a chorus that yells "who won the war, what the hell was it for?" is a song about a porcupine fighting a pineapple. So while this disc is more serious than their debut, it still has a definite hard-to-miss underlying whimsy. With subtly comical references to marijuana and broken cell phones balanced alongside literary references and political satire, the content is highly entertaining -- and it's tremendously catchy, to the point of sounding classic first time around. [A U.K. version of the CD was also released.]
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| 01. |  |
Hold Me in the River |
2:00 |
|
| 02. | |
Margarita |
2:06 |
|
| 03. | |
If I Should Die Tonight |
2:00 |
|
| 04. | |
Mobile Communication |
3:47 |
|
| 05. | |
Spring Chicken |
2:00 |
|
| 06. | |
Isabel |
2:26 |
|
| 07. | |
Beatific Visions |
2:53 |
|
| 08. | |
Porcupine or Pineapple |
1:04 |
|
| 09. | |
Cease and Desist |
2:27 |
|
| 10. | |
On Your Side |
2:20 |
|
| 11. | |
No Return |
8:41 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 31:44 Total Length
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Credits
- Rob Lewis - Strings // Rob Lewis - Cello // Richard McLaurin - Assistant // Sam Smith - Management // Stuart Sikes - Producer // Thomas White - Percussion // Thomas White - Piano // Thomas White - Guitar (Electric) // Thomas White - Vocals (Background) // Brakesbrakesbrakes - Producer // Andrew Mendelson - Mastering // Marc Beatty - Bass // Marc Beatty - Percussion // Marc Beatty - Organ (Hammond) // Marc Beatty - Vocals (Background) // Dean Chalkley - Photography // Kevin Teel - Lap Steel Guitar // Adam Bednarik - Assistant // Abi Fry - Strings // Abi Fry - Viola // Phil Summer - Cornet // Eamon Hamilton - Guitar (Acoustic) // Eamon Hamilton - Vocals // David Briggs - Piano // Steve Glashier - Art Direction // Anna McInnery - Strings // Anna McInnery - Violin // Seth - Design // Alex White - Percussion // Alex White - Drums // Alex White - Organ (Hammond) // Alex White - Vocals (Background)
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