Their last album may have given them a certifiable radio hit, airtime on VH1, and a Kidz Bop tribute, but listening to the follow-up to 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News, you might get the sense that the members of Modest Mouse are flinching at the spotlight. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, the group’s fifth full-length release, is denser than its predecessor with tunes that seem willfully harder to penetrate. Even the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny [Read More...]
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I have to say that while I found the band’s last album, “Good News..” to be a slight disappointment, I didn’t think it sounded like a sellout at all. It was much more quirky than the typical records out there, and even some of the more trendy music out at the time. And while the band’s most accessible album to date, “Ship” is 100% a Modest Mouse record. Even with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr now in the fold, even when Shin James Mercer does background vocals. And while it’s also clean produced like the last one, that doesn’t mean it’s over-polished at all.
Of course, there’s people who will try and insult people who like this new stuff, and there’ll be a few mainstream sheep who decide it’s good because the masses told them. But let’s get realistic: Modest Mouse have been on a major label since 2000’s “The Moon & Antarctica.” (The album that introduced me to the band.) Them taking steps to commercial steps was inevitable from there. I have no problem with them becoming big. If you like them to stick with the Sonic Youth-type of seven-minute jam-out songs, just stick with “Long Drive” and “The Lonesome Crowded West.” This, the new record, does actually have an epic track in it, “Spitting Venom,” which starts out raw and acoustic in its first minute and a half but soon builds up from that. It’s kind of interesting, as is the rest of the album.
Besides, I can’t remember the pump organ and accordion being used so often in pop music as it is on here. There’s no real Isaac Brock freak-outs here, but he still is full of personality on here. Also, where the interludes seemed a bit annoying and unnecessary last time, the newly used instruments are now utilized into actual songs! It’s a more mature Modest Mouse album, and while consistent, it’s never boring. You get the more easily digestible stuff like the acoustic-based “Little Motel” and the ultra-catchy “Steaming Engenius” (next single perhaps?). They change the tempos and structures at times this time around, too, on the excellent “Parting of the Sensory.” Really, none of the 14 songs are bad at all.
If you can respect and accept that your little band is now shooting for the stars, I think you’ll find something to enjoy on the band’s fifth LP. It is not perhaps the most startling of the band’s albums, but they don’t need to do that with us anymore. I couldn’t have possibly asked for a better album from these guys.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lopsided, but the first half is great
Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank; 2007
Epic Records
My Rating: 60/100
Despite the nautically-doomed title, the Mouse…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Effing Great
This CD is wonderful, and with each listen, little moments of bliss reveal themselves. The lyrics are troubled and perfect and comforting, the music alternates between ecstatic…
It’s clear from reading the reviews here on Amazon just how many MM fans were drawn in from the apparent success of ‘Float On,’ which they judge to be the apex of an otherwise low-key career. Well, let me say one thing to these people: Modest Mouse have been around for more than ten years now and ‘Float On’ was nothing more than a catchy fluke tacked on to the end of a decade of legendary output.
The addition of 80’s quasi-post-punk Smith’s guitarist Johnny Marr to the band seemed to funnel the intensity and recklessness of early 80’s LPs onto MM’s established sound. Now they’ve learned to be careless with structure, less timid with their experiments and all around, for better or worse, depending on who you are, a lot more brash. I remember, in 1999, putting Lonesome Crowded West for the first listen into my car CD player and thinking, this is it, I’ve found the perfect band. Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine, the first track off that album, in comparison with the new album, reveals how little they’ve lost in ten years, how little they’ve changed some ways– still bitter, still pretty smart, mindblowing instrumentalists and intense vocals– and how much they’ve grown in other ways.
People as Places might be the best overall ‘anthem’ song of the album, sure to be a popular live track, as is Parting of the Sensory, an extended jam with interesting lyrics. Florida and Missed the Boat are yet another great pair of tracks– heavy, but still uniquely memorable. Steam Engenius, the opener and closer.. still more good tracks. Honestly, I took Dashboard and Fire it Up off my playlist.. not bad songs by any means, but they kill the mood of the rest of the album (I don’t listen to MM to be inspired!).
Well, if you don’t care for this album, think of it as their ‘hard’ album– not as a fall from grace or anything like that– unless your life is perfect you’ll be in the mood for it someday. There aren’t any feely-good songs like ‘Float On’ to get you through your bubble bath and if that’s what you’re looking for, you’re in the wrong place.. go pick up the new Snow Patrol or something.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fading urgencies
The follow up to their breakout album is neither outstanding nor terrible, often straddling a muddled line between trademark jarring, off-kilter sensibilities and radio-friendly…
Much like Lonesome Crowded West with Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine blaring loud and strong at the start, March Into the Sea really kicks off the album, and is one of the best on the album. The rest of the album doesn’t let up.
Frankly, I don’t see where people get selling out. In my mind, they’ve simply been progressing forward. Each album explores a different sound, and in each album that sound gets exhausted. If they continued to use any one album’s sound, we would all complain they have no innovation and all their songs sound the same. (look at Mechanical Birds and the end of Polar Opposites…a third and thats what we all would be thinking)
With that over, I’ve listened to this album a couple times, and with each listen get into it more. Modest Mouse is one of those bands you need to keep listening to, you can’t expect to “get” them on the first listen. I only liked one or two songs on Lonesome… and now I love them all.
I do think this is more of a return to their older work, not simply a third chapter in what began at Moon & Antarctica and continued with Good News, but it does sound like them with an entirely new one.
Other highlights:
Florida
Missed the Boat
People as Places as People
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good music!
Like most other Modest Mouse records, this is an excellent disc, if erratic. It hits on most songs though, and I like it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good buy minus one little scratch
I bought this item “like new” assuming the cd would be scratch and skip free, but unfortunately it skips on the last song every time.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spitting Truth
Ever since a good friend introduced me to Modest Mouse, I’ve been hooked. This album is a shoe-in. I love the attention “Spitting Venom” is getting in these reviews as it is my…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, even for die-hard fans!
I am a die-hard fan myself. I have all the albums, and i love every single one. This one, one of the best. I never looked at this, “a shot at mainstream”.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great CD
This is a great CD…I bought it for the song “Dashboard”- the song is awesome…Fire it up is also a pretty good song.
3.0 out of 5 stars
not like old modest mouse
I was not a big fan of good news for people who love bad news but this is not any better there are a couple of good songs if you want good modest mouse get the lonesome crowded…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastick
It’s one great song after another. If you don’t feel like dancing to Fly Trapped in a Jar, Education and Steam Engenius check your pulse.