Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
First things first: I have watched this band since their formative days, I think I gave them their first ever review, they recorded the first Toad Session, and it was promising them that if they didn’t get signed that we would put out their album which led to the birth of Song, by Toad Records. So, erm, don’t expect me not to be partisan; this is not going to be an objective review. Then again, why the fuck does it need to be – there’s nothing objective about listening to music in the first place.
The thing about Broken Records, for me, is that they are just plain riotous. See them live and they just thunder away at you like a bloody tornado, and I think that’s the best way to listen to this album: really fucking loud. When you do that the album’s grandiosity becomes its greatest asset. There’s none of your hiding behind layers of post-modern ambiguity and there are no coyly evasive winks at the audience: this album is bold and wears its heart pretty nakedly on its sleeve.
As such, it’s pretty brave actually. The fashion in music for some time has been to deflect any danger of personal criticism by hiding behind a shield of irony, always implying that if you don’t like something that it’s because you aren’t in on the joke. Broken Records emphatically do not do that, and this seems to have come across to some reviewers as earnestness, for me it’s rather liberating. I find myself turning it up loud, letting it barrel out of the speakers at me and just grinning like a fool. They’ve lowered their barriers in making this album, and to appreciate it I think you kind of have to lower your own, which makes the experience all the more joyful if you can manage it.
Funnily enough, I’ve always been slightly at odds with a a lot of Broken Records fans. I’ve never had the same preference for songs like If the News Makes You Sad Don’t Watch It, Nearly Home or Slow Parade which a lot of people think are the obvious hits of this album. Myself I’ve always liked the thundering A Good Reason and Eilert Lovborg, but if anything my favourite song on this record is possibly Wolves. There’s real venom to the crescendo which I love. I love non-album tracks like Lies and also Lovers’ Pact – the latter being very evocative of the Waterboys – and I also prod them to play more obscure songs like Out On the Water and Lessons Never Learnt when I get the chance, which leads to the one question I have about this album.
When I interviewed Jamie and Rory on my last Fresh Air show the other week I asked them about the Toad Session recordings they did for us. Basically, I love those recordings and yet I’ve never heard them do anything remotely as stripped down before or since, and I asked them why. Jamie’s response was something along the lines that all the band make a very important contribution to the Broken Records sound, which makes it almost impossible to leave them off. That sounds just a little like putting the band before the song, to me, and I would be curious to know what the effect would be of having the odd song here and there with just, say, three or four of them playing. It would provide a variation of texture as much as anything, and sometimes those contrasts give everything a greater impact – imagine something incredibly quiet and sparse before A Good Reason, for example – Christ, it would pull you onto the punch when they all went mental.
Mind you, I’ve seen a lot of large bands wrestle with this sort of thing, and I suppose that in a way second-guessing in this manner is to sort of miss the point. To best enjoy this album you really do have to stop worrying about these details and just let yourself go. It’s a great big juggernaut of a thing – a great big, glistening, swaggering, grandiose sprawl – and I suppose that could be construed as its biggest weakness, but I would say it is its greatest strength also. Just fire it on, turn it up loud, and get carried away by it, because if you can then you will probably find out what a big, joyous riot this album is.
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Broken Records – Lessons Never Learnt
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Broken Records – A Good Reason
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Broken Records will go on and make better albums, but this is in reality is the current BR live set. So the advice Toad gives is so correct – plug it in, turn it up loud and let yourself get taken on a joyous ride.
I guess having seen them live oodles of times I was a bit concerned about how it might translate to an album. It’s still in the post (or more likely, sitting in the postal depot with a note on my carpet saying it’s too big for my letterbox – my arse) but I have to say it’s almost nervous excitement! I will just have to annoy my mentalist Russian flatmate by playing it at a stupid volume once it has come.
Yes. Yes. Yes. These three tunes sound completely fucking awesome to me. And if you’ll excuse my saying so, Jamie’s voice in particular sounds amazing. With pipes like those, I’d be disappointed if he didn’t let go once in a while. It’s odd, though, because my perception of Broken Records is pretty heavily tied to the things I’ve heard on this site (the Toad Sessions and the “acoustic” EP that Matthew reviewed a while back). I know from reviews of gigs that they’re much more raucous live, but I’ve never seen or heard that side of them, so these full-throated versions of Wolves and A Good Reason sound really fresh and dynamic to my virgin ears.
For me, it’s precisely what a debut album ahould be: a document of the birth of the band and the journey they’ve taken to get here.
Future albums will be more diverse, as their interests, motivations and muses change. However as an introduction this sums up the band’s achievements so far; showcasing a fine canon of songs and a gifted ensemble of musicians.
Of course, I’ve got a couple of quibbles, I’ve known many of these songs for over a year already, so I’ve got my own particular – and utterly irrelevent – take on how they should sound.
I’m not keen on the reverb that’s been added to Wolves, for example, I don’t think the noisy ‘hits’ during the intro to A Good Reason have been captured quite right, and the balance between the strings and brass on If The News Makes You Sad… seems to have shifted off-kilter slightly, although that could just be my stereo.
Oh, and at 2:58 in Wolves, Andy plays a different fill to the one he’s been playing live – which totally buggered-up my drumming along! Cheers mate!
But obviously I’m being really quite pedantic and silly there, I’m confident the record sounds just as the band want it to, and importantly as a whole it sounds great. If those ridiculously inconsequential examples are the most significant faults I can find it’s not a bad result overall, is it?
(Apart from changing that drum fill, that is important, and I shall be having words.)
Crucially, I think one of the newer tracks, Ghosts, reveals a hint of that future diversity I referred to. It’s quite different in tone, structure, arrangement and style to the rest of the album. It has a definite ’second album’ feel about it – and as such I’m delighted and impressed with its inclusion here, both as a change of pace and as a sly nod to a promising future.
I think the album is precisely what Broken Records wanted, I think it meets the demands of a debut album in terms of an introduction to an act’s sound an affirmation of their disctinct identity. Importantly, though it’s a great listen, and the lads should be proud of themselves.
It is an excellent album, I am really pleased to see it out and was chuffed when buisness partner bought all four 7″s from Avalanche. I can’t claim to have given them their first review, but I did review them in August 2007 supporting Emma Pollock and I’m glad to see them doing well. What I am also hoping for, having watched them support Idlewild at the Queen’s Hall and Sons & Daughters is to see them headline the Queen’s Hall. Ayear, tops, and probably sooner.
They’d really suit the Queen’s Hall actually. I remember you picked If the News as the obvious first single immediately, actually. I never quite agreed with you, but you got that one bang on the nose.
Dylan, have you turned fruity?
You’re not the only one Matthew. My favourite live track has always been Wolves and the stand out tracks on this album for me are ‘A Promise’, ‘Wolves’ and the wonderful ‘Ghosts’ which borders on being Wilco-esque and is simply stunning. It’s when Broken Records stop being simply ‘thundering’ as you put it, that they really showcase how good they are. Yes, the big tunes are great in a live setting and are great tunes in themselves but it’s the others on this album that really make it for me. I hope Ghosts is a sign of things to come.
Queens Hall would be amazing……
A Promise….is single-tastic
Dylan has always been a fruit….an unwaxed lemon springs to mind
Why am I fruity?
I’ve been meaning to check out Broken Records for ages, but they’ve been a band that just sits on the list for ages. With the “controversy” stirred up lately, I thought I’d better finally give a listen on Spotify and frankly, I don’t understand why there is any controversy at all. Fantastic album.
(As an off-topic aside, I’m going to the Meadows festival to see Meursault this weekend, but I don’t know much about the other bands. Any that I definitely shouldn’t miss?)
Well Dan we’ve got some live videos going up shortly which should give you a really good idea of why I love them. Up by the weekend, I hope – Sunday would be nice, to give people all day to watch.
In terms of the meadows, I’d recommend The Byrons, White Heath & Jesus H. if you haven’t seen any of them already. I’ve not seen Punch & the Apostles live, but they’re good on record, and for an under the radar tip, Hailey Beavis might just be worth seeing as she has a truly gorgeous voice.
were on the other stage at the same time as white heath. gutted.
“we’re” Michael, “we’re”
I love the vocals on ‘Lessons never learned’. (And the instrumental on ‘A Good Reason’. It makes me want to dance the hajduk.)
After a couple of days with the album now, can I just add that I think Jamie’s vocals on this new recording of If The News Makes You Sad… are absolutely stunning.
I don’t think I’ve heard a better single performance from him to date, live or on record.
anyway…..last night Jamie gave me a sneak preview of a track that may or may not end up on the 2nd album http://tinyurl.com/r5v3aw
I think they use the same stylist as The Stormy Seas.
you cheeky bastard.
Heheh! Just pulling your leg!
Although that fella on the end with the uke… If that’s not Dav in a former life…
its his live-in lover. you coming along tonight?
Ah, can’t do tonight sorry mate – was hoping to…
I will be along to the thing at the Meadows on the weekend though – you’re doing Sunday right?
I’ll bring the camera..
you do that dylan.
Oh, it’s a mandolin, not a uke.
I only had a quick look at about ten seconds of it earlier at work.
I agree with you completely here Matthew, that crescendo in Wolves is totally the highlight for me. I was a little worried about the record, the title track bored me senseless when I heard it – it sounded like Coldplay frankly, much more so than The Crumbling Wall (which I love). But I can’t really complain about the album, marvellous stuff.
Oh yes, and I did an interview in which Ian officially states that you discovered them.
http://thetorturegarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-broken-records.html
I saw that, mate. Really nice.
And Ian can be as nice as he likes, but I think that in terms of real influence over their career and giving them a massive boost, Drowned in Sound probably has to take that one. They may not have been first, but they were probably the most influential in the long run, although you’d have to ask the band to be sure about that.
can the record state….that i saw the fuckers before toad!!!!!
Bart put them on a Gentle Invasion bill, didn’t he. Canny little shavedy bastard that he is.
As far as I’m aware (and do correct me if I’m wrong) that was there third gig. And their first gig outside of Bannerman’s. So, in many ways, their first proper gig.
I’ve been thinking of calling my memoirs “In Your Face, Everybody”.
How about “Grow your face, Gingerbody”.
I witnessed the spectacle that is a shaved Bart yesterday, everyone. It was as creepy as you’d expect.
i’m calling my memoirs ‘I hung about and all this happened’
I’ll give you a clue.
It starts with ‘T’ and ends with ‘Shirt’!