Yeah. I didn't harbour the hate others seem to over the first two albums (they were still better than, say, Keane or Starsailor) but fuck both those tepid, overwrought singles. And the rest, which I heard in many a CD store.

Not to mention the MOST EPIC VIDEO EVER for Fix You. Rivalled only by Meatloaf's gargantuan efforts. Chris Martin! Exploding helicopters!

It's too much. I need a cup of tea and a lie-down.

Coldplay were fine to me, I just use it as a fairly brainless easy-listening record, my equivalent of a housewife's (sorry houseperson's) Norah Jones. As I did with the other records. Although Parachutes was slightly more 'interesting'.

Thier 'wandering eye' tune gets daytime play on ZM and the edge. This is fairly unusual for a song that has such a long intro and outro, and such a long playtime in general. So even if one doesn't like the tune, or even the band, they can appresiate that lots of other people obviously do :)

o i appreciate that other people luuurve it, just not my thing, I FIND it over-rated.

I quite enjoy it, although I prefer ‘live @ the Matterhorn’ by a country mile.

dance music - really? i though all i had to do was sway...

try the boys high/ girls high shuffle.

what, like 'the funky chicken'?
try 'feeding the chooks' or 'hanging out the washing' for a good house music variation.
for trance, try 'chicken scratching in the dirt'. with one finger in the air of course- all respect to sun god ra. And for breaks, just jump in the air like you just don't care.

why would you wanna throw your pies?
NB sprinkler or any variations on this ie 'the washing machine' DO NOT go down well at drum n bass gigs.

JackieG, your thoughts?

Okay, so I bit. No comment. Everyone is perfectly entitled to like what they like - it's all personal taste.....

I wonder if it's worth pointing out that an album can be both good and overrated. Sometimes the hype oversteps reality. An overrated album has 1 (or more) too many 'stars' in its general public/media rating IMO.

how can it be overrated when it's just so... damn... lovely?

Funnily enough I had never heard of them until my friend in Canada said to me "Get some Arcade Fire... you'll love them and they will be huge in NZ..." and then some derogatory remark about NZ getting everything 5 years too late.

But I trusted his taste in music and his knowledge of my taste enough to take the risk. So no "hype" per say for me.

They're so gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood. Not overrated. Sexily-rated!

SNAP!

Funny, I found that Mint Chicks album to be one of the most idea-packed albums I heard all year. I guess part of it is that those ideas tend to fly past in jagged fragments rather than fully fleshed out songs. But I love bands like Minutemen and Liars, so it was always going to appeal to me none the less.

yeah the mint chicks was packed with ideas alright. I think they needed a producer to rope them in and make them coherent. Pegasus was sadly UNDER-rated.

You can't overrate Pegasus. Not with a song like Nest Egg.. probably my most listened to song of 2005 ... *checks lastfm...* well... nearly.

Hello Dust.

As a member of Phoenix I'm really into hearing criticisms and I'm just curious (truly, in a non aggresive sweet as kinda of way, just curious) about your comments.

I've never understood the Coldplay comparisons. For one. Apart from maybe the fact that the first chord strum of CHARMING VAN sounds heaps like the first song on parachutes.... Which songs / bits remind you of coldplay dude? Also, apart from the obvious HOMAGE of DAMN THE RIVER, which ones remind you of Dire Straits?

Last thing is that I personally make no mystery of my love of GRANDADDY and would only wish for more people to know about them and listen to them, I don't remember anyone in our band ever doing anything with a 'smirk'... I also am not sure which songs/bits you're talking about.

Personally I think the problem with PEGASUS is that it's way too overproduced and the beginnings of the album are a bit shaky. But I like the second half heaps. And if any of it sounds like anything I'd say AFTERNOON has shades of the Cure, WEATHER is SPRINGSTEEN meets GHOST RIDERS IN THE STORM, Damn the River sounds like DIRE STROKES...

But anyway, seriously, I'm just personally curious....

Hey Rudy,

Nice to hear from you! I'm in an Airport killing time so may not be that lucid.

Let me restate - I don't think the album was overrated - I reckon it sat well in a very respectable place in NZ Music history this year and for all time. The media didn't seem (to me) to get all hot and heavy about it too much either (in a good relaxed way, as opposed to say FFD).

The Dire Straits/Coldplay thing is not specific moments - more ambience (?) and mood for Colplay- maybe some vocals, and overall ambience of maybe 3-4 song was more the DS thing. I'm more a "vibe" reference guy rather than chords etc when comes tocomparisons - musicians and I often stand at opposite ends of comparison 'table' (I am non-technical).

Thought production was reall good - not too over done at all, but understand muso's POV is way different to mine.

Shit gotta go - will aim to pick this up (if useful).

Only Universal, KIWI and C4 hype ElemenoP surely?

I like two songs on that record heaps(FTGY and I Don't Wanna Grow Old)...and this little bit of instrumental glam stuff in the middle of this fucked up track. But it certainly doesn't have the cohesiveness of the EPs and there is too much bullshit which smacks of FEAR! The fear that perhaps they're not that 'out-there' and if they stick to their catchy Buzzcocks punk tunes they will be a consumable and probably better group. But I aint dissing...I thought the album was ok.

hmm. Am i the only one who likes the MC album? Maybe cause i thought i would hate it and didn't listen to it until probably six months after it came out when it was one of the only CDs with me on a road trip....the only bummer with it, is that I skip past all the songs I already know from the EPs...and thats like half the album, but for me the album restored my faith in that band.

it sounds rough around the edges and no real mid-range...but shit, as the mp3 generation..doesn't everything sound like that now?

stuff yous. I look forward to listening to that album much in the future..once the singles have faded from memory a bit more.