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TOU Press Reviews
  • Vote Up0Vote Down HolyOwlHolyOwl
    Posts: 373
    Do we already have a thread for short press reviews? If ys, I'm sorry, couldn't find any.

    Anyway, here is a short one from CLASH magazine. 7/10
    Post edited by HolyOwl at 2013-08-27 15:36:57
    Be patient.
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  • Vote Up1Vote Down The_CarpathianThe_Carpathian
    Posts: 1,837
    Great little review in this morning's free Metro newspaper:-

    image
    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • Vote Up1Vote Down JoeyJoey
    Posts: 197
    AllMusic (AMG) 4.5/5 Stars

    Best review yet! :)

    http://www.allmusic.com/album/tales-of-us-mw0002555042

    Goldfrapp fans know to expect changes from album to album, but the switch in direction between Head First and Tales of Us is one of the duo's most drastic about-faces. Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory's sixth album trade the neon nostalgia of Head First's synth pop for a subtler, more complex sound that evokes Felt Mountain's lushness and Seventh Tree's acoustic confessions. Tales of Us could be seen as a cross between those two works -- and Goldfrapp have certainly covered enough territory that they could live out their days making hybrids of their earlier music -- but there's more to the album than that. There was a somber stillness to Felt Mountain's most haunting moments that made it uniquely compelling, and Goldfrapp returns to it here, delivering the set of unforgettable torch songs they always seemed destined to make. 

    Above all, these songs are intimate: they bear the names of lovers as they unfurl several diaries' worth of memories and regrets. Tracks like "Simone" move between whispered sentiments and widescreen heartbreak as the duo blends orchestral and electronic elements into gorgeous arrangements and melodies that sound decades old and instantly familiar. As lavish as Tales of Us is at times, Goldfrapp sounds more genuine and natural than they ever have. On "Drew," strings sneak up on Alison's murmured remembrance of "dreams of your skin on my tongue" as the song gradually builds to heights that prove the duo really should record a James Bond theme. This filmic feel is no coincidence, since the works of David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, and Michelangelo Antonioni served as inspiration. 

    However, the album's cinematic nature goes deeper than its sound; Tales of Us also features some of Goldfrapp's strongest storytelling. "Annabel" explores a child's fluid gender identity, with Alison sighing "why couldn't they let you be both?" over a heartbreaking melody (on "Stranger," she wonders if the one she's been missing is a "boy or girl," emphasizing the all-encompassing sexuality of these songs). The duo also sets some of the album's most unsettling tales to its most beautiful music: "Jo" is a lullaby filled with gunshots and a blood red moon, while an almost sobbing melody gives "Laurel"'s sordid tale an added tragedy. 

    While Tales of Us is Goldfrapp's most consistent album in terms of mood and sound, the duo still adds some variety. "Thea" brings film noir to the dancefloor with shivery synths and a beat that begins with footsteps, and "Clay" ends this collection of heartache on a (relatively) idealistic note. 

    Even with these slight detours, Tales of Us isn't as immediate as, say, Supernature. Regardless, it's Goldfrapp's most sophisticated work to date, and one of their most consistently satisfying albums.
    I had a king in a tenement castle, lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown. He's taken the curtains down. He's swept with the broom of contempt, and the rooms have an empty ring. He's cleaned with the tears of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting...
  • Vote Up0Vote Down LowLow
    Posts: 906
    The only gripe I have with short reviews is that they never seem to go into enough detail to explain the score they give it.
    For example, that review is pretty much entirely positive, yet it didn't get top marks. What are the critcisms? I'd like to know.
    It just feels like the score is tacked on at the end just for the sake of it.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down DreekeDreeke
    Posts: 900
    And yet again another reviewer makes the mistake that Will does the music and Alison is only there for the vocals.....
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    "I think it is our job to dream"
  • Vote Up0Vote Down pingping
    Posts: 1,248
    the skinny
  • Vote Up0Vote Down UnaUna
    Posts: 233
    Dreeke said:

    And yet again another reviewer makes the mistake that Will does the music and Alison is only there for the vocals.....



    Grrrrrrrr.  I haven't read it.  I NEVER read reviews for anything until after I have seen/heard it.  They taint my view.  I have totally avoided the thread that talks about TOU content!
    image
  • Vote Up0Vote Down pingping
    Posts: 1,248
    There's a short but fairly reasonable review in Q magazine. I can't copy it cause I just read it in the shop.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down The_CarpathianThe_Carpathian
    Posts: 1,837
    Dreeke said:

    And yet again another reviewer makes the mistake that Will does the music and Alison is only there for the vocals.....



    That pees us off so I can only begin to imagine how A&W must feel when it comes round yet again.

    It's not like that question/comment hasn't been hammered into the ground over many interviews over many years by now!

    Lazy, lazy, lazy......... [-X
    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down pingping
    Posts: 1,248
    Good review here ( though I don't agree with their summation of 7T)
    http://www.polarimagazine.com/musicreviews/tales-goldfrapp/
  • Vote Up0Vote Down tattmaylortattmaylor
    Posts: 552
    What is wrong with people today? Everyone is so desperate for approval.

    For a band that has had much critical acclaim and success over numerous style's in their career, these are all still great reviews that will not put anyone off buying it or at least checking it out digitally (is that not the point of reviews?). New bands will always sound fresh and new because no one knows their history. They will always have that advantage where older bands don't and reviewers will have pre-conceived ideas what they are about.

    One point that has come up on many reviews is the 'sound' of TOU. Goldfrapp have made a name for themselves for mixing old styles in new ways with great skill and talent (and indeed starting new trends).
    With TOU I don't think any reviewer has said anything different than the album is well written and beautifully executed.

    This album seems to have been written for Al and Will themselves (not for the record company or any desire to push musical boundries) aswell as the hardcore fans they were losing with Head First. But the reviewers are generally looking at it in the context of everything around it not just in the history of Frapp. So as beautiful a thing it is, when you look at it's sound, in a time when we have quite a lot of shit going down in the world and a possible return to 70's Britain here it does seem a bit retrospective in some ways. That is not a critism. Music is music. It's good or bad. But reviews of any art always take this into account. I don't think it is any coincidence it's got a better review in MOJO (fans of the old guard) than CLASH (fans of the new).

    Then again I'm from Art School where critism is good, praise is bad. :-/

  • Vote Up0Vote Down LowLow
    Posts: 906
    ping said:

    Good review here ( though I don't agree with their summation of 7T)
    http://www.polarimagazine.com/musicreviews/tales-goldfrapp/



    Me neither. And Ulla sounds far more likely to be on Seventh Tree than Felt Mountain.
    I guess they just really don't like ST.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down SlippageSlippage
    Posts: 409
    ping said:

    Good review here ( though I don't agree with their summation of 7T)
    http://www.polarimagazine.com/musicreviews/tales-goldfrapp/



    If you press play in the video, the studio version of Clay plays. 
  • Vote Up0Vote Down cw37frappcw37frapp
    Posts: 3,494
    Really i should not bother about a review. Everyone has their own taste. Even on this forum we are all Frappers, Yet look at everyones album best to worsts. They vary incredibly.
    JAMIE CARRAGHER= LEGEND
  • Vote Up0Vote Down DreekeDreeke
    Posts: 900
    I'm a part time reviewer. Be afraid. Be very afraid.... ;)
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    "I think it is our job to dream"
  • Vote Up0Vote Down HolyOwlHolyOwl
    Posts: 373
    http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/records/305664-goldfrapp_tales_us
    Be patient.
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