New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
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Music CD Cover
Artist: New PornographersEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2003-10-07
Music Label: Matador Records
Soundtracks:
- Mass Romantic
- The Fake Headlines
- The Slow Descent into Alcoholism
- Mystery Hours
- Jackie
- Letter from an Occupant
- To Wild Homes
- The Body Says No
- Execution Day
- Centre for Holy Wars
- The Mary Martin Show
- Breakin' the Law
Free Music Notes for Mass Romantic
Free Music Review: Ear candy
Hit: 5 Stars
OK, this is like one of your parents reviewing the CD, most likely, but this music triggers memories of a lot of old bands that only us old folks remember. I don't care much for most of the overly-sanitized pop-rock of the last few years, but none of it sounds very much like this CD to me. The New Pornographers bring back the pseudo-psychedelic vocal harmonies of late 1960's AM pop music and use it in as original a way as one can when borrowing old ideas and mixing them with 21st century instrumentation and production. If you're old enough that the Vines or Hives evoke the early Kinks or Who, then you're old enough that the New Pornographers may evoke something more similar to a mad blend of the Cowsills, the Mamas and Papas, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, and a dozen one-hit wonders.This CD does remind me of others who have invented new music with skills reminiscent of and perhaps superior to that of the Beatles, but who wound up on the ash heap of music history having gone from a year of respect to being jokes. Does anyone remember The Knack being compared to the Beatles way back when? Hearing this CD reminds me of hearing the early Bangles on a college radio station, back when they were an indie group with the 80's version, to many, of Beatle-esque skill in songwriting, playing, and singing. All that's left now may be "My Sharona" and "Walk Like an Egyptian" and bad VH1 specials, but there's something great about truly skilled pop musicians getting together and recording, whether they're ever appreciated for it or not. So those two bands reminded people of the Beatles at one time. The B-52's and Go-Go's reminded some of mid-1960's surf music, mutated in the new wave years. I can't name a band this CD sounds like - they manage to create their own unique sound even as they shamelessly appropriate sounds from my childhood.
What strikes me about "Mass Romantic" isn't Neko Case's voice, which I find unremarkable, or the lyrics, which are forgettable, but the brilliant use of harmony. The New Pornographers may be in the wrong time and place, but they deserve to be heard as remarkably talented musicians who have created at least one CD of some of the most original derivative music imaginable. Every song is worth listening to here; the music is perfectly and, I imagine, lovingly crafted. They may not be lyricists, but the sounds are as sweet as can be. I'd say it's worth the purchase price, even for a geezer.
Mass Romantic Poster
The debut of this Vancouver indie supergroup led by Zumpano's Carl Newman sent critics scrambling to the early '80s and mid '60s for power-pop forebears, and it sent everyone else bouncing down the street and shouting out car windows. In a happily urgent record full of tight harmonies and cryptic storytelling, the high point undeniably remains the great single "Letter from an Occupant," which rides Neko Case's country-crooner voice nearly off the rails. --Tom NissleyAlternative Rock Music CDs
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