Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army

This is really good, I can't get this hatred against them.

This is suprisingly pretty decent. I don't hate them in the least, but I didn't really like the last record and I can only pull out the debut very intermittantly.

has this been given a uk release yet ?
i love that 8 minute album sampler mp3 that they dropped on the website...

um, is it just me or does everything they make sound the same?

I still like them and listen to them frequently, but still all their stuff sounds very curiously similar.

These assholes took up an entire block of Decatur St front of the House of Blues with 2 buses and an RV. I wouldn't mind the eyesore if they didn't suck so much.

Strictly for those who would've been fans of Up With People and Sing Along With Mitch.

When this band was in town recently, I saw two of them walking around with their uniforms on. At first, I thought they were part of some religious cult that was going to set up the town square and start talking about their way of life and how the rest are sinners and so on (this is Athens, in the South, where this happens regularly). I don't see how you can be "politically relevant", as the first post here states it, and go around wearing uniforms as some sort of lark. This kind of ironic appropriation of the tactics of one's enemies is incredibly boring, and always has been. I'd like to see a group of people of that size get on stage and just start moaning and screaming and shouting without any sort of organization, and wearing nothing but generic clothes they just bought at the thrift store. I'd pay 15 dollars, or whatever they charged, for that.

i adored this band when i first heard them. srsly: was at my mate's when he stuck on the debut album. i left halfway through to go and find a record shop and buy my own copy.

AND THEN i saw them live. holy FUCK were they dull. awfully, dreadfully, embarrassingly so. they played/sang for what seemed like 3,000 hours and i lost the will to live.

i was given their second album by someone at work and never listened to it.

so i guess what i'm getting at is that it might be a good time to see if i like them again. is this out in the UK, then?

xpost - I'm going to see them on Monday... Thanks for the heads up...

When I saw them open for Bowie a few years ago it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Visually and musically.

Sorry to hear you didn't care for it, but I think the live show is actually better than the music itself.

Just got back from the live show in Boston.

Definitely one of the most ridiculous live shows I have ever been to. I don't think I've ever seen someone absolutely control the crowd like Tim Delaughter did.

Very good show.

Take THAT, grimly !

to answer my own question above.
this does appear to be available in the uk, even the extra DVD edition seems to have found its way onto the shelves. Gut Records seemed to have done the decent thing.
so, i'm currently absorbing the full on excess ..
i love the way they number their tracks from album 1 onwards.
has any other band done this ?

i love the way they number their tracks from album 1 onwards. has any other band done this ?

Teenbeat doesn't officially number individual tracks on their releases, although they do follow very closely the Factory model of numbering just about everything else (and I bet Mark Robinson's got a pocket notebook he keeps so he can sub-number just about everthing, including album tracks).

The Roots have numbered the tracks that way.

ah yes, the "one great massive album" thing: http://starsandheroes.blogspot.com/2004/08/polyphonic-spree-heavy-heavy-monster.html

bloody hell, three years ago! who'd have thought.

I like The Polyphonic Spree, but the formula is starting to wear out a bit. "The Fragile Army" is nice enough but not as strong as their first two albums.

4 listens in and i'm totally hooked.
the songs are stronger, tighter, and work really well, in fact the opening 4 track opening sequence is probably the best thing i have heard by the band.
of course it's a case of if it aint broke ..
- but the band still sound brilliant.
unfortunately, i have yet to experience the live show, and i suspect no uk based label is going to finance the band over here again like they did back in 2002/2003, so i have to make do with their supposedly inferior recorded versions, but i reckon i can cope with that.
glorious stuff.

Two listens in and.... not bad, but there's nothing really grabbing me the way that "Soldier Girl" / "Hanging Aroound" / "Light And Day" / "Two Thousand Places" did.

In fairness 'though, I did see they perform all those songs live at least a couple of times before I'd heard them recorded, so maybe that's the key

I got to say hearing the polyphonic spree cover "lithium" live was quote surreal.

I saw them last weekend. Some improvements in stagecraft since I last saw them. The choir is now 8 fully choreographed hot chicks instead of a hodge-podge of weird looking individuals rocking out at random. The lights/confetti/costumes/staging are all better and Tim stands on a box to get that Jim Kerr "preacher" effect more easily. Some great moments: ripping apart a huge screen at the start of the show to reveal them all standing there in their uniforms; reappearing at the back of the room in their robes to vast acclaim then being helped through the crowd and back onto the stage; having the whole crew "freeze" on one note for about 5 minutes while Tim wandered around fiddling with their instruments before declaring "IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!". Solipsistic and hokey but effective.

sigh.
sounds bloody wonderful.
somebody win the lottery and get the band over uk-side again.

Apparently David Bowie was responsible for shipping them to the UK first time. I heard Tim talking about his on a radio interview I listened to last week. This was a really entertaining interview which you can hear here: http://www.citr.ca/podcast.php
Click on Nardwuar The Human Serviette Presents under the indie/eclectic category.

ooh : http://www.thepolyphonicspreeuk.com/

maybe they are coming over this side of the ocean.

One of the best gigs I ever saw was the Spree on their first tour. I don't think the records have ever lived up to that. Slightly disappointed that the choir is more structured, kinda liked the fact that they were just a bunch of ordinary looking individuals.

Apparently David Bowie was responsible for shipping them to the UK first time.

yeah, i remembered that (after your post reminded me!). this is also probably the reason there is a big declaration of thanks for the Duke on the sleeve of new album.
so anyone seen the film on the DVD yet ?

ok, confirmed : UK tour in September ..