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Modest Mouse

CD We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

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★★★★★ 5 points (4 reviews)


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  • Issued : 24 Apr 2007

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Item Details

Genre : Rock & Pop Catalogue Number : 88697072922
Format : CD Label : Epic
Issued : 24 Apr 2007 Item sourced from : International
Number of Discs : 1
Other : Digipack

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

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Other Versions

  • CD   INT Edition   ¥1,584   INT Import   Released: 20 Mar 2007  
  • CD   Japan Edition   ¥2,520     Released: 06 Jun 2007  
  • LP   EUR Edition   ¥3,140   EUR Import   Released: 23 Apr 2007  
  • CD   GER Edition   ¥1,391   Reissue CD (GER Import)   Released: 28 Aug 2009  

HMV Review

Now that Modest Mouse have fully established themselves as a major-label indie rock band -- no longer an oxymoron! -- with the success of 2004's Good News for People Who Love Bad News (though they had actually been on Sony, through Epic, since 2000's The Moon & Antarctica), they face the difficult task of trying to follow up a mainstream hit while still retaining the adroit quirkiness that won them fans in the first place. Finding that space between creativity and accessibility is not easy, but the band (with help from Johnny Marr, among others) is probably as well, if not better, equipped as anyone to tackle the challenge. The first single, Dashboard, is catchy and interesting, even a little off-kilter, but it's also completely radio-friendly, in that dancey Franz Ferdinand kind of way, and the album's opener, March into the Sea, has great juxtaposition between Isaac Brock's maniacal Cookie Monster laugh and lighter accordion and string work. It's slightly unconventional, and has that raucous energy the band has thrived on, but it's also wholly understandable and approachable, and a lot of fun. Still, too often it seems as if Modest Mouse plays it safe on We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. James Mercer, the singer of the life-changing Garden State darlings the Shins, shows up three times on background vocals, and while on Florida this works well enough, Missed the Boat and We've Got Everything are among the weakest tracks on the record, too predictable, in that radio-indie-rock style, to do much more than just take up space. There's nothing overtly wrong with them (or the similarly boring Education or People as Places as People) -- Brock's lyrics are as wackily introspective as ever -- but the band had never just gotten by on being nice-sounding and unmemorable. It's not that Modest Mouse has lost it, or sold out; tracks like Parting of the Sensory and Fly Trapped in a Jar combine digestible guitar lines and phrasing with a rawer intensity, and show that the group is indeed capable of moving innovate indie music to the mainstream (someday you will die somehow and something's gonna steal your carbon, Brock sings ingeniously over pounding, swirling drums in a kind of post-modern chant in Parting), but overall, We Were Dead Before... has chosen the safer, more acceptable route over the more adventurous one. Modest Mouse is a talented bunch, and so the album still works, is still enjoyable. But because they've built themselves on pushing boundaries and traditional sounds, it's also a glaring representation of all they could do, but won't. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide

Credits

Clay Jones(Guitar (Acoustic)),  Dennis Herring(Fender Rhodes),  Dennis Herring(Vocals (Background)),  James Mercer(Vocals (Background)),  Naheed Simjee(Vocals (Background)),  Clay Jones(Shaker),  Dennis Herring(Clapping),  Naheed Simjee(Clapping),  Dennis Herring(Organ (Pump)),  Dennis Herring(Stomping),  Naheed Simjee(Stomping),  Clay Jones(Engineer),  Dennis Herring(Producer),  Joe Zook(Engineer),  Kyle "Slick" Johnson(Engineer),  Reto Peter(Engineer),  Tom Queyja(Engineer),  Casey Burns(Illustrations),  Christian Helms(Art Direction),  Christian Helms(Design),  Clay Jones(Programming),  David Ellis(Illustrations),  Dennis Herring(Mixing),  Eric Judy(Group Member),  Geoff Peveto(Design),  Howie Weinberg(Mastering),  Isaac Brock(Art Direction),  Isaac Brock(Composer),  Isaac Brock(Group Member),  Jeremiah Green(Group Member),  Joe Plummer(Group Member),  Joe Zook(Mixing),  Johnny Marr(Group Member),  Kyle "Slick" Johnson(Programming),  Modest Mouse(Composer),  Naheed Simjee(Art Direction),  Rob Cooper(Assistant Engineer),  Tom Peloso(Group Member),  Tom Queyja(Assistant Engineer),  Clay Jones(Audio Engineer),  Dennis Herring(Audio Production),  Joe Zook(Audio Engineer),  Kaz Utsunomiya(A&R)

Songs

  •   
    1
    March into the Sea  (03:30)
  •   
    2
    Dashboard  (04:06)
  •   
    3
    Fire It Up  (04:34)
  •   
    4
    Florida  (02:57)
  •   
    5
    Parting of the Sensory  (05:34)
  •   
    6
    Missed the Boat  (04:24)
  •   
    7
    We've Got Everything  (03:40)
  •   
    8
    Fly Trapped in a Jar  (04:29)
  •   
    9
    Education  (03:56)
  •   
    10
    Little Motel  (04:44)
  •   
    11
    Steam Engenius  (04:26)
  •   
    12
    Spitting Venom  (08:27)
  •   
    13
    People as Places as People  (03:42)
  •   
    14
    Invisible  (03:59)

Customer Reviews

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  • ★★★★★ 

    SHOW & GO  |  山梨  |  不明  |  21/June/2007

    メチャメチャカッコ良い!! 確かに以前に比べたらポップになって、こなれた感じはするけど、珠玉のアレンジとアンサンブルは心地良さを増しています。 ホントにもっと多くの人に聴いて欲しいバンドです。

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  • ★★★★★ 

    sleepy  |  大阪府  |  不明  |  13/June/2007

    DVD観たいけど、この邦題はないよなあ。

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  • ★★★★★ 

    SEASON OF LOVE  |  不明  |  02/April/2007

    これは大事件かも。ジョニーマーの参加は、噂では聞いていたけど、まさかビルボード1位とは驚きです。でも嬉しいですね。信じていた人がやってくれたという感じで。

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