Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Hot Chip: One Life Stand
dyfl:
I definitely disagree with this one — I think this album has three titanic songs (“Thieves In The Night,” “One Life Stand,” and “Take It In”) and the rest are just sort of there. The comparison to Pet Shop Boys’ BEHAVIOUR is serendipitous, since I feel exactly the same way about that album! (The three huge songs there, obvs, would be “Being Boring,” “So Hard,” and “Jealousy.”) I just think both albums are examples of The One You’re Supposed To Like, rather than The One You Actually Like.
This has not been a very interesting post, has it.
I have not read the review — I saw that it got Best New Music status and pretty much left it at that. (Saying that, let’s be honest, if I actually read any reviews on Pitchfork, I would never even look at the site, but that’s another issue.) Be that as it may, I have two things to say:
- Behaviour is my No. 1 favourite PSB album. (I would verify this empirically, but iTunes seems to have frozen on me as it does, um, something. Like play songs. But I reckon Very is No. 2, and then there’s the rest.)
- The Hot Chip album is not perfect, but I have come to appreciate it more on repeated listening. At first I was put off by its unceasing sentimentality, but I have grown to appreciate the honest earnestness of the songs. It’s like they’ve gone emo, and I find it quite sweet.
So, yes. I guess the point is that I respectfully disagree. Which is fine.
