Your loss, Astoria (So Long Astoria - Ataris)

Member Name: cream_cracker

Product:	So Long Astoria - Ataris
Date:	13/08/04 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great catchy songs, Beautiful slower songs, Imaginative lyrics

Disadvantages: The weird Red Dwarf voice at the end of track 13 , You listen to it too much?

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of first reviews written on a particular product. Don?t even attempt to think about why, but I get a bit of a buzz from writing the first review about products?yes, I am easily amused. This is partly because it is the holidays and I am excessively bored, and partly because I really am weird. This is why I managed to come up with such a depressingly bad title for this review, after (believe it or not) careful thought and selection of a short-listed set. As I said, I?m bored.

This is an album that I bought entirely on impulse because I had discovered £50 in HMV vouchers and this discovery coincided, with amazing timing, with a sale in HMV. I saw the CD and thought to myself, ?I?m sure I heard something about these people...somewhere?.perhaps?oh, I?ll be wild and get it anyway?where are more CDs??. I am a force to be reckoned with when I have vouchers to spend and a sale to spend them in. So, after emerging blinking into the light armed with a bag of CDs I went to face my mother?s tirade at my lateness, protesting about sales and vouchers as I was dragged to Marks and Spencer to buy socks. Yet again.

It turns out that this is the latest of a string of albums (not all up on this site for review) released from this band of busy bees since an EP in 1998. As always I know very little about the bands I write about, though I can release the information that they were discovered by Joe Escalante (of the Vandals) in 1997 and that they originate from Indianapolis, in case any of you, the readers, become feverish without a few titbits about the band itself. After that little escapade, let?s move onto the album itself.

1) so long, astoria
A good start. Confusingly, it starts quietly for about 10 seco
nds, but do not be fooled! This is a ploy to make you turn the CD player up when in fact it suddenly shoots up a few decibels and is a perfectly sensible volume after all. So, we start with a simple riff thingy, and then a bit of meandering around this riff by a lead guitar, and then vocals cut in and, hey presto, we have a song. For one verse it is just quite gruff singing, and then it cuts up the emotional scale (and likewise an octave) and he starts shouting in a very singy sort of way (i.e. you can still sing along to it as long as you sound more emotional). Interestingly, there is no chorus as such and the nearest we get to one is the way two lines re-occur once at a seemingly random position. The lyrics are surprisingly good, imaginative and paint remarkably vivid pictures of the images seen and the emotions felt during what we can only suppose is the childhood and adolescence of the singer and his friends. The topic is a favourite among songwriters because they have such a huge bank of resources to draw from, but this has to be one of the best I?ve ever heard because it focuses on small events that have stuck in his memory and are thus more important than big milestones like graduation, or the dissolution of a long term relationship. I loved this song from the moment I heard it and was drawn in to see what would happen next, a commendable feature in a first track.

2) Takeoffs and Landings
As the name suggests, this is about a flight. I?m not quite sure why it is about a flight, but it definitely is. Considering it?s about a flight, it?s really very good. Certainly beats Busted?s ?Air Hostess?. Then again, what doesn?t? Apart from Busted?s ?Year 3000?? Or?sorry, I got carried away. The song itself is perfectly passable and I admire them for the initiative to write about a plane. Amazingly, the lyrics are still astonishingly yummy. &#
73; will not think about flying in the same way again. I mean, to take a random example, ?The runway lights are deepest blue, like the colour of your eyes, so close them tight and kiss me one last time?. Yummoid. This follows the classic school and has a chorus, which is all right and catchy enough, but is repeated too many times for my liking at the end and gets a bit grating. This is a good song, but not as good as the first one and not really one of my favourites.

3) In this Diary
Now this is more like it. The introduction, it must be said, can not be filed away in the draw marked ?original introductions? as it?s just a quiet repeated note, but somehow it?s really energising and makes me smile, so I like it anyway. The tune is simple enough to pick up, but the lyrics are again not simple or predictable so it takes some time and effort to pick them up, but this was no problem, as I certainly wanted to. The chorus is actually pretty formulaic and simple to pick up, and definitely not mature (it?s hard to sound mature when you?re belting out ?being grown up isn?t half as fun as growing up, these are the best days of our lives?? and so on, and the lyrics probably say a bit about the average age of their fan base) but still enjoyable enough. This song makes me ambivalent because there is a sudden juxtaposition between my youth right now and my life ahead, where I?ll have to be almost a different person. However, this is ambivalence you can sing along to because it?s very catchy. There is a little bit of syncopation when he sings it on one of the repeats which makes is much less annoying for some reason. Well, it?s either the syncopation or the fact that this song is probably my favourite on this album anyway and I won?t be swayed ? one of the two.

4) My Reply
The first introduction with more than a splash of imagination and the guitar does play its own tu
ne after the singing has started, which makes the whole package sound nicer and more together with itself, if you catch my drift, and the backing is, as it has been throughout, excellent. The lyrics are, again, gorgeous. I like this song particularly because of the story that goes with it. Apparently, there was a girl who was mortally ill in Australia. She was in hospital, dying, but still soldiering on because the Ataris? music helped through the painful days when suffering under anorexia. She was discharged because she was eating again, but sadly she had turned bulimic and so her health diminished. She wrote them a letter thanking them for helping her before, even though she was dying soon (and I assume it is this letter that is in the decoupage on the same page in the booklet as the song lyrics). They didn?t like her dying, but did like the idea of writing her a song. Of course, this is a story, and there is no proof?but I really want to believe it?s true, because this song is beautiful and tragic at the same time and I love it. And, frankly, I admire her for not being too cynical to write to a band and them for writing a fan a song, and in it handing a most delicate subject deftly and emotionally at the same time. This deserves at least a download because it?s just so good. What more can I say?

5) Unopened Letter to the World
It?s a hard act to follow, but this one pretty much carries it off. The beat is slightly faster, which I don?t altogether appreciate, but I can live with it. It?s quite strange, because if you don?t listen to the lyrics the song doesn?t sound like it?s that amazing, but if you stop and listen, they are kinda strange but also kinda wonderful. It?s like a filmstrip of image after vivid image, lots of snapshots of this person?s life (which isn?t much of a life from the sound of it). Again, there is no real chorus, but th
e opening lines ?If I died tomorrow, would this song live on forever???
Here is my?unopened letter to the world
That never shall reply.?
Are repeated immediately after they are first sung and at the end. I don?t like this song overmuch, but it I do look at it with respect because it tackles another difficult subject aptly.

6) The Saddest Song
We kick off with a piano introduction, pleasantly novel on this album, before it continues over guitars and drums until the vocals cut in over it. The lyrics are simple, almost childlike which actually increases the magic of the song. It?s about father/son relationships. To tell the truth, I get a little confused as to whom it is directed at. As far as I can muddle along with it, it definitely starts out about his young son (as in ?you?ll be turning five?), and apology for not seeing him often enough. The chorus continues in this vein, and all is simple enough. However, then it goes ?I remember waiting for you to call, Remember waiting for you to come, Remember waiting there to find nothing at all? and I wouldn?t expect a kid of five to master the telephone let alone the transport system. Thus is assume this is about his own father and how he had not seen him either, because he knows ?what it?s like, growing up without a father in your life?. Confusing eh? That aside, it?s a passable song. I like the chorus because it has quite a nice tune and I am indiscriminate of content when it comes to judging things if there is a nice tune involved.

7) Summer ?79
This has a pleasant, easy going beat which just keeps going in a vaguely lolloping manner. It?s an affable enough song about his youth, I suppose. For me, it?s marginally interesting because 1979 was 10 years before I was even born, let alone out being with friends. It?s comforting the general ideas of
being young and all haven?t really changed much?though I have to say, cool kid or not, I do not crowd around an air-hockey table which seems to have featured large in this era. The chorus is pretty cool, its catchy and you can sing along easily enough because it?s at a sensible pitch (speaking for myself here). It?s a good song, but not that special.

8) The Hero Dies in This One
I have heard this song described as sad, and to an extent I can agree with that, but actually I?ve always thought of it as a very optimistic song. It?s about how a relationship is ending (and, for empathy with the listener, you could think of it as being any relationship; the clichéd loss of a significant other, a close friendship or even severed ties between family members). Obviously, that is never going to a positive step, but the whole ethic of the song seems to be one of comfort and re-assurance, and a gentle push forward, to get moving again. I don?t have much to relate to this song with, but even I leave it feeling almost idealist, which is definitely a commendable achievement.

9) All You Can Ever Learn is What You Already Know
This wins my personal competition for ?longest song title of the week award?. The song itself is pretty good, as far as I can decipher it?s about the decline of America. After all the optimism of the last track it?s sort of bursting that balloon, as he warbles on about how his view is blocked by ?satellites and shattered dreams?. The lyrics are interesting, but not so much so for me because I?m not American and so never shared in that characteristic optimism. The chorus, what there is of it, isn?t over catchy but easy to learn; picking up the words to the verses takes much more effort and I confess I haven?t yet.

10) The Boys Of Summer
Remember that song, Bo
ys of Summer, which was made a hit by DJ Sammy? (video involving lots of people looking tanned and healthy on beaches, driving, dancing and doing whatever else people with glowing skin and pearly teeth do with their time) This is that song! I have no idea as to whether DJ Sammy heard this and covered it, or they heard DJ Sammy and covered it, or they are both covering a much earlier release. All I can safely say is that this is far less annoying than the DJ Sammy version and easy to sing along to because you must know the words after the many million times it was played on the radio and the bronzed happy people playing a game of beach-ball made a few billion appearances on the music channels. I prefer this version, but I don?t like the song particularly.

11) Radio #2
Here we have a rant about the radio packaged as a song. That said, it?s a pretty good song so I am fine with this idea. The lyrics aren?t as outstanding as they are in the other songs, but they easily beat most other songs in this genre. The tune is catchy and the beat is bouncy. While I can easily find several other songs practically identical in all but tune and subject matter, I still like this one because, well, it?s fun in a weird way to sing about how annoying the radio is what with the annoying DJs, or poor songs, or adverts all the time. Let all that hitherto unknown angst about radios out and feel better for it.

12) Looking Back on Today
This is another mildly cheerful song, but what it lacks in originality when it comes to subject matter it makes up in cuteness. It?s about a guy who travels a lot and has to leave his girlfriend and family behind, which I suppose is one of the aspects of being famous that have put me off ever becoming notorious at all. The tune is easy on the ears, and the lyrics themselves are sweet an
d almost huggable, insofar as you can hug lyrics (that is, you can?t, but if you could, I would definitely be first in line for this song).

13) Eight of Nine
This starts with singing and acoustic guitar with an echo and almost distorted effect, which makes it a bit more interesting I suppose. After a line of this exciting new way to record, we jump back to the traditional line up of guitars and drums et cetera, and the singing becomes normal. Again, there is no chorus as such, and the verses aren?t that catchy, but they are interesting enough for me to want to learn them and sound cool singing them. For those not in the know, ?El corazón? (mentioned in the first verse) means ?the heart? in Spanish, and no I have no idea why that is in Spanish not English. Probably because it made up the syllable count. I like this song, because it?s just got a nice tune and lyrics and beat and everything really, although it?s nothing remarkable in any one of those aspects. However, after all that nice songy stuff, there is a long instrumental (which I have no problem with) with this weird distorted deep voice over it. This I find hard to take seriously as there is an episode of Red Dwarf when they end up on a strange planet (I thought I?d tell you that so you could pick it out from the rest) and there are these people in black sheets and headdresses with glowy red eyes, and the weird deep voice sounds exactly like their voices did! Trust me, its uncanny. So I sort of ignore that bit or I start laughing and attract strange looks.

14) I Won?t Spend Another Night Alone
For some reason this song reminds me of that song by the All-American Rejects, ?Swing Swing?. I think they are just a similar tempo and one of the interval changes in the verse sounds similar to one in that song. On closer inspection
, they aren?t very similar at all, but that first impression has become unshakeable so I still think of it as ?that one that sounds like Swing Swing? to myself. That aside, this is a pretty good song, catchy and?swingy.

15) The Saddest Song (Acoustic)
Funnily enough, this sounds rather like track six. The introduction is the same, and obviously they share advantages such as tempo and lyrics. I think I prefer the stronger, more developed backing in the original version, but the singing in this one has a poignancy I really love and a more gravely emotional quality that makes it, simply, better. If they were combined, angels would bend an ear to listen to it. As it is, we can hear an excellent song twice showing its different aspects.

And, to take all points into account as I watch them jump through the hoop of thought and land on the crash mat of opinion, I really love this album. I fell in love with it from the first song I heard, and the songs are engaging enough to keep me interested for a good long time to come. Value for money wise it?s not too bad; 15 tracks is reasonable and there are no silly short filler ones. In fact, every song is of dazzling standard in every aspect I can think of. They haven?t stuck to just one genre (but have done enough albums to know what sounds good) so there is a good mix of styles, and they all are of exceptional quality and all stand well on their own. Some of the songs on here are feel-good, cheerful pieces, but this band also know how to handle more difficult subjects than ?oh, no, my poor self, she doesn?t like me enough? which I appreciate greatly. I would unhesitatingly recommend this album to friends, family, acquaintances I meet on the bus and you, my trusting audience. I like it so much I may check out some of their other releases, a first in the eons of history for me. As for yo
u, if you haven?t got it, I recommend you get hold of a copy somehow?I just can?t wield the words to get across just how good the album is. I hope you get the idea and buy it, if only to put me out of my misery.

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