The Beginning Stages Of.. a great band (Beginning Stages Of... - The Polyphonic Spree)

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	Beginning Stages Of... - The Polyphonic Spree
Date:	27/07/07 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Several superb songs; nicely realised concept

Disadvantages: Final track is a 36-minute long waste of space; melodies and lyrics sometimes too repetitive

"The Beginning Stages Of.." is (not altogether surprisingly) the first album by acclaimed indie-pop outfit The Polyphonic Spree, a ten-track ode to life, the sun and the daytime. In earlier reviews I've waxed lyrical about later efforts "The Fragile Army" and "Wait" - but is this, their debut, one any good?

First, a quick background on the Polyphonic Spree for the uninitiated, quoted from my earlier review of their "Wait" EP: "Ranging from 24 to 29 members strong, and led by Flaming Lips frontman Tom DeLaughter, they combine sunny choral pop in the vein of the Beach Boys with a dense, symphonic Wall-of-Sound type backing, gospel-like chants and singing, and the occasional bit of psychedelia. They have to be heard to be believed (it's probably worth checking out a sample or two at Amazon.com or on iTunes to completely understand the style we're dealing with here)."

The album, which appears to see the Spree attempt to make their album a metaphorical, musical representation of the day, kicks off with "Section 1 (Have A Day/Celebratory)". It's a good indication of what's to come - life-worshipping, lyically-simplistic but musically-complex orchestral music - and it falls somewhere inbetween the album's two primary styles: calm ballad and brass-driven, upbeat, catchy pop. It's no standout but it's a serviceable introduction, and the repeated line "have a day / celebrate / soon you'll find the answer" will be indelibly marked on your brain by the end.

The second track, "Section 2 (It's The Sun)" is an improvement. Switching between dense and sparse backing throughout, it's home to the archetypal Spree lyric "hey now, it's the sun / and it makes me shine all around". The decidedly more downbeat Section 3, "Days Like This Keep Me Warm", is the album's only truly successful slower piece. Relaxing but never boring, it's more than a little melancholy - something that's rather missing on their later work - and DeLaughter manages to make the line "days like this keep me warm" sound devastatingly poignant. A wonderfully realised song.

"Section 4 (La La)" is, thankfully, not an ode to the Teletubby Laa Laa, though indeed the lyrics make little more sense than what come out of Laa Laa's mouth - they're largely comprised of "la la la la!" Pleasingly, the music is far more enjoyable: upbeat, funky and brass-driven. It's followed by "Section 5 (Middle of the Day)", presumably lunchtime in the Spree's metaphorical day, though it sounds more like naptime. Calm and peaceful with not much going on at all, it's rather mind-numbing in its repetitiveness though DeLaughter's vocals - "in the middle of the day.." - and the occasional horn add some variation.

"Section 6 (Hanging Around the Day Part 1)" and "Section 7 (Hanging Around the Day Part 2)" are pretty much two sides of the same coin - the main difference being the former is an instrumental, the latter features vocals (though the instrumental version also takes time to warm up while the version with vocals seamlessly follows on from the already built-up backing of the instrumental version). It's a warm, memorable piece of music with a nice, dense backing; but it's the version with vocals that shines, the irresistible chant of "you're hanging around the day" proving almost impossible not to sing along to.

"Section 8 (Soldier Girl)" is the catchiest tune on the album yet. The hooky refrain "I've found my soldier girl / she's so far away / she makes my head spin around" is repeated throughout the song over a nice, textured backing that builds up and fades out wonderfully. But it's "Section 9 (Light & Day)" that's undoubtedly the album's standout track. A minor hit single, versions of it have been featured in productions as diverse as the US sitcom "Scrubs", quirky Jim Carrey flick "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the Jamie Oliver-starring "Sainsburys" ads in the UK. It's a bouncing, summery, orchestral song that continues the album's trend of unabashed optimism but ups the catchiness to 11. It's a successful pop song in every sense - from the swooning background music to DeLaughter's vocals; he sings "follow the day and reach for the sun!" with unbridled enthusiasm. It rates among my favourites of all-time.

The same cannot be said of "Section 10 (A Long Day)", however. At 36 minutes long it more than doubles the length of the album, yet it serves no purpose and will only make your "long day" feel even longer. Even if you take it as the album's metaphor for sleep in the context of the album's day-focused theme, it's a waste of time: half an hour of long, boring, mumbling tones, never punctuated by vocals or any other instrument. You spend the first few minutes expecting things will liven up, but after five or ten minutes, all hope is lost. It was a gross misjudgment to include this failed experiment here.

The album is ten tracks (or "Sections" one to ten in the band's numerically-ordered catalogue) and 68 minutes long, but as I previously pointed out, you're really only getting 32 minutes of song here once "Section 10" is deducted from the total. There are several different covers for the CD version (they vary depending on pressing and country), all presented in a jewel case and all featuring the same inserts, so there's no real reason to choose one over another version unless you particularly like one of the covers. Go with what's cheapest (currently the UK standard edition, the cover with the band standing on a rock all wearing white, is cheapest at Amazon UK - it's available from £3.00 on marketplace).

"The Beginning Stages Of..." is a solid album, but nothing more - aside from a couple of the singles, this isn't outstanding material: the melodies and lyrics are a bit too repetitive, their endearing optimism occasionally misses the mark. If you're interested in the band this is certainly worth picking up but newcomers would probably do better to pick up follow-up LPs "Together We're Heavy" or "The Fragile Army" instead - perhaps downloading "Section 9 (Light & Day)" along the way.

Summary: Worth a look, but certainly not as solid as their later work