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Don't miss this one. And I was happy I could download it for such a amazing price. (Don't worry, I support the band with merch and buying other albums [Once and Strict Joy so far], and will work my way through the list, surely). Love the title track, also Say It to Me Now (one that Glen has been doing solo, powerfully, live). Solid. Was convinced to buy after I saw The Swell Season recently and was immeasurably impressed by the Frames. They're standouts for me, but the rest of the cuts are spectacular as well. The intensity and restraint when the time calls for it are divine.
The band is however much better live. Still one of the best bands. This is a great recording.
The title song alone makes the album worth owning. Fans of ONCE will recognize the stellar "Say It To Me Now", presented here in its full electric version.
For those who are new to the Frames, this is the perfect place to start. "Your Face" is a beautiful, mellow tune that ties up the album well.FITZCARRALDO is an album that begs to be listened to over and over.
FITZCARRALDO is, plain and simple, a fantastic album. "Revelate" begs to be danced to, "Evergreen" boasts a surprising guitar riff, and you'll find it hard not to sing along with "Angel at My Table" and "Denounced".
Seasoned Frames fans.for heaven's sake, why don't you have this album yet. After hearing live versions of several of the tracks on the superb SET LIST, I knew I had to have this album in my collection.Every track has something special about it.
There is so much going on musically in "Fitzcarraldo" that I all I could do was sit and listen with my mouth open in amazement.
Give it a listen; you won't be disappointed. Although this album is not a standout sonically, the songs and Glen's singing keep it high on my rotation. After watching the movie Once, I began reading reviews of albums recorded by the Frames. Other reviewers of Fitcarraldo considered this to be the Frames best work, and although I have yet to listen to any other Frames albums besides the Cost, I have to admit this is one fine album.
They probably won't be. There seems to be no rational explanation for why they aren't huge. I'm on the fence as to which album I like more. THE COST might be a better album on a cut by cut basis, but the highpoints of FITZCARRALDO might be better than the best on THE COST. But I do urge anyone who loves music to at the very least get this album and their more recent album THE COST. They well may be, but I think a lot of statements like this are driven by the relative lack of success the Frames have had contrasted with the excessive success enjoyed by U2.
It is a shame that this is only available at present on an import edition. If you love the one album, you will also love the other. He may lack Bono's power in the upper registers, but there is an angst and expressiveness in Hansard's voice that I never find in Bono's. Hansard is so soulful in his singing that he almost brings to mind another great Irish soul singer, Van Morrison. As I write this I'm listening to the three-song progression of the title track, "Evergreen," and "In This Boat Together." What more could you want from music than this. My advice: get both.A lot of people like to call The Frames the best album in Ireland. The success of their new album THE COST has won the band a lot of new fans. For those new to the band, they are similar to the Feelies in that both bands are extraordinarily good live but somewhat flat on record.
This band deserves to be huge. Hansard is both a great singer and a great songwriter and while they are uneven in the studio they are among the best live acts in rock. All that aside, the Frames is a band that will shock people coming to them for the first time. "Monument" is another gorgeous song (one that really does sound like U2). There is no question that they are great, but the gap between them and the Frames is smaller than the latter's failure to sell many records would imply.
My favorite song on the album, however, "Giving It All Away," with contrasts great playing by the band (including some great bass lines) with some of Hansard's best singing on the album. BURN THE MAP and a couple of their live albums (like I said, they are at their best live) are also definitely worth exploring, but the two albums I've identified should be in any serious music library. "Revelate" (I love the variant on "reveal" and "revelation") is another. THE COST is one of the rare exceptions for the Frames, as is this album from 1996. FITZCARRALDO is filled with a string of really fine songs, as well as a few great ones.
I personally would rather hear Glen Hansard sing than Bono. But hairsplitting like this is really pretty meaningless. For many of us U2 is the band we hate to love.
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