#5 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
I’d hate to use this forum as an opportunity to say I told you so, but I’m going to anyways. I mentioned back in September this album might challenge for Tops of the year, and I’d have say that coming in at #5 certainly fits the bill. Now, I realize, with the success that Band of Horses first album Everything All the Time achieved, that I was hardly going out on a limb, but the statement remains true. However, I’ll agree with Bryan’s analysis that Everything All the Time was slightly better than Cease to Begin. That’s not to say that Cease to Begin isn’t a damn good album, but I think its lacks a standout track. I feel Everything All the Time had two of these tracks: “The Funeral” and “The Great Salt Lake”. And where a few songs are definitely better than others on Cease to Begin, with “No One’s Gonna Love You” and “Is There a Ghost” being tops for me, there isn’t a song that makes me think, “Damn, that might be the best song I’ve heard all year.” There seems to be very little change in style from the first album to this one, and often many of the tracks are interchangeable. But I also come from the school of that that thinks that consistently changing one’s style is completely overrated. I’d rather a band be consistently consistent, and that’s one thing Band of Horses has going for them. If I want a different style, I’ll listen to a different band. If I want dreamy, reverberating, crisp guitars layered over higher pitched vocals…I’ll listen to Band of Horses. One thing I would’ve liked to hear more of, however, is acoustic arrangements. “Part One” and “St. Augustine” were two of my favorite songs on Everything All the Time but Cease to Begin lacks these songs. So, far I suppose I’ve used this as more a review of Band of Horses first record than their 2007 effort, and maybe there’s a reason to that. Maybe Cease to Begin just reiterated to me just how good Everything All the Time was. But if you ever listened to that and thought…”Man, I wish this album had more than 10 songs on it,” then Cease to Begin is for you. And that is reason enough to give it Top 5 status for 2007.
Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost
Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
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