Music : Fleet Foxes

Rating: - Its not all bad
Yep you can reference My Morning Jacket, America.......its just an ok album. I can see how some have engaged this if its their first foray into the world of alt.country/americana/folk its inoffensive. You can put it on and the next thing you know 40 odd minutes have past and you have not been engaged at all.

The production is poor, too much reverb and a just a bit lyrically bland. They have potential so if they suffer second album syndrome they will disappear without trace but i do think they can do something so much better so come on lads do yourself a favour.

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Rating: - Restores my faith in harmony vocals
My music tastes usually have to include talented musical playing ability i.e.Porcupine Tree, Keith Jarrett, Jimi Hendrix, Weather Report etc so it unusual for me to rave about an album based on singing and harmony vocals but the Fleet Foxes have given me an album that I have not enjoyed so much for years. I dont do a bundle on singers apart from Jeff Buckley,Thom Yorke, early Neil Young and Lowell George but the phrasing of the vocals on these delightful songs really hit the spot. Could be too mellow for some but on further and repeated listening it is ever so rewarding. Im raving to my friends(those with musical taste) so much about the Fleet Foxes that I feel the need to write my first ever review. Buy this album now.

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Rating: - Mountain Magic
I came to "Fleet Foxes" following a chance hearing at a second hand book and record store. Taking the plunge into unknown territory proved wonderfully rewarding, as this must easily be one of the finest albums of the past few years. Some, it appears, are aware of what is going on here in terms of derivation, but for me (and I daresay for many others) Fleet Foxes offer a fresh sound quite unlike anything else currently on the scene. The album conjures the vast sweeping imagery of a wild North American landscape filled with blue skies, snowy mountains, soaring eagles, lush greenery and fast flowing rivers - think "Jeremiah Johnson" meets tambourine-shaking man-choir backed by a battalion of acoustic guitars.
The multi-layered vocals and dreamy reverb-drenched sound perfectly compliment a fine set of songs that sport consistently winning tunes. "White Winter Hymnal" is a kind of modern nursery rhyme; "Ragged Wood" is a foot-stomping torch song in two movements; "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" is a haunting, if lyrically obscure, lament of great beauty, and is followed by the upbeat melodic toe-tapper "Quiet Houses", which itself gives onto the suberbly poppy "He Doesn't Know Why". Other highlights include the striking lullaby "Meadowlarks" and the sophisticated "Blue Ridge Mountains", which sees the band firing on all cylinders.
"Fleet Foxes" is the kind of record one discovers for oneself, and it really doesn't matter if anyone else gets the hang of it. Lie back and enjoy.

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Rating: - Magical and addictive
Like many other British reviewers, I suspect, I stumbled on this 'alternative folk' album by accident when listening to the audio channel on a longhaul BA flight. It was twinned with a Dennis Wilson (ex-Beach Boy) album which was a mistake as their sounds were so familiar (West Coast hippy harmonies) that initially I could not tell when one album finished and the other started. Note that Amazon claim that lots of customers are buying both albums together! But as I listened to the channel over and over again (it was a long flight) the Fleet Foxes half began to stand out and indeed to imprint itself on my subconscious. I bought the album as soon as I got back and have barely stopped listening since. It is a magical and addictive album that combines the pastoral (meadowlarks, tall grasses etc) with the ethereal (the other-worldly arrangements and soaring harmonies) and the sombre ("Staggering through premonitions of my death").

Some reviewers have criticised the first track (Sun It Rises) as out of character with the rest but I think this is one of those rare albums when there is not one weak track. In fact, I cannot pick a favourite as they are all, in their own way, haunting and beautiful. Other reviewers have been been unimpressed by the tuning, arguing that in places the harmonies go awry. I have a good ear for these things and do not believe that one note is out of place on the album (but live might be different - see below). Yes, there is a rawness in the singing (especially Robin Pecknold's solo singing on "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" which, if pressed, I would probably offer as my favourite track), but this is part of the Fleet Foxes' rustic hippy charm.

I note that Fleet Foxes are touring the UK later this autumn and that the London dates are already sold out. There are still some tickets for gigs in the provinces, so get these while you can (I have). But I hope their live performances do not disappoint; the live performances which you can find on Youtube look quite weak and vocally strained.

No album is perfect of course and my two minor criticisms of this album are (a) the diction is poor in places (I defy anyone to listen to 'Quiet Houses' and interpret the second chorus line as 'Don't give in' - it sound to me like 'darkie man'!) and (b) no lyrics are supplied with the CD. But these are minor quibbles. This is a brilliant album.

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Rating: - My new My Morning Jacket? (7.5/10)

I have been sitting on this review for a couple of months now, at a loss on what to say or how to start. Honestly I think that might be because I don't like this album as much as I wanted to, that it hasn't stirred the same inspiration in me as it has in others. Whether I have been handicapped by the massive hype bestowed upon this record I don't know, but as much as I love the new folk and country renaissance, I find this a little too trad, and slightly portentous in its reconstituted retro moods. I love the harmonies, the romantic poeticism of the lyrics and the organic glow of the record, but I find myself wanting for the more impressionistic musical touches of Bon Iver's `Emma, Forever Ago` or Iron and Wine's `Shepherd Dog`, to cite two favourites of the last two years.

Asides from the singular, joyous `White Winter Hymnal', I feel Fleet Foxes mine a particular territory explored thoroughly in the past by My Morning Jacket, before the Kentucky alt-country stalwarts decided to reinvent themselves in rather unappealing ways. Fleet Foxes's debut echoes a lot of Jim James and co.'s more plaintive, mellower moments, but without the variety that made these moments only one facet of MMJ's sound - not the whole article. Admittedly, those starving for James' heartbreaking balladry (now that he has gone all Prince on us) will find solace in this record, even if it only occasionally reaches the level of MMJ's best.

True, I have not really reviewed this record on its own terms - not properly at all, in fact - but as probably the last blogger on the planet to post a review of this record I don't think I'll change anyone's mind anyway. While there is much to admire about this record and some beautiful songs there is some magic ingredient missing that leaves it a little dry or staid to me. Put simply: there's just not enough here that you can't find on other records.