Search - Andrew Bird :: Swimming Hour

Great Album

Christopher Bowers | buffalo, NY United States | 03/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm admitting up front- This is the only album I have heard from Andrew Bird, (no rhyme intended) but I'm very impressed. Borrowing from many different musical genres- traditional pop, jazz, latin, country, etc, he can be critcized for sounding derivitive/contrived. However, from my perspective he suceeds at borrowing elements, but at the same time introducing something uniquely Andrew Bird in each song. After all music is not created in a vacuum. Its obvious that he is a gifted songwriter, singer, and musician from hearing this, but I noticed that there are a couple 1 star reviews. They read a bit like the pretentious 'he fell off/ sold out after he released his first album.' I can never understand this type of stupidity. Its as if some people want the same album released over and over again. Or maybe its the ol' "I listened to him way back before he was born"



Update- Now that I've listened to his other albums, this one still stands up as very good. Its not the first of his albums that I'd reach for today (that would be Oh! The grandeur), but its the most accessible and is solid throughout. He has changed his approach dramatically from album to album, but the quality remains for all of them. The albums before "Oh! the Grandeur" are weaker than the rest"

Only Andrew can rock out with a violin!

Éponine Thénardier | Charleston,SC/Northwest Indiana/Central IL | 04/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this Cd. I'd listened to "Oh, the Grandeur" nonstop for weeks, so I'd been eagerly awaiting "the Swimming Hour." Initially, I listened to S.H. and was appalled. How could this be the same Andrew Bird I had grown to love!? This was rock and not jazz! And now he has backup singers?! So I put the CD back in the case and didn't listen to it for a year. DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE! (How many hours of pleasure had I denied myself in that year...?) I'd only listened to it once, but eventually I slipped this CD into the player again... and after some listening, I adored it!At first, it's shocking to hear Andrew play pop/rock, but then it grows on you and it's hard to take the CD player off "repeat one" to hear another song. His use of the violin in modern-sounding (yet unclassifiable) music is ingenious. Andrew has pulled off the impossible and made a violin a rock instrument. This Cd is perfect for driving down the expressway with the windows rolled down and the car stereo cranked way up. It's fun, beautiful, and thought-provoking (what lyrics!) all at the same time. 11:11- oh! What a song! soothing violin with his signature strumming over the top melts away and is replaced by rhythm guitar accenting some hardcore sawing at the fiddle, in that way that only Andrew can play. Amazing. You need this CD!This album is *not* a sell-out effort. We are talking about a man who had never listened to anything but classical music until directly before he made this CD. All of his albums are different, and show off how versatile he truly is. I am fond of saying, "Andrew has a CD for every mood!" This is the crazy, hyper album.*And do yourself a favor and see him play live! I drove 3 1/2 hours to see him and he was absolutely stunning! He is in his element on stage; so if you think this recording is something, you ain't see nothin' until you go to a live show. *swoon**A note about his albums: Music of Hair is ethnic, folksy and soothing, Thrills is hot jazz with Euro influence, Oh! the Grandeur is dark, brooding, and unlike anything you've ever heard, this is rock, Weather Systems is floaty, serene New Age and indicates a move back to the more obscure jazz of Grandeur. If you can find Fingerlings or any other live recording of his, you should snatch it right up. Andrew is beyond amazing and with or without his band Bowl of Fire, he creates some of the most innovative and original music of our time. BUY THIS CD RIGHT NOW! And if you enjoy this, check out his other releases (Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six is BOF + 2 more musicians). You will not be disappointed."

Mainstream? Drown that idea!

Christopher Bowers | 04/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Strange as it seems, someone has reviewed this album... by comparing The Bowl of Fire's new direction (a direction they were hinting at all along) as akin to the "mainstream" sounds of Dave Matthews. While this same reviewer obviously provides useful biographical information regarding Bird and band, I think the analogy to Dave Matthews is wrong. And I think so because, whatever his merits may be, I find Dave Matthews' music to be antithetical, in effect, to Andrew Bird's. Bird is passionate, clever, self-aware, and always pushing his own envelope -- he continues to innovate & on his own terms. Dave Matthews, on the other hand, has never done anything but bore me, mostly since his music never develops, it just lopes along, on and on, in that queasy "jam band" style I personally don't enjoy.That said, "The Swimming Hour" could just as well appeal to any kind of music fan. The songs seem, for lack of a better word, necessary -- as if they just HAD to happen that way. Like all great art (sure, this is "pop" -- which is why its greatness is that much more of a rarity), having it around makes me, and may make you, just want to perservere. And, cyber-shoppers, remember, the sound-bytes online just don't do these songs justice. Take my word for it, then take your own."