Search - Brian Jonestown Massacre :: And This Is Our Music

...And this is a great record

Ray O'Keefe Cruitt | Baltimore | 04/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is really fascinating to see how emotive the reactions are to the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It seems there's rarely a rating betwixt the one and five star rating for the BJM. And, this applies to every one of their records. This is so very telling. . . Are the reviews about the recording itself or are they about band? That said, I'll accede to my own opinion; it's from the perspective of a devoted (but, not fundamentalist!) BJM fan ...And This Is Our Music is evidence of an ever maturing and expanding BJM. I think they are Bach. In other words, they are not imposters, but great Interpreters. The lyrical as well as the instrumental songs on this recording are great. There's a reflective quality inherent in this album or, possibly it just makes me reflective. At the same time, I'm not saying that every song on this album should be elected into the canon. But, as a whole, this record rocks! Anton has the rare talent of being able to express the paradoxical nature of this sad and beautiful world through his music. This record has both sad and beautiful moments, sometimes contained within the same song. If you hate the BJM and always have, as is evidenced by some of the so-called "music fans" who gratuitously offer up negative reviews of every BJM record, then it's obvious! you will hate this album. In other words, it's no different than having Winton Marsalis (a known hater of rock) review the newest Flying Saucer Attack record? We know what the content of that review would be. The Perpetual One Star!! in other words, not valid. As for all the rest - I think you'll find that And This Is Our Music has a lot to offer."

Why not

GreySky | LA county | 01/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I always thought that the BJM's really good stuff where the older albums they produced with Matt Hollywood and the other great musicians they had but this new album is just phenomenal like the others. The melodys man Anton Newcombe is by far the greatest musican I've heard. Every song on this album is great and his supporting cast of musicians do not fail to produce the highest quality of music like the older musicians had done. I began to just like the record but after i heard the song "When Jokers Attack" man that killed anything i had heard with a melody like that before. This is a must to any music fan, you don't realy have to get into the BJM's older material to like this.Why Not get it."

This IS "Cool"

Thelma Todd | New York | 08/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sad, Beautiful and Complete. As Essential as Anything by Galaxie 500 or the Jesus and Mary Chain. As Essential as James Brown!!! Believe it. This band Owns you. All else is probably already irrelevant."