Best record you've never heard
Steven Morrison | Aberdeen, U.K. | 11/18/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Glorious album of pop and emotion from the best band in the Southern Hemisphere. Not an idle claim as New Zealand has produced a load of great bands that beat Australia by some way. "Night of Chill Blue" is the most tender love song I have ever heard. Martyn Phillips has something to say as a writer without being dogmatic or banal. Sweet without being sickening, singalong without being dumb and upbeat without having a lobotomy. A band that know that there are some things worth celebrating and some things worth reflecting upon. And they were sublime live. Buy!"
Brilliant songs, but DON'T BUY THIS
Robert Keith | New York, NY USA | 01/22/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It is very hard to screw up a good song, but the production and mix on this record are terrible. It's a real let down after the brilliant Kaleidoscope World album by the Chills (the first one you should buy on CD if you don't already own it).
A few years ago, Martin Phillipps, the head Chill, put out a 3 CD set called "Secret Box" that contained 70 home demos, b sides, live and radio recordings. Most of the songs from Brave Word are on that set, but are mixed, performed and produced a million times better. That set is essential for Kaleidoscope World fans.
From The Chills Website:
I remembered that you had mentioned in interviews that you had wanted to remix it and call it Braver Words.
"The problem with Brave Words is that it was done really, really fast. It was recorded and mixed in about two weeks. Obviously, that's the first album after 7 years, plus that band was about 2 1/2 months old at that stage. In all aspects that record was really done fast. we basically just recorded things as they had been live. Then we went back and sort of went overboard trying to redo some stuff to make it sound as big as we'd been hearing it."
Buy this if you have to, but the Secret Box is the best way to hear these songs."
If only it had a little more punch...
Davy | Athens, GA | 08/02/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"...i'd give it the full 5 stars. this is the chills' first proper studio album. after touring extensively, going through several line-ups, and releasing a myriad 7"s over the course of 6-7 years, they finally got themselves together for this album. only, compared to their previous vinyl-only offerings--which have since been collected on the excellent kaleidescope world--this falls a little flat. the songs are great, and more immediately accessible than their predecessors, but they were all new to the band, and hadn't been performed at shows previous to the recording of the album. so the record soundss like a band feeling out a batch of new songs, and while many of these tracks would go on to become live staples and fan favorites, here they are like ducklings, waddling around, running into things...but cute all the same."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1