Represents a new direction...
jason edwards | Peoria, IL | 10/24/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"First off, I love Les Savy Fav. I've watched them grow since 3/5 and even sought out their first demo from a friend that went to college with them. Their spazzy eccentricities were a great collage of what I love about indie rock and they followed in the footsteps of Brainiac, Archers of Loaf and Fugazi, in my cannon of 90's avant punk favorites. 3/5's sounded like a young excited band that was still reconciling their influences and excited to be finding their own way. Cat and the Cobra was the band's sound coming to fruition. It was indeed a very good record that stood up next to "Hissing Prigs..." or "Severe Exposure" --albums that obviously influenced the band intially. The Rome e.p. was good and while I missed Gibb's duelling second guitar I was excited by the band's artier pretensions.
This new record however tows the line in a surprisingly conventional way. Phil Ek's production has airbrushed their sound into a cotton candy goo. Tim's vocals are chorused, and reverbed, and overdubbed to a egregous degree and the absence of the second guitar has rendered their compositions into merely good uptempo pop songs. I miss the dry style of Nic Verhnes production on previous efforts.
"Reprobates Resume" and "Adoptduction" are very well written, and the rest of Go Forth isn't bad...the band certainly sounds more professional, but it seems like they've lost some momentum as a result. Here's hoping its just a phase and they go back to a more insurgent and less polished sound."
Fire alarms sound, fire frightens sight
Kevin Mulcahy | east lansing | 11/08/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"it took a while for this new LSF record to hit me, but it finally has. it's true that the production is different on this album. it even sounds a lot different than the ROME ep, in my opinion. it's something about the guitar riffs, they are further back and little less in-your-face. les savy fav definitely have a few more groove oriented things going on with this release, especially with "the slip." but all this doesn't mean they don't bring the rock and the spazz, because i think they definitely do. the only thing that i wasn't sure about were the melodies, especially the vocal melodies. they just weren't sinking in at first, but after a few spins i can't stop listening. it really is great. the arrangements are as original as ever and tim harrington's lyrics are the best they've ever been. not all the songs are complete home runs, but the only one that isn't extra bases is probably "Daily Dares," which i guess is good enough for what it is, but i could pretty much do without it. I would give some of my favorite tracks, but they keep changing, they really are all great. Buy this. If i waited a few more days to write this review, i would probably give it 5 stars."
L-E-S-S-A-V-Y-F-A-V
Kevin Mulcahy | 10/30/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The production values are a little different, the sound is a little different, but this is still Les Savy Fav, and in my opinion at their best!I loved 3/5 for its raw spiky brilliance, and though I loved The Cat and the Cobra too, it was a little polished for my taste at the time. When I finally managed to track down ROME, I was blown away by the ideas on the record. The new influences more than made up for the loss of one guitar, and made for a much more exciting and vital band.With Go Forth the band continue on this trajectory, exploring the slightly more electro influenced sound that we heard inklings of on ROME. Don't misunderstand me, this isn't Trans Am, thank god! Les Savy Fav still rock your socks off, but now there's more going on than guitar, bass, drums, vox. Tim's lyrics are the most interesting and funny in any genre of music right now, and Go Forth is FULL of great, great lines. The combination of spiky, angular, explosive punk rock with hillarious, intelligent, eliptical lyrics and a smattering of electro thrown in for good measure makes me wanna dance and riot at the same time!!! Who wants a band to sound exactly like they sounded on their first release anyway??"