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| The WeakerthansReconstruction Site2003 Epitaph 
 Review by: Scott See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on August 26th 2003
My fellow editor Adam recently wrote a blindingly good review for the new Constantines record. In it, he declared that the Cons' Shine A Light "feels important." This is exactly what I want to say about the new Weakerthans album, as well. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
Absolutely perfect. My favorite album of all time. I wish that I had some higher praise to give it, but I know none. Missing the other half of the star due to the begining of A New Name For Everything. I've had this album for three years, and am just starting to fully appreciate how fantastic it is!! Beautiful fucking record!! these guys are great. ive just started getting into them recently, but im enthralled with their uniwue sound and great lyrics. great record, great band. I don't think it's fair to pigeonhole the Weakerthans with anything to do with country. Very few of the songs have a slide guitar or country feel, so that shouldn't define them as a band. Brett Gurewitz says it's punk, and I would tend to agree. I saw these guys with the Constantines, amazing show. Amazing records. I agree with everyone else who said this is a fantastic album. It's easily one of my favorites, but I think I still prefer Left and Leaving. I dunno... Bought it last week, and I can't listen to it all the way. A lot of the songs have the same structure. It gets boring quick. Fabulous album. "and to whoever said the guy from interpol sings and writes like ian curtis...sings, yes. writes...ian curtis wrote hauntingly beautiful songs. the guy from interpol strings together things that rhyme that resemble a kindergartener's ramblings. dont ever compare them." this album Is just perfect, it is absolutly amazing, I am glad I can say I was on a roadtrip back from edmonton to Ontario and we made a stop in Winnipeg just so I could say I bought this album in Winnipeg I wanted to mention how soothing the new Weakerthans is to listen to while I'm watering my plants or doing yoga! this record is astounding. BSD is either A)saying shit to purposely piss people off because...well sometimes that shit is just funny over the internet or B) a scenester(sp) prick. Either way, I think you all take him way to seriously. "Radiohead are even worse." BSD, you are pretty much right about the Joy Division stuff. Although very talented, and a great song writer, the singer puts on a HUGE act during his shows, we were once in the same record store and all those cats talked about was smack and hookers, depressed my ass. That opening riff on "Plea From A Cat Named Virtue" sounds like AC/DC's "Money Talks". "Interpol is the next Radiohead and are equally as amazing, sadly, none of you will even consider listening to them because they are "Indie" or are on the Radio, those who do listen to them, well, I commend you." does anyone know if the weakerthans have done or plan to do a full band rendition of "utilities," one of the four songs from john samson's cbc sessions? i really liked that song... Why do people keep posting about Interpol, Radiohead, etc...It's all about The Weakerthans seriously, look at the reviews for the dwarves albums, the albums themselves are not that different, but the reviews are. they should at least have consistent opinion across their reviewers... I think my problem with Pitch Fork is they're inconsistant and most albums that are more punk than indie (or whatever you want to call it) they act like it's worthless and never as good and pretentious art rock. I don't like reviews that are so vague either, sometimes you can't even tell if they like them or not until you read the score. Whatever. Love this album! well, you said equal. but they are still not equal. but still very good. yea. interpol is very good but... they are in no way better than radiohead. speaking of radiohead I just got back from seeing them live, AMAZING. Yeah I dont get the interpol comparison to radiohead. I guess its kinda like when critics would call pavement the american radiohead interpol is not even comparable to radiohead, although interpol is pretty great. Interpol is the next Radiohead and are equally as amazing, sadly, none of you will even consider listening to them because they are "Indie" or are on the Radio, those who do listen to them, well, I commend you. My favorite out of every one of the "new rock" (yeah, right) bands is the Libertines, but even they piss me off at times... The music of Hives, Strokes, Interpole, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, though a lot better than the metal crap on this site, is still quite contrived and boring after three listens. one last point... interpol and the strokes and whoever can actually be pretty cool and good bands whatever as long as you're not too hung up about an image or scene. just get over yourself and download "stella was a driver and she was always down." don't think about it, just listen. A few things... oh and one more thing, the liner notes are fucking awesome! i love all the quotes they included! i just got this album yesterday, so i haven't been able to listen to it enough, so pay no attention to the score. but, with that said, is it just me, or does the vocal melody of the first song on the CD sound a lot like "past due"? oh and btw, on first listen, i love the old version of "past due" (the one on the hopeless comp) a lot better than the new version, but maybe i'll grow to like it.. Wow! I just picked this up yesterday and cannot stop listening to it. Im pretty sure most bands arent fashion bands. I dont know what the hell you listen to to think that way...but whatever. Arent you excited about the new strokes album? (HAHAHA) Great CD, just like their previous releases. John K. Samson and co. Strike again. Record of the year!!! If you don't like the Weakerthans, that's fine, but do I care? Not really, I'm sure within the next few days I'll realize all the negative comments were right on and I'll jump onto the next cd to be reviewed and rip into that too. Let's do an a/s/l check of the people who read this just so I can confirm I'm looking at the same site as a bunch of 12-year-old, pre-pubescent girls. "Interpol is shit. No more fashion bands please." Interpol is shit. No more fashion bands please. Just went out and picked this up today. Boring 4/4 time folk-country-indie rock. They should tour with the Dixie Chicks. I can't stop listening to this record....Especially after about the third song and you realize you have all the songs stck in your head. Brillinat songwriting. Fuck yes. 10. There seems to be some confusion about this album -- some people aren't sure if it's "for them." Well, let me make it simple for you: if you are moved by great lyrics alone, you'll like it. If you just want the music to be loud and fast, well Best Buy is overflowing with unsold Pennywise albums. You can't trust Pitchfork reviews in certain areas of music (The Weakerthans included), but they're accurate most of the time. They're a different breed, so of course they'll rate things differently than Punknews. No I never stopped to think that because I know that Interpol wasn't one of the best records of last year. I also don't think the strokes are better than the weakerthans. They did give the new Small Brown Bike a good review though, I'll give them that. "Pitchfork has the worst taste in music." honestly, when i heard the original cbc recordings, i thought psalms was kinda boring, and the guitar's melody felt like it was missing something. i didn't hate the song, it just didn't feel right. the newer version made me realize how it all came together, but now feels like it's missing the more melancholy emotion of the acoustic. i'm not sure if i can say i like either one especially better now... Boring... Typical scott shite thats been done before and done 10 times better-oldpunker- ok i streamed it and musically this band is doing absolutely nothing for me, i'm sorry i don't hear it the same way many of you do. i have to wholeheartedly agree with the "music backing poetry" comment - the lyrics are great, i'll give them that, but even the way they're presented in the vocals...he just seems lifeless at a lot of times. like i know there's supposed to be a point maybe in the way he sings it or something (because i know that this band is entirely too subtle with its political messages than ever) but it just doesn't click on me. oh man, hungryjoe i completely agree. "psalm" was amazing solo, but dissapointing on the new record. the solo stuff reflected the lyrics better i feel. kindof like if springsteen's "nebraska" would've been reworked to full instrumentation it would've lost a lot. i would love to hear all of the songs solo and compare. I'm with you Evildead... Am I the only one that liked "Psalm" before it got the whole band treatment? I loved the John K. solo performance on the CBC. The album version just seems.....forced (at least in comparison to the solo one). To the guy below. Anchorless and Letter of resignation were both Propagandhi songs. I'd like to hear Gift in The Weakerthans way. By the way, another great album for them! IM with the dude below me 100%. But im about to listen to that Virtue cat song, and we will see if it changes my opinion. I know I'm gonna take some shit for this comment, but I haven't heard a Weakerthan's song yet that has interested me at all. Maybe I just don't get it... I want to, believe me, I do, but it just doesn't do it for me. If I believed in god I would thank him for records such as this. This is the reason I listen to music. These tracks are reasons for me to get out of bed. I love any flaw they might have. I love that this makes me love something and or anything. in the AP with dashboard on the front there is a quick interview with john k samson. he talks about how he was using victorian couplets for three of the songs. those would eb the ones in parenthesis. just thought i'd drop some knowledge I'd have to chime in and say I love the new record a lot, but the first two records are better. A few songs were a bit boring to me, but I really enjoyed the focus on the pop songs on this album. ditto on the mars volta review, agreeing-wise...i also happen to think it's one of the best reviews i've ever read. the citations are as obscure as...a metaphor i can't think of right now. but seriously yeah fucking amazing review for mars volta. and pitchfork also gave a 10.0 to trail of dead...i dont know about that. now i should stream this so i convince myself its better than i think. well, I think it got like a 5.5, but I think mars volta deserved at least a 7. I would have given it an 8 though digin: Pitchfork posts a lot of shit but their Mars Volta review is one of the few I completely agree with. Anchorless is a propaghandi song!! what 2 propagandhi songs are on fallow..i just dont follow some of the ptchfork writers do have good taste in music. And also it seems that in some cases they try to put down bands that have a lot of hype, or they put down "emo" bands because emo is big now. Take cursive for example they got straight 8 ratings until The Ugly Organ(which got like a 6 or 7) But that is obviously their best release, but since emo is now big, they lowballed it. Also the mars volta deserved a much better score then it got. Love this band, I'm really glad they didn't blow it and make a weak CD. Frankly I can't believe how good it is for being so simplistic at times. The horn adds a lot too. listened to this all the way through last night..I love this album. Going right now to get this, can't wait. Can this band do any wrong? Check em out live as well, there incredible. i just have to disagree. The second half of this record, except prescience, past due, and one great city is frankly boring and formulaic. I can barely remember some of them. A new name for everything is utterly ambivalent. The lyrics seem like they're pretending intimacy, the song is so standard and unexpressive. This has some standout tracks, but I can't see this as ever being more than a 7 purely based on the second half of the record minus the very end where it picks back up a little. the weakerthans like winnipeg, the song is not in the first person. I love this album... i gave in. i bought the cd. i love it. i take back saying i didn't like this band. question: is it just me or did anybody else receive a crooked cd booklet with this album? instead of being a regular straight down cd booklet, mines slants to the right. also some of the words have been cut out in the inside. oh well... i love how this band had marcel dzama do their cover because that man is an extremely cool artist. i also love how i have a big fat poster of the cover art for free.... ah... it's good. john "shabadoo" samson is great. although i like "left and leaving" a little more, this record is great. my fav songs are "the reasons", "reconstruction site", and "psalm for the elks...". Weakerthans also revamped "past due" great from the latest hopeless records comp. with the new pornographers in my collection and now this, i beginning to have rock-folk music in the brain. "One thing, though. Are those song titles REALLY in parentheses? If so, that'll really put a damper on this record. E to tha MO. Or should I say artsy fartsy?" You dick. Before today, this record was barely on my radar screen. Now I'm afraid that you oversold it to me. MAKE UP YER DANG MINDS! Should I not care about this record at all or care about it too much? I'll just tell my roommate to buy it since he's in love with this band. I'll even drive him to the record store. dignin: The dates are on the Constantines' website (http://www.constantines.ca). I'll post them later (I posted some of them earlier). It's mostly an American tour. Don't get me wrong; I, too, love the Weakerthans. But don't you think you got just a liiiiittle bit carried away? "Most innovative pop music made today?" Alt-country pop rock isn't incredibly innovative. Well executed? Certainly. But they didn't found the genre. I think blood bros. and cursive is a great package tour also. Any dates on this canadien tour you speak of? First |
