posted 01/25/2006 (Wed) @ 10:38 am
>>> Music Reviews
Mansun - Kleptomania [BOX SET] (2004)
Quite a steal. Worth every penny.
Disc 1
- Getting Your Way
- Slipping Away
- Keep Telling Myself
- Harris
- Love Remains
- Cry 2 My Face
- No Signal/No Complaints
- Home
- Fragile
- Wanted So Much
- Good Intentions Heal The Soul
Disc 2
- Take It Easy Chicken
- Everyone Must Win
- Closed For Business
- Ski Jump Nose
- Can’t Afford To Die
- Railings
- Flourella
- Decisions, Decisions
- Been Here Before
- My Idea Of Fun
- When The Wind Blows
- Check Under The Bed
- Skin Up Pin Up
- I Care
- The World’s Still Open
Disc 3
- Rock ‘N’ Roll Loser
- Secrets
- These Days (Full Length Version)
- It’s Ok
- Drones
- Right To The End Of The Earth
- I Can Only Disappoint U (Home Demo)
- Love Is… (Home Demo)
- Love Remains (Home Demo)
- Shot By Both Sides (Live John Peel Session)
- Taxlo$$ (Live)
They’re a band who needs no introduction — save the saving-face of informing those new to the band that “it’s Mansun with a ‘u’… no, they don’t wear makeup… no, they didn’t do that ‘Mmm-Bop’ song…”
As an American, I can say that I’m part of a small but deadly circle of Mansun fans. From the moment “The Chad Who Loved Me” from “Attack of the Grey Lantern” entered my virgin ears, I was hooked. To the uninitiated, Mansun fans — especially American Mansun fans — are going to seem a little “off.” But we can’t help it. Simply put, Paul Draper’s Accounts-Payable-to-Hell croon and Dominic Chad’s dance hall afterburner guitar stylings combine favorably across nearly every song this band ever put to tape. And it’s that kind of consistency that most bands, British or American, have trouble maintaining these days.
So, predictably enough, Mansun have broken up. “Kleptomania” collects their unreleased tracks, b-sides, and the recording sessions for their salivatory fourth album.
The b-sides and knickknacks are great, but the fourth album is probably what most fans were most eager to get their mitts on. The wildly original and beautifully anti-radio experimentation of “Six” is absent, but the fourth album reminds more of “Attack of the Grey Lantern” than “Little Kix,” the latter of which was a flop commercially and among dedicated fans.
There’s some floaty, bubbly chamber pop (”Harris”) mixed in with more typical Mansun-sounding tracks like opener “Getting Your Way” and “Wanted So Much,” which plays off a complex electronica head into a soaring, singalong Brit-rock chorus. It’s well-written, well-instrumented pop music. You’ll find yourself humming or attempting to sing along to the majority of the songs here. And if you’re a guitarist with any sort of pop leaning, well… you’re in for a treat with any Mansun album.
Quite a steal. Pick it up, then just try to put it down. I’m going to bet that you’ll just buy their whole back catalog instead.
Tags: box set, dance, experimental, hard rock, pop
