The Audio of Being

by

Matthew Good Band

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Relative to a MGB album, this is a pretty good record. Compared to the rest of rock music today this is a fantastic record. Although I don't find it as satisfying (as a whole) as Beautiful Midnight, there are some great songs here. And please stop with the radiohead comparisons. They don't sound like radiohead. They have a sound that is unique to MGB. Highlights include: "Advertising on Police Cars", "The Rat Who Would Be King", and "The Fall of Man". One of my top 2 records of 2001. The other being Rival Schools-United By Fate. I know you haven't heard of them either but believe me some great rock music. You just have to look hard to find it anymore.

PS-if you are afraid to buy this record because of import prices then don't. Go to HMV.com or cd-plus.com, both are Canadian online stores and will reduce your cost significantly.

Perhaps I'm beginning to take this band for granted, but I was not as satisfied with "The Audio of Being" as some of their previous work.

From "Raygun" to "Underdogs" to "Beautiful Midnight", and even "Loser Anthems", it just seems as if my current favourite rock band was just going to get better with each album they put out. But, unfortunately, "Audio Of Being" doesn't hold a candle to their undisputed masterpiece, "Beautiful Midnight".

"Audio Of Being" suffers from a desperation to make something that is a worthy follow-up to "...Midnight". The result, sometimes are songs like "Carmalena", which is probably the weakest hit-single they have put out - their first track, "Man of Action", would have fared better on the radio.

There still are, almost inevitably, a couple of great songs on here. Most noteworthy is a superb piece of writing called "I, The Throw Away", and another great song is "The Rat Who Would Be King", which MGB should consider making their next single. However, what amazed me about MGB's previous albums is just how many first-rate songs they had; especially when most albums seemed to consist of two great songs and a whole bunch of filler.

"The Audio Of Being" runs more hit and miss. It's got some stuff on here that I highly reccomend. But, it's not their best work.