Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

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TV on the Radio

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I've had this album since the day it was released, and it's taken me this long to come to a conclusion regarding my feelings toward it. At first, I wanted to like it, all of it. The first song showed some hope for the album's reaching my high expectations, which were set in reference to the band's absolutely brilliant EP, "Young Liars." From track 2 onward, however, I was, for the most part, let down. The band showed true potential for greatness in their EP, but the album as a whole essentially falls short. "Wrong Way," "Staring at the Sun" (why did they cut out the vocal intro?!? it's so beautiful!), "Ambulance," and "Poppy" are the album's only truly strong tracks. The rest of the record is nice enough, but this band is capable of so much better. I originally had this rated as 3 stars, but I decided that a band with so much potential for so much better (as proven on "Young Liars") deserved at least 4.

P.S.- I haven't had the opportunity to see them perform these songs live, and I hear they put on a hell of a show. Seeing these songs played live could easily change my impression of the mediocre tracks on the album, and that fact should be taken into account.

First off, let me say how much I appreciate the ingenuity in this album. The Wrong Way is almost flawless. An announcing horn section leads you through the intro to this album. It's the only song on the album to which I would give the vaunted five stars. Staring at the Sun is the next song and the first song which displays the problems with this album as I see it. The beats don't go anywhere as adventurous as the introductions. In each song there is such an intriguing introduction. We enter into a new world, such as the one Alice in Wonderland was introduced by the rabbit. When we first enter these songs, the possibilities seem endless. Where will they take us? What horizons are approached by these intriguing artists who have presented us with something so new, so different. Unfortunately, we learn as we progress through the caverns that the highlights are all in the intros. This was all corrected, in my opinion, in The Return to Cookie Mountain. That may be the less flawed album. I listened to this album many times, trying to understand the abundant critical praise. I never understood it. Did these guys show promise...Heck yeah, but they weren't there yet, as Cookie Mountain proved. This isn't the album with which to start your TV on the Radio collection. Many people loathe reviewers like me who will only provide one star or five, but I don't normally feel inspired to write an review for the two to four album or book. This album is the could've been, should've been that Cookie Mountain was. It was upon hearing Cookie Mountain that I thought back on what was missing with this album. Maybe they should've added a more substantial bridge to the heart of the song that took us away from the workings of the song, then brought us back. Maybe this is why, other than the classic single The Wrong Way, I never made it past two to three minutes on any of the other songs. Cookie Mountain is the real deal though, and it has earned the praise the critics gave it, and it has earned repeated plays in all of my music devices.