Amazing Disgrace

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Seattle popsters (and occasional Big Star sidemen) keep the Anglo-American flame burning with energy and invention. Fans will love "Daily Mutilation," "Throwaway," and "Grant Hart," a paean to the Husker Du co-founder. --Jeff Bateman --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Amazing Disgrace
Average customer rating:

Life is not fair

The Best Posies

Blisters on my ear drums...

One of the best albums of the decade! (4.5 stars!)

Daily Mutilation

Amazing Disgrace
The Posies
Manufacturer: Geffen Gold Line Sp.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
Power Pop | Rock | Styles | Music
CDs Under $7 | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music
All Bargain Titles | Alternative General | Alternative Rock | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music
Similar Items:

Dear 23

Frosting on the Beater

Success

Failure

Every Kind of Light

ASIN: B000003TBV
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Tracks:

Daily Mutilation
Ontario
Throw Away
Please Return It
Hate Song
Precious Moments
Fight It (If You Want)
Everybody Is A Fucking Liar
World
Grant Hart
Broken Record
The Certainty
Song #1
Will You Ever Easy Your Mind?

Amazon.com

Seattle popsters (and occasional Big Star sidemen) keep the Anglo-American flame burning with energy and invention. Fans will love "Daily Mutilation," "Throwaway," and "Grant Hart," a paean to the Husker Du co-founder. --Jeff Bateman

Customer Reviews:

Life is not fair.......2007-05-14

Amazing Disgrace is, as other reviewers have already said, one of the best albums of the nineties, but you'll rarely see it acknowledged as such. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow are usually filed under "pop/power pop," and were even called "shallow" by a Rolling Stone reviewer (this from the "music magazine" that gives Britney Spears more attention than Radiohead), and those seem to be the labels they got stuck with; and it's a shame, because they deserved much better. On Amazing Disgrace they manage to blend often-discordant guitar noise with a melodic sensibility worthy of the Beatles' better songs; not only that, but their lyrics are clever, literate, and even wise, frankly expressing a lot of anger and misery without any of the clumsy adolescent angst that characterized so many of their peers. The Posies' cynicism is an adult cynicism, and they translate it into poetry that's better than anything you'll hear from a recent Poet Laureate.

Poor promotion aside, I think the worst part of the Posies story is that they remain overlooked even in the midst of today's indie hipster culture. This is a band that plays guitar like Built to Spill, writes better melodies and lyrics than the Shins, and sings with the clarity and passion of Radiohead, and yet a generation that worships those bands can't be bothered to pay attention to this one. Life is clearly not fair.

The songwriting of Frosting on the Beater is somewhat technically superior to that of Amazing Disgrace, but Amazing Disgrace has more raw emotion, making it my personal favorite Posies record; it also has a unique sound that is heavy and yet richly organic, the perfect balance of slick and lo-fi production. I highly recommend it to anyone who values good songwriting, or who yearns for the sound of aggressive rock and roll with real intelligence behind it, or who is sensitive sad and angry and in need of some sympathy. This album will fill any and all of those requirements. The songs take a few listens to appreciate, and they're not for everyone, but if you can get into them it will take you a long time to get out. Trust me: I'm one of those people who can get sick of a song very easily, and I've been listening to Amazing Disgrace regularly for about four years. I still have hardly anything in my collection that's as good.

The Best Posies.......2006-11-22

Yes, this is the best Posies album they ever made. A bold statement, but undeniable fact. Gems like "Throwaway" and "Precious Moments" are pure pop heaven and some of the most memorable "unheard" songs of the 90s.

Blisters on my ear drums..........2006-08-17

Far brash than "Beater" ,"Disgrace" holds it's own in many respects. Some of the lo-fi sounds work quite nicely. This might have been their angry "white album" of sorts. "WORLD" and "Throw Away" are the high lights of this cd. They later releasesd this cd with an ep type cd which I bought and gave my original copy to a friend of mine.

As an earlier reviewer commented, the arrangements lend to longer lasting repeat playings, I couldnt agree more. It didnt suprise me to see Cheap Trick guest appearance credit on the cd liner notes. "Hate Song" sounds like it came off of Cheap Trick's first album.

One of the best albums of the decade! (4.5 stars!).......2006-07-28

I've read through the reviews here and most of them seem pretty off-based to me. It is beyond me why some people feel that they need to have faux-sunshine constantly shoved into their faces. Hurt and disappointment are just as much a part of life as joy and happiness, and feeling a full range of emotions is a part of being human, so I don't see why people would criticize an artist for expressing hurt and disappointment. It's kind of ironic that many people would criticize this album as being bitter and dispirited when the majority of the most popular albums of the 90's are much more bitter and dispirited than this one (either that or mindlessly angry and aggressive with little to no attempt at being tuneful about it). This album is the picture of buoyancy compared to work by Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Pearl Jam, Tool, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Portishead, Korn-I could go on like this for days. This could easily be one of the top 5 albums of the 90's, and it's sure better than anything that I've heard by any of the acts that I've just listed. And none of those guys' (or girls) chops can even begin to compare to the Posies', these guys are an amazingly tight band (even when they rotate rhythm sections). The rhythm section this time around is Joe Howard on the bass and Brian Young on drums, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow take on their usual roles as songwriters, guitarists, and vocalists. The Posies are also way beyond most of those other bands as lyricists, and it's a major plus that the lyrics are included in the liner notes. At 14 tracks this album is an "amazing" value, I've seen "Amazing Disgrace" described as a tour de force and it's hard to disagree. The masterful slow to mid-tempo rockers which dominate this release are exceedingly well constructed, and they hold up unbelievably well to repeated listens. That's always a good early indicator of a high quality album. This album remains engaging all throughout because they keep the power-pop sound consistent but with enough variety in the mix to keep things from becoming monotonous. They even manage to throw in a few psychedelic tricks such as the pretty effective Hendrix imitation guitar solo on "World", which almost sounds as if it was lifted straight from the title track for "Are You Experienced", backwards phasing and all. They even have a "Strawberry Fields" type freak out at the end of "Grant Hart". They incorporate a variety of tricks and techniques yet they never indulge in gimmick-ery for the sake of, because it's all done with the same inerrant sense of craftsmanship. Even grunge elements that are so often its downfall are used to great effect and in just the right doses by the Posies on this release (the distorted power chords that sometimes ring-out for up to 8 bars or more-it works because unlike many grunge bands, the Posies maintain an absolutely stellar rhythm section and a strong sense of harmony). This album, like pretty much all of the Posies' work (that I've heard so far) is FULL of hooks with infectious harmonies. They maintained this focus at a time when most acts created hooks that seemed to focus more on catchy and biting refrains than harmony. Even the hook for the controversial (at least for many of the reviewers here) "Every Body is a F------ Liar" has a great harmony. It's one of the best rockers on the album, and it's far from the mindless rant that the title may seem to suggest. The entire album is thoughtful and well-crafted, and full of both highly effective slow to mid-tempo rockers that perfectly capture the hurt and disillusionment that comes from deep disappointment, and high energy rockers that show the group at its power-pop best. And while they express disappointment and disillusionment, they still manage to offer hope along the way (Fight it) and reach out to tell a friend to open up and lighten up because things could get better (Will you ever ease your mind?). I know that it went largely ignored and unappreciated but this is hands-down one of the best albums of the decade.

Daily Mutilation.......2006-01-10

This is one of those CDs that has a few duds that you wish weren't there, spoiling the brew somewhat, but on the plus side some of The Posies' finest tracks are found on this, their farewell release on Geffen. A 6-song sampler issued promotionally for this release is the ideal item to own, as it contains the very best of the lot, including my favorites, "(Will you ever) Ease your Mind?", "Song #1", "Fight It (If You Want)", and "Throwaway". Geffen promoted "Please Return It" and then "Ontario" as singles, but they were obviously the wrong songs; neither picked up radio play. "Frosting On the Beater" is The Posies' classic, and should be heard first, but unless you can find a copy of the sampler CD, pick up "Amazing Disgrace" for its highlights, and forgive the band for such awful tracks as "Everybody..." and "Hate Song", and the mediocre "Ontario". Had they been left off, this would have been given a 5 star rating.

Separation of Church and Hate (Audio CD)

Average customer rating:

Separation of Church and Hate (Audio CD)

Manufacturer: Silber Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000AMCTJI

Product Description

Clang Quartet, the Separation of Church & Hate, 9 tracks

Average customer rating:

Amazing Disgrace
Baugies
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B0000561QH

Average customer rating:

Amazing Disgrace Plus Ep
Posies
Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Vision
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000E21N
Release Date: 1996-11-21

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