Lost and Safe

1. Be Good to Them Always

2. An Animated Description of Mr. Maps.

3. It Never Changes to Stop

4. If Not Now, Whenever

5. An Owl with Knees

6. Vogt Dig for Kloppervok

7. Smells Like Content

8. A Little Longing Goes Away

9. None But Shining Hours

10. Twelve Fold Chain

11. Venice

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
After two albums that spread like wildfire solely on word of mouth and self-propagating critical acclaim, this duo from Massachussetts return with their third album. It is even more cohesive and song-based than "Lemon Of Pink." Their core of cello, mandolin, banjo & guitar has been augemented with new instruments and a now overflowing library of found sounds and serendipitously found spoken word passages. First U.S. tour coming soon!

Lost and Safe,The Books,Tomlab,Indie Electronic,Indie Pop,Pop,Post-Rock/Experimental,Rock,Rock/Pop

Lost and Safe

Average customer rating:

Wonderful, wonderful & deeply Buddhist
My favorite
Perhaps these guys werent as good as I'd thought...
Another amazing album from the inventive group
Buy from site

Lost and Safe
The Books
Manufacturer: Tomlab
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Electronic Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0007XMKXU
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Tracks:

Be Good to Them Always
An Animated Description of Mr. Maps.
It Never Changes to Stop
If Not Now, Whenever
An Owl with Knees
Vogt Dig for Kloppervok
Smells Like Content
A Little Longing Goes Away
None But Shining Hours
Twelve Fold Chain
Venice

Album Description

After two albums that spread like wildfire solely on word of mouth and self-propagating critical acclaim, this duo from Massachussetts return with their third album. It is even more cohesive and song-based than "Lemon Of Pink." Their core of cello, mandolin, banjo & guitar has been augemented with new instruments and a now overflowing library of found sounds and serendipitously found spoken word passages. First U.S. tour coming soon!

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, wonderful & deeply Buddhist.......2006-10-02

Nothing to add to the favorable reviews here except that this album is more wonderful than you probably expect. But it IS worth noting that the surrealistic-sounding lyrics are generally connected with Buddhist ideas, and some of the songs are overtly Buddhist--for example, the final one (Amazon's list is in the wrong order) sets out the theory of dependent co-arising. Take a look at the visuals for each song on the Books's own web site for more context. But listen to the album.

My favorite.......2006-08-19

My favorite books record was Lemon of Pink even for a while after this came out. But the more I listen to it, the more beautiful and genious it gets. I have a new favorite song off of it every couple of weeks. It's just amazing.

Also, their live show is the most genious and entertaining thing I've ever seen. Strongly recommended.

Perhaps these guys werent as good as I'd thought..........2006-05-12

While I remember listening to their previous album "Lemon of Pink" and being blown away by the sampled instrumentation and assured flow of these surreal compositions that rivaled the organic electronic innovations of Mum, I am sad to say the new album sounds something more akin to mediocre, experimental b-listers Styrofoam (who have done some good work despite that comparison). For some reason I was under the impression that this album was a B-sides album, and I still hope it is, because if not, then I feel the majority of fans out there seriously misjudged the talent of this band, acrediting the first two albums to a drug-induced vision. This all too apparent drug induced not-so-much-of-a-vision shows it's ugly head in the format of too many overbearing, if thought provoking sound clips with not enough musical substance to back it up. Hopefully these guys will reaffirm their gifts with the next release, but I know I don't speak alone when I say that the transcendental moments of amazing electronic fusions found throughout their last two albums are all but replaced by shoddy, juvenile gimmickry that actually does feel lost, yet safe.

Another amazing album from the inventive group.......2005-11-26

I remember reading a review a couple years ago that said Thought For Food by The Books was simply an album that had received too much hype and it wouldn't hold up a year or two down the road. I'll be the first to admit that I thought it was simply the case of a single album coming together in a nearly perfect way, and when I heard that the group was releasing a second album, I wondered what they could do to surprise me. With The Lemon Of Pink, the group somehow captured lightning twice, and the album holds up for me just as well as their first.

Suddenly, we're onto the third album from the group and with Lost And Safe the group makes the most dramatic departures from their earlier sound, and once again they manage to do so in a way that feels logical. There are times where the release feels like a transitional effort, yet it also contains some of the best songs that they've ever done. To put my reaction in simple terms, there is no reason for me to doubt this group can keep coming up with unique sonics three albums into their career.

It's true that Lost And Safe may not be as immediately accessible as the first two releases from the group, but it's partially because the group chooses to really ease into things on the release. The opening track of "A Little Longing Goes Away" is as quiet of track as they've ever done, mixing soft pinging drones with subdued vocals by Nick Zammutto (who sings on almost every track on the release). "Be Good To Them Always" picks things up to a level that the group is known for as filtered violins see-saw back and forth while spoken-word samples mingle with sung vocals in a way that build beautifully over the course of almost five minutes. Likewise, "Vogt Dig For Kloppervok" takes off very slowly, with more filtered vocal and violin drones that give way to percussive clicks and clacks and samples before the track segues into a gorgeous section of filtered vocals and bowed strings.

From there out, there are a number of highlights. "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps" is easily the most percussive and loud track the group has ever done, and it is punctuated in just the right way with a building of instrumentation and samples (and vocals) while "Venice" mixes another great sample and some very simple plucked strings into a track that makes me smile every single time I hear it. "An Owl With Knees" is one of the more straightforward tracks on the entire disc, very nearly containing actual verses and choruses, yet at the same time the track is one of the more beautiful tracks that the group has ever done, with soft vocals from Zammutto that show some nice range.

The album not only contains a batch of outstanding tracks, but even on tracks where the group at first feels like they're going to get stuck (as on the simple banjo/string build of "It Never Changes To Stop"), they somehow manage to shift things about and turn the track into something wonderful (in the case of the aforementioned track, it's with a great use of samples). At eleven tracks and just over forty minutes, it's slightly longer than their other releases, yet it's full of those little moments that make The Books such a singular entity in music. Oddly enough, this unassuming duo has not only been one of the most consistent groups of the past couple years, but with their releases have managed to capture both the happiness and sadness of being a human being just about as well as anyone. One of my favorites of the year so far.

(from almost cool music reviews)

Buy from site.......2005-10-20

Very good album. If you want it, buy from their site.

$11 plus shipping for each album, compared to amazon's $16-ish price. There's also some unreleased experimental albums they have before the Books officially formed (one of the guys screws around with found sounds, but usually it's just one or two layers of clicks, samples, et cetera). Zammuto, I think it's called. The Plates EP (also Zammuto) sounds very interesting as well.