''No More Apologies'' is an album from Irish rock band
A House. Released in 1996, it was A House's final studio album.
Reception
''No More Apologies'' was generally well received, but reviewers tended to see it as an explicit swansong. ''
Q Magazine'' gave it four stars (from five) recommending it "for all who love beauty best when it is bruised". ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' was much less enthusiastic, awarding 5/10 to "by no means a bad album" which nonetheless seemed flat compared to the "near-masterpiece" that was its predecessor, ''
Wide-Eyed and Ignorant''. The ''
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' described an album by a band in a "relaxed and resigned mood ... accepting their fate and lack of fortune with a philosophical air," but still capable of the odd "barbed word" and subtle touches in melody and guitar.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, awarding the album 3 stars, likewise notes "a band coming to grips with its place in the universe" although "in a better world
Couse and company would have become the stars they deserved
ic while in the real world, "listeners were still lucky to have them". An elegiacal article in the ''Irish Times'' later in the year said "A House is far more important than
U2," albeit in the rather special sense that A House's achievement was to survive as a properly Irish rock band which did not disappear, like so many others, under U2's shadow, and actually succeeded in producing a series of "evolving albums culminating" in ''No More Apologies''. The article also notes almost unanimous praise for ''No More Apologies'' in Ireland, with the exception of ''
Hot Press'', and that ''
Les Inrockuptibles'' in France had nominated it for album of the year.
''
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Know ...
'' called it "a disappointingly mediocre swansong for such an interesting band."
[
]
Track listing
# "The Start"
# "Into The Light"
# "Cry easily"
# "No More Apologies"
# "My Sweet Life"
# "Sisters Song"
# "Twist & Squeeze"
# "Love Is....."
# "Without Dreams"
# "Just Because"
# "I Can't Change"
# "Clotheshorse"
# "My Mind"
# "Broken"
# "A Happy Ending"
References
{{Authority control
A House albums
1996 albums