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''The American Adventure'' is the second album by UK prog-pop duo
The Electric Soft Parade
The Electric Soft Parade are an English psychedelic pop band from Brighton, comprising brothers Alex and Thomas White, the creative core of the band, as well as a number of other musicians with whom they record and perform live, most recently ...
, released in 2003 on
BMG UK & Ireland. The album was seen as a departure from their previous effort ''
Holes in the Wall
''Holes in the Wall'' is the debut studio album by The Electric Soft Parade, released on 4 February 2002. The album was released by db Records and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. The album features a wide array of sounds, ranging from ...
'' (DB Records, 2002) and paved the way for their third full-length LP, ''No Need To Be Down-Hearted''.
Critical reception
''The American Adventure'' received mixed reviews upon release. Jack Rabid of
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 ...
noted a distinct change of sound from that of the band's debut album, ''Holes in the Wall'', but it was a change that he felt worked to good effect; "They abandon any semblance of their first LP's clockwork consistency for a bumpy ride of an LP that shifts gears from song to song, or mid-song abruptly but successfully throughout".
He went on to draw comparisons with the baroque music of
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
and "'70s Pink Floyd comfortable numbness".
Andrew McGregor writing for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
praised the uniqueness of The Electric Soft Parade sound, but found fault with the album's lyrical content; "there's surely no need to adopt their 'stating-the-bleeding-obvious in a Moon/June/Balloon stylee' approach. "Existing is easy, living is hard" from the otherwise fine closing track "Exist" is a cliché too far, with unfortunate echoes of "Why" by Annie Lennox."
In her review for
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
, Anne-Louise Foley labelled the album "dull", stating that it is "nowhere as interesting as it thinks it is" and singling out "The American Adventure" as the main offender in her 2-star review; "
e White brothers shoot themselves in the foot with the overblown prog monstrosity that is the title track. Long and meandering (though it does manage to escape from the sound swamp near the end), it's the kind of song that only a mother or devout PR man could love."
Despite her reservations about the album as a whole, she found merit in the LP's second single, "Lose Yr Frown", declaring it "the best thing on offer, with a catchy chorus that trips off Alex's guitar with an upbeat ease. It's what the young band do best and they should remember this".
Stylus Magazine
''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog.
Addi ...
's Kilian Murphy thought that ''The American Adventure'' was despondently disappointing overall, citing "time spent on the road plugging their debut long-player" as the over-riding factor which had "caused the Parade to lose some of their fizz", but he also felt that the album also had its good points, too; "Thankfully, not everything on the American Adventure suffers from such despondency. Opening track "Things I've Done Before" may not let much lyrical light in (...), but it's equipped with a killer riff and a sense of momentum that is lost later in the album (...) while "Bruxellisation" is a rich, heartbreaking ballad in the Doves mould."
Caroline Sullivan of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' declared the album musically "adventurous" in her complimentary review, and, although the songwriting lacked uniformity, the album was a success;
Josh Rogan, writing for
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music was a brand under which Yahoo! provided a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming. Previously, users with Yahoo! accounts could gain access to hundreds of ...
, described ''The American Adventure'' as "a roller coaster ride well worth taking" that had "clearly been lovingly constructed and largely well executed" with "a strong sense of focus and quality control".
Track listing
All tracks written by
T. and
A. White, unless otherwise noted.
#"Things I've Done Before" (A. White) – 2:55
#"Bruxellisation" – 3:28
#"Lights Out" – 2:40
#"The Wrongest Thing in Town" – 5:13
#"Lose Yr Frown" (A. White) – 2:55
#"The American Adventure" (T. White) – 6:59
#"Chaos" (T. White) – 4:42
#"Headacheville" – 4:01
#"Existing" (T. White) – 3:27
Personnel
The Electric Soft Parade
*
Alex White – producer, arranger, vocals, guitars, bass,
synth bass, piano,
claps, vox continental organ, tacked piano,
hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
,
celeste, drums, reverb guitar
*
Thomas White – producer, arranger, artwork, photography, drums, vocals, guitars, bass, percussion, sampler, cello, violin, claps, vox continental organ, hammond organ, akai 12-track, piano
Additional musicians
*
Stephen Large – piano, hammond organ
*Debbie Ball – guitars
*Alex Miller – violin
*
Monster Bobby
Monster Bobby (born Robert William Barry, 1981) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the creator of and guitarist for the indie pop girl group The Pipettes.
Overview
In 2001, when Monster Bobby was just Bobby Barry, he starred in ''W ...
– q-chord,
groovebox
A groovebox is a self-contained electronic or digital musical instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation. The term "Groovebox" was originally used by Roland Co ...
*Phil Sumner –
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
*Sebastian McNulty –
spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
Technical personnel
*Danton Supple – co-producer, mixer
*Nick Webb – mastering
*Mervyn Penrose – sleeve assembly
*Marc Beatty – violin recording
*Al Scott – vocal recording, edits
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Adventure, The
2003 albums
The Electric Soft Parade albums