Apologies To The Queen Mary
by Wolf Parade
  • Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Sep 27, 2005
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 174 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 150 out of 174
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 174
  3. Negative: 4 out of 174

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  1. JeanT
    Oct 26, 2005
    10
    For me, it's the best album of the year (with Arcade Fire, of course, but better).
  2. B.O.Braxton
    Oct 4, 2005
    10
    THis AlBuM RULzZZZ111!!!!
  3. PatW
    Feb 3, 2006
    10
    This is one wicked album. Gets better everytime i listen to it. This heart is definetly on fire....
  4. BenA
    Oct 1, 2005
    10
    Seriously the best thing I have heard in a long time. This one deserves all the attention it is getting and then some.
  5. Smaz
    Nov 9, 2005
    10
    Everything we can ask for from a modern indie band. Apologies delivers with scintillating vocal synths and catchy guitar riffs, yet at the same time presenting an assortment of songs that can't help but draw references to Modest Mouse and the intricateness of Yo La Tengo.
  6. RickardB
    Oct 31, 2005
    10
    amazing really
  7. DanC
    Oct 4, 2005
    10
    Sensational debut, that takes their earlier EP's and expands the soundscape of them. Fucking great live band and really nice dudes as well
  8. JosieS
    Oct 5, 2005
    10
    I'm obsessed with this album and constantly nagging friends to check it out.
  9. MarioI
    Sep 27, 2005
    10
    hands down the best album of the year.
  10. RansomC
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    oh my god!!! so, so, so good. it's like hearing the white album for the first time.
  11. BradK
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    Spencer's yelping lyrical flow in Dear Sons and Daughters... is perfect. Wolf Parade embody rock, the ideals of Halloween sounds, pain, thinking, and other crisp visions.
  12. PatrickM
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    Isn't this what indie ought to be? This album is fun, engaging, enthralling, and just straight-up cooler than the mainstream would ever give us. Also, do yourself a favor and see them live with Arcade Fire this fall, it will prove to be a very rewarding experience!
  13. BradleyK
    Sep 29, 2005
    10
    One of the top five albums of the year easily.
  14. JoeG
    Sep 30, 2005
    10
    A simply amazing album. It seemed almost average on the first listen, but after putting some time into it, I can't stop listening. Every track is brimming with emotion and the inovation is clear. Definately my favorite album of the year, surpassing even Twin Cinema in my eyes.
  15. ShawnA
    Sep 30, 2005
    10
    As close to perfect a debut I've ever heard.
  16. o
    Jun 14, 2006
    10
    Not one of the thirty best albums of 2005? You're crazy or you didn't bother to listen to it a second time. These guys are the goods, their live show wrecked anything else I saw come through nyc, no mistake, this is one of the very best of 2005.
  17. KeithR
    Nov 16, 2005
    10
    I've purposely waited awhile to review this fantastic album which has become an indespensible part of my musical rotation over the past month. I've taken in all the too-much-like Modest Mouse critisism and heard numerous people compare this band to Arcade Fire and I'm here to disagree on both accounts. Yes, Issac Brock produced the album, and yes Spencer Krug does sound a I've purposely waited awhile to review this fantastic album which has become an indespensible part of my musical rotation over the past month. I've taken in all the too-much-like Modest Mouse critisism and heard numerous people compare this band to Arcade Fire and I'm here to disagree on both accounts. Yes, Issac Brock produced the album, and yes Spencer Krug does sound a great deal like Brock, but that is where the simlarites end. Not to mention the fact that the other talented lead singer of this band (Dan Boeckner) brings a distinctly different feel to his contributions. The depth of the lyrical content of the songs on this disc shames anything ever done by MM and that's no easy task. I find a deep emotional connection to many songs on Apologies to the Queen Mary including what I consider to be the best song released in many years, "I'll Believe in Anything," which is about an all-consuming need to be emotionally involved in a relationship that builds and builds with waves of guitar, keyboards and distorted wind instruments untill Krug's (and the listener's) soul is laid bare for all the world to see: "Give me your eyes, your blood, your soul and your ghost" and "I'll take you where nobody knows you and nobody gives damn - either way" are pure lyrical mastery and convey the depth of the conviction of the singer's love. I have not heard a musical build up as intense as this since "Untitiled" off of Nuetral Milk Hotel's swan song which leads into the tear inducing "Two Headed Boy Part II" "Dinner Bells" is another haunting Krug piece that is melancoly and forelorn and makjes the listener think deeply about their own mortality and the lives of loved ones who have come before them. "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" inspires us to think about our place in life and whether or not we're living up to the expectations, real or imagined, of generations of our forefathers (and foremothers, if their is such a word): "I've got water and I've got holes." is an exceptionally descriptive line. Boeckner's songs tend to be more upbeat in tempo, but equally introspective. The breakdown and subsequent chorus in "Modern World" is catchy and addictive, while one can't help but recall the sounds of Wilco, circa Summerteeth, when listening to "Same Ghost Every Night." In fact, Tweedy's influence is so strong that this could easily mistaken for a missing track off that album. "Ghosts" of ancestors can be found all over this rewarding album, and that is the only connection I can see between Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire (that and the fact that they toured together). Musically, they are entirely different animals. Overall, I can't recommend "Apoligies to the Queen Mary" enough and it's right up there with Sufjan Steven's "Illinois" for albumn of the year.… Expand
  18. JohnN
    Dec 14, 2005
    10
    Best album of 2005.....I've got to think that those people who gave this a 1 or 2 weren't listening to the same CD as I was. At first listen it did seemlike a modest mouse clone (which ain't half bad), but after 2 or 3 listens you see much more. I would give this a 10 just for I'll Believe in Anything, which is one of the best and most powerful songs I've heard in Best album of 2005.....I've got to think that those people who gave this a 1 or 2 weren't listening to the same CD as I was. At first listen it did seemlike a modest mouse clone (which ain't half bad), but after 2 or 3 listens you see much more. I would give this a 10 just for I'll Believe in Anything, which is one of the best and most powerful songs I've heard in a while.… Expand
  19. JakeM-
    Oct 2, 2005
    10
    Au contraire, Chris S, and any other nay sayers. Head and shoulders above all the other indie also-rans, like (especially) Clap Your Hands Say No....er Yeah (no really, just say no). This time, do believe the hype.
  20. laurene
    Dec 21, 2005
    10
    lyrics drums flawless
  21. ac
    Oct 31, 2005
    10
    awesome album. one of the best new indie bands!
  22. JoshuaO.
    Sep 26, 2005
    10
    The best album of year, imagine Arcade Fire with staying power.
  23. michaels
    Sep 27, 2005
    10
    it seems the arcade fire invented a new style of music, adopted by clap your hands say yeah! and now wolf parade. one of the best abulms i've ever heard and i'm still only on track 7! thank you, you adorable parading wolves
  24. TimothyB
    Sep 27, 2005
    10
    My ears and ankles are broken from dancing to this all night long.
  25. matta
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    Total mind-blowing stuff. Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire comparisons have been given, and although this band may have been influenced by both bands their sound is more fully realized. Up there with Illinoise and Black Sheep Boy as album of the year.
  26. GregR
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    I cannot stop listening to this album. easily my new favourite band.
  27. Charles
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    While i would rate Illinois as the best album of the year, this is a clase second and it does have best i have heard this year Ill believe in anything
  28. JohnnyCool
    Sep 28, 2005
    10
    Wolf Parade owe about as much their sound to the Arcade Fire as Soundgarden owed their sound to Nirvana. The comparisons are ONLY because they come from the same scene. Their respective sounds come from very different places. I personally prefer Wolf Parade and this album to anthing I've heard in a long, long time.
  29. Chupacabra
    Sep 29, 2005
    10
    wow
  30. renén
    Sep 29, 2005
    10
    hands down, or is it up?? doesn't matter, this should be record of the year
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Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best Album of 2005
31
#31 Most Discussed Album of 2005
54
#54 Most Shared Album of 2005

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Tiny Mix Tapes
    80
    Wolf Parade do what they do better than anyone in recent memory.
    Read full review
  2. Pitchfork
    92
    On paper this all could sound average, but Wolf Parade's true talent is transforming the everyday into the unprecedented.
    Read full review
  3. Stylus Magazine
    100
    They’ve cleaned up their grungy guitar lines (thank you Sub Pop), reworked a few of the best songs from their early EPs, and the result is undoubtedly the best contender for the Arcade Fire/Broken Social Scene-helm of 2005.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »