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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

These Were The Earlies
by The Earlies


8.4

based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Enemy Chorus

Official Artist Site

The half American, half English four-piece make their debut with an album that, like Manitoba's Up In Flames, combines organic and electronic elements from a variety of genres into a unique psychedelic stew.

LABEL:	Secretly Canadian
RELEASE DATE:	25 October 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock, Electronic

NOTES: Original UK release 19 July 2004.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New Musical Express

This music is the electronic, Warp-inspired answer to Brian Wilson's 'Smile.' [31 Jul 2004, p.41]

Uncut

An outstanding record which you'd be unwise to miss. [Aug 2004, p.91]

Under The Radar

An astoundingly accomplished collection of flawlessly interesting and compulsively beautiful songs. [#8, p.109]

Austin Chronicle

The disc alternates between unsettling, exhilarating, and devastating in its emotional impact; it's also difficult not to get distracted by everything going on musically.

Mojo

A band who aim foolishly high but always return, wings intact. [Sep 2004, p.92]

Drowned In Sound

The Earlies are like a stripped-down take on the [Flaming] Lips: psychedelic, lo-fi and indie in the purest sense of the word.

Dusted Magazine

Given that it’s a collection of EPs and singles, These Were the Earlies is predictably all over the map, a problem exacerbated by the Earlies’ wide-ranging stylistic ambitions and long-distance collaborative methods.

Neumu.net

What's impressive is the way they bring all these elements together, the natural world leading seamlessly into a brighter landscape of surreal otherness.

Q Magazine

A work of baroque detail, crossing between Mercury Rev's psychedelic Americana and The Beta Band's bucolic electronica. [Aug 2004, p.110]

Pitchfork

A deliriously ambitious record packed with neo-psych lullabies and swooning choruses.

cokemachineglow

The album still holds together with a surprising cohesiveness, which is essential when crafting a debut that relies far more on the effect of its ambitious whole than any specific genre-bending tracks.

Stylus Magazine

A set of saccharine sweet songs which occasionally dissolve spectacularly in a haze of whirring electronic mist.

Playlouder

As a headphone album, 'These Were... The Earlies' is something of a stunner.

PopMatters

Imagin[e] the Beach Boys getting strung out in a field on cider midmorning in some alternative universe Texas, surrounded by retro-sounding DIY synths, a raggedy brass section, and a hippy cello player.

ShakingThrough.net

It's not half-bad, providing you can get over the fact that the Earlies have yet to find a sound to call their own.

The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alex A gave it a5:
Boring and pretentious.

Jim O'Rourke gave it a5:
Really pretentious and utterly forgettable, aside from 2 songs.

Lawless R gave it a6:
some songs have promise, but most of it is damn boring.

Ryan M gave it a10:
Stellar first album

SWM gave it a9:
One of the best albums of the year, the sheer amount of different trippy sounds on here in mind-numbing.

Sean T gave it an8:
pretty damn good experimental pop with good orchestration and sound samples.

james d gave it a10:
The depth of sound on this album is incredible. So many bands strive to be either a good live act or good studio band but The Earlies seem to succeed effortlessly at both. Future classic.

These Were The Earlies by The Earlies

These Were The Earlies
by The Earlies