Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
85 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
75 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
56 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
72 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Brendan Benson
72 The Big Pink
96 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
51 Black Mold
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
77 A.A. Bondy
73 The Bottle Rockets
63 Box Elders
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
87 Brother Ali
70 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
78 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
79 Califone
68 Mariah Carey
84 Brandi Carlile
73 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
69 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
84 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
68 The Clean
84 The Clientele
71 Cobra Starship
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
80 Cymbals Eat Guitars
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
66 Bob Dylan
44 The Entrance Band
67 Esser
69 Fanfarlo
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
78 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
66 Hockey
69 Whitney Houston
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
73 Jessie James
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
69 Daniel Johnston
76 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
65 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
76 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
84 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
75 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
73 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
73 Lyle Lovett
66 Lovvers
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
62 Maps
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
77 Malcolm Middleton
77 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
76 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
62 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
78 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
78 Nirvana
97 Nirvana
72 Nisennenmondai
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
73 Osso
81 Owen
76 Paramore
76 Pastels And Tenniscoats
51 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
66 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
66 Robert Pollard
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
80 Q-Tip
80 R.E.M.
89 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
75 The Raveonettes
76 Jay Reatard
82 Reigning Sound
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79 Russian Circles
69 Buffy Sainte-Marie
73 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
73 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
65 Joss Stone
75 George Strait
83 Barbra Streisand
76 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78 The Swell Season
76 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
78 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
71 The Twilight Sad
58 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
70 Various Artists
74 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
71 Kurt Vile
67 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
76 Rufus Wainwright
59 Weezer
80 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59 Andrew W.K.
71 Patrick Wolf
67 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Trials Of Van Occupanther

EMAILPRINTby Midlake

Midlake reviews
79
8.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 27 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Bella Union

Release Date: 25 July 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Indie, Rock

Summary

This sophomore set finds the Texas five-piece utilizing a 1970's classic rock / soft rock sound.

What The Critics Said

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...

91

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Van Occupanther's spell finally breaks a little more than halfway through its 11 tracks, when the songs begin to feel more fussed-over and conceptual and less organic, but the warmth never fades.

Read Full Review >
90

ShakingThrough.net

While The Trials of Van Occupanther may never be more than a cult favorite, those seeking to till peculiarly American musical soil will undoubtedly reap a rewarding and plentiful harvest.

Read Full Review >
90

PopMatters

The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a nuanced, finely layered work that Midlake has certainly crafted one of the best releases of 2006.

Read Full Review >
83

Entertainment Weekly

Midlake excel at lush, harmony-laden ballads like "Bandits" and the heart-tugging goodbye song "You Never Arrived." [4 Aug 2006, p.68]

80

Lost At Sea

The good far outweighs the bad on this lack-of-thread-concept-album, and if you are dying to hear a modern day take on the 70’s soft rock band, check out Midlake.

Read Full Review >
80

Mojo

As with Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, we're dealing with an invigorating, many-faceted work of diverse instrumentation and durability. [Jul 2006, p.106]

80

musicOMH.com

Compared variously to The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy, Midlake's take on '70s soft rock is actually better than both.

Read Full Review >
80

All Music Guide

Midlake might be stuck in the '70s, but they make it sound like the best place on earth.

Read Full Review >
80

The Guardian

This could well end up one of 2006's best.

Read Full Review >
80

Uncut

Much of it... sounds like the spiritual cousin of Neil Young's After The Gold Rush and Harvest, sharing the same back-to-nature rusticity. [Jul 2006, p.101]

80

Drowned In Sound

A truly delectably odd album of archaic echoes and future-classic choruses.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle

Nostalgic, sure, but comforting, meticulous, and complex.

Read Full Review >
75

The Phoenix

The warmth and the easy familiarity enable The Trials of Van Occupanther to stand on its own.

Read Full Review >
70

Prefix Magazine

I really struggled with whether Van Occupanther's literary, slightly nerdy, Ren-fair-leaning lyrics were more of a help or a hindrance to the album.... But at least Midlake risked the ridiculous.

Read Full Review >
70

Paste Magazine

Van Occupanther feels like a contrarian response to so many bands copping from ’60s psych-pop and ’80s New Wave while leaving out everything in between.

Read Full Review >
70

Under The Radar

The Trials of Van Occupanther is a beautiful piece of moody ambience, and an enchanting album that ultimately continues to reveal itself even after numerous listens. [#14]

70

Magnet

Seductively strange. [#73, p.98]

68

Pitchfork

An encouraging but ultimately disappointing contemplation of time's ceaselessness, love's promise, and Harvest-era Neil Young.

Read Full Review >
67

Stylus Magazine

Despite [some] fine moments, occasionally Van Occupanther can feel a little too slick and one-note.

Read Full Review >
60

Q Magazine

Smooth and intermittently sublime it may be, but their previous weirdness is much missed. [Jun 2006, p.117]

60

Delusions of Adequacy

So while the subdued vocal harmonies and acoustic folk influences of 70s pop bands Chicago and America can be heard, there is enough intricately layered dream-pop floating around the fleshed-out orchestrations to keep indie-rock fans contented.

Read Full Review >
60

NOW Magazine

The uniformity of song structure, tone and tempo, though initially captivating, soon becomes monotonous.

Read Full Review >
40

Tiny Mix Tapes

A painful disappointment.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

M G. gave it a10:
This is a really beautiful collection of songs that must have took real courage to make. There is no filter here, just music made with so much heart and care that it will change you for the better.

Johnny D gave it a9:
Beautiful album, rich in texture and tone. One of 2006's best.

Evan Z gave it a6:
Agree with S Taylor, except maybe The Eagles is being kind. How about America?

matteo f gave it a9:
so romantic, halfway between gloom and joy. "young bride" went even beyond giving plain "chills" : it made my heart soar.

S Taylor gave it a7:
Well, it finally happened. The circle is complete. In the 70's, punk exploded to save rock and roll from progressive rock, singer-songwriters, etc. Now, it has all come back. We have critically acclaimed "progressive rock" (The Flaming Lips), sensitive singer-songwriters (emo, anyone?), and now...The Eagles return!!! Probably the least hip super-popular rock band of the last 35 years has returned as indie pop. Not that I don't like it. But then I like the Eagles, too.

cornelius gave it a10:
certainly one of the most fresh and enlightened album of the year, and maybe for many years... i can't understand some press critic could have given such low rate as 40 to this album ; yes, you could not to be pleased by "The trials...", but you can't say that's not a really good work !

Chris C gave it a10:
best album of 2006

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use