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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Happy Songs For Happy People
Universal acclaim
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Matador
Release Date: 17 June 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Don't let the title fool you; the Glaswegian instrumental post-rockers are just as dour as ever on this fourth studio LP.
Also By This Artist: Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 Mr. Beast Rock Action The Hawk Is Howling
Also On The Web: Mogwai @ Matador Official Mogwai Site
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...
Playlouder
This is Mogwai distilled to their essence, and the result is an album of huge power, emotional depth and feeling, with vocals submerged under a claustrophobic blanket of effects and guitars battling with viola, cello, violin and piano. It's just as Eno as it is S***t, and all the greater for that.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
A sonically cinematic experience that will leave the listener feeling at once elated and emotionally drained. [Aug 2003, p.94]
PopMatters
In the end, Happy Songs might sound like Mogwai's earlier work or be unapproachable to the listener who spends his time chilling in Sam Goody, but that doesn't mean it's not one of the most amazing albums of the year.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Represents an ultramodern rock masterpiece, low-key yet ominous, offering new yet comforting ways of singing familiar tunes. [Jul 2003, p.98]
Junkmedia
Happy Songs is epic and subtle, technically savvy and emotionally charged and visceral all at once -- in short, it's a summary of everything that is great about Mogwai's music.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
The highlights would be far better suited to lesser status on a great album, and turning away from the impressive vocal performances of Rock Action to fully retreat into vocoders and hushed mumbling is a step backwards. [Note: Score listed is an average of two separate reviews, scoring 91 and 72.]
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
May well come to be regarded as Mogwai's graduation from unproven Young Team to mature, veteran rock outfit.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
Their most intriguing, beautiful and dazzling record to date.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Happy Songs finds middle ground between brevity and meandering.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
What really makes this record engaging is that the simmering tension often chooses not to explode, yet somehow it works.
Read Full Review >Splendid
Though the group largely downplays their skull-splitting excesses, their songs resonate with a fury that a lifetime worth of broken power-chords couldn't match.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
They've crucially learned that musical light and shade need not only be flaring explosions, but melodic sunrises too. [Jul 2003, p.109]
Dusted Magazine
Moving well beyond the claustrophobic and listless tendencies of earlier releases and doing away with their predictably two-dimensional dynamics, this is Mogwai's strongest album to date.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
With Happy Songs for Happy People, Mogwai gets to have it both ways -- it's ironic and sincere, concise and expansive, challenging and accessible, and it's one of the band's best albums, no two ways about it.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
The Stephen Kings of menacing post-rock, it seems that in absence of Young Team's glorious cacophany their tremendous build-up often comes to nothing. And it sounds as though they've come to terms with that.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Refines their grandiose panoramics via electronic gurgles and glitches. [Jul 2003, p.111]
Rolling Stone
The music by bands on this kind of eternal blissful bummer trip walks a fine line between bewitching and dire; in the case of Mogwai, it's usually the former.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
Happy Songs for Happy People offers many of the thrills of Rock Action, but without the diversity and succinctness that made that album shine.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Dan H gave it an8:
I actually like Mr. Beast a lot better, despite it being not as well received as this album. Hunted by a Freak is an awesome song, but some of the others can be a tad boring at times. Still an amazing album.
P Scott gave it a10:
Quite easily the best album i have ever heard... Every track is brilliant, and Ratts Of The Capital is amazing. If you don't own this yet, go buy it now.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
i like it a lot. my favourite mogwai record so far.
Seamus S gave it a10:
Kay kay kay Get past the utter stupidity (or inside joked humor) of the song titles, and you have a masterpeice.
Adolfo G gave it a9:
Canciones con una estructura original, muy buen sonido y melodias notables
Ryan c gave it a9:
Beautiful. I adore this, they are on a par with Tortoise
adam l gave it a 10:
A-MAZ-ING
