Maybe the most exciting music of the year. Very good.

Easily my favorite album. If you're a fan of experimental stuff, this is album is for you. Pretentious? Hardly. It's called moving music into another direction. Innovation. "Blueberry Boat" is not your normal rock album. The lyrics are very light hearted and sounds are extremely enjoyable. I don't know if you can call this "rock". Simply for the reason that "Blueberry Boat" infuses many different genres into a single excellent album.… Expand

An album that you may be unsure of at first, but with repeat listenings, you'll discover how beautiful and intricate it truly is. One of the best albums to be released in a long while.

No, Blueberry Boat is not "...disjointed, ...unintelligible, ...unlistenable, ...unbearable" and whatever else has been thrown at it by criticism patently impatient by half. And above all it is not self-indulgent. Rather The Fiery Furnaces second effort is exhilarating, breathtaking, complex, musically intelligent and most of all courageous. It is unsurprising critics who have The Strokes pedestrian second effort in the best of lists of 2003 wouldn't and couldn't have the attention span to cope with this. The best album of 2004 - in a year for awesome releases.… Expand

intriguing, complex, ultimately cool

challenging, provocative, catchy, funny... awesome, just awesome

I hate to fall in line here, but this is a spectacular album. Even at first listen, its disorienting qualities were great, and even after multiple listens and increased familiarity, it still manages to stay interesting and evocative. Up there with Liars and Animal Collective for release of the year.

This album gets better with every listen, and if you're able to invest the time I'd say anyone could love this album (I mean, if you're willing to and you like the general sound of it). Definitely my favourite of 2004!

It's a sad day when ambition and winsomeness is regarded as "difficult" or "pretentious". I can't remember the last time I listened to a record that flat out knocked me on my ass like this one did. A masterpiece.

The critic at Spin magazine that called this record joyless needs to either give me his job or get off the ritalin. How blind can you be? This is the most fun and joyous record of 2004.

I just love it, when it doesnt' produce me a headache

I'm sure the critics of the popular, widely circulated publications like NME, The Guardian and Rolling Stone, Blender, Spin felt their livelyhood threatened when this shining gem of an album landed on their collective desks. It's not a challenging record at all. It's just good music, pure and simple. For the first time in ages, the music and the words actually reflect each other. Listen to the singer search for her dog and as she goes from place to place the music itself changes to suit the lyrics, gospel finish for when she finds her dog(god), the rushing everchanging sound mirroring the dash about town perfectly. And that's just the start, every song coincides with it's narration completely. When a singing about a child with ADD, the back up vocals are high pitched and almost taunting, while the guitar spasms back and forth like a kid who cannot learn would in a seat. A song that rallies against technology assaults the senses with an overwhelming bombardment of synths threateing to destroy the singer in it's competition for the listener's attention. Granted it requires a person to put the lyrics to the music for the whole, I can assure you, it's worth the two braincells it requires.… Expand

What might discourage listeners whose interest "Blueberry Boat" has sparked is that they think it's going to be impenetrable and only admired conceptually by its praisers, but this could not be further from the case. If you're not interested in 50+ of the best-crafted song sections of all-time, though, then stay far, far away from this record. As to it being impossibly challenging -- if a 14-year-old can get it, so can you.… Expand

Not an easy album to listen to at first, but very rewarding and very good from start to finish. My personal favorites: Quay Cur, Blueberrry Boat, Chris Michaels, I Lost My Dog and Bird Brain.

my favorite of the year...takes you away to another world. something for everyone, it's a rock epic.

This is unquestionably my favorite album of the year so far. Like Lambchop's "Is a Woman" in 2002, I despised it at first and banished it from my CD player. Six weeks later I was stopping work to remember the words when they are talking to each other in "Chief Inspector Blancheflower." Look: my point is that everything is really, really catchy and memorable and fun once you make a small effort with it. It is a grower.… Expand

Filled with oddball lyrics, vocals, and instrumentation. Unique, good stuff.

I can understand why people are a bit confused by this cd. It's definately a challenging listen. But once you get used to the songs and learn to wrap your head around each one, you'll start to appreciate them. You'll suddenly be impressed by the care that went into crafting these sound adventures. The Fiery Furnaces don't throw you into their sea without a compass. Throughout the long songs, they return to certain harmonies and its really fun to hear a slight variation of a melody return after seven or eight minutes. This music is invigorating. For example, Quay Cur opens with spacey, pumping bass sounds leads into a child-like sing song verse from Eleanor and then it suddenly explodes into a high flying blues explosion (who needs jon spencer, well actually, jon spencer is great regardless). The best part of this cd is that you never know what's coming. That's scary at first but after you give yourself over to this album you'll start to find yourself getting sick of songs that follow the tired verse-chorus-verse-bigger chorus-bridge-soft verse-huge chorus scheme (I'll label this scheme the Jon Bovi structure, or maybe The Calling would be more appropriate). Ok, on to the lyrics. The lyrics to this album are like an antidote to anyone who would call this a pretentious project. "A lubi, a loger, alousal?," these people aren't taking themselves too seriously. They aren't singing about the Russian revolution or global warming, they are having fun and being playful. There is a magical, childlike atmosphere that is created by their lyrics which is really pleasing and, I might say, really unique. I mean who else is making lyrics like this? It takes more balls to write a line like "a logi, a loger, a lousi" or whatever than any of the macho/sleaze lines from the Velvet Revolver album. In conclusion, I know people are scared of this album. They think its self-indulgent, that its pitchfork's spoiled, favorite child, but this is so far from the truth. Please just listen to it and give it time. If your favorite album track is "I lost my dog" (which isn't to say that isn't a great song) then the rest of this might not be your cup of tea. But, for the rest of us, I urge you to take a sip, one sip and you will be addicted.… Expand

INACCESSABLE?!?!?! ok I can understand that...if all you listen to is top 40 music. Honestly, in my opinion, without TRYING TO SOUND SUPERIOR, this is one of the easiest albums to listen to that's come out for a while. It's a hell of a lot more accessable than franz ferdinand. I love them and all, they're album just plain only has one good song on it. but anyways, off the tangent... this album is amazing, and if you don;t get it, well then, go play sports or something.… Expand

Absolutely astonishing. If you find this music too weird or can't appreciate its brillance, stick to your mainstream, radio rubbish.

Beautiful chaos! This CD is the musical equivalent of Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake"...in other words, it is so f**king brilliant that few will "get it". This is NOT rock n roll and the constructions that make up the bulk of the disc barely qualify as songs in the traditional sense. Although there are many catchy riffs and choruses hidden in the time changes, dont expect anything familiar. If you enjoy using your brain, this CD is for you. If you listen to Clear Channel Moozik, go buy the new Blink182: it wont make think.… Expand

Absolutely brilliant. Following in the footsteps of The Unicorns, the Fiery Furnaces have released one of the most joyously experimental albums EVER. Completely hummable yet very complex. Unlike most cds with 4 beat melodies the Fiery Furnaces cram more melodies into one song than most bands do in an entire albumn. Not bad for just two people. Album of the eyar, hands down. And not innaccessible if you actually listen to music!!! Actually, it would fall under the genre of pop. can't wait for their next release.… Expand

This is by far my favorite album of 2004. Elliott Smith, Futureheads and all that other 'criticaly acclaimed' stuff included. I liked most of them. I'm annoyed that The Fiery Furnaces get such a bad rap. I cant imagine anyone listening to the entire album of Blueberry Boat hating it. It's just such a superb album. I love listening to this album. I get distressed when people merely dismiss it as " utter garbage designed to make stupid people who buy into it feel smart." I don't consider myself that stupid, and I don't pretend to feel smart after listening to Blueberry Boat. Alot of modern day listeners dismiss everything experimental as 'pretentious' because it doesn't appeal to their ideals of beautiful music. I could go into long paragraphs about why I think this album is worth listening to, but I won't because I'm lazy as sin. What I am going to say is I enjoy this album, and anyone who enjoys good joyous music that they can easily get lost in will probably also enjoy this album. Blueberry Boat is a gem that will probably be ignored because it's dimissed as pretentious bull dung that only artsy college kids will buy in too. It's not. Blueberry Boat is delightful. Just give it a chance.… Expand

I must first say that this record just doesn't know when to stop, which can be a bad thing. Not that the TRACKS are too long, but that songs 9 to 12 should have been left for another occasion. The problem with these is that they don't belong in the Blueberry Boat. 1917 would make a great opener for another album, exposing the excessively weird side as well as the poignancy of the Furnaces ; but by track 10, I think we got that. I would take Spaniolated anytime as a B-side, but here it just feels underdeveloped and out of sequence. Birdie Brain/Turning Round would have made a fine closer, but no!, they are in fact a pre-closer, the real one being Wolf Notes, which is also appropriate. In fact, this album is one of the rare ones to let you choose your own closer. Other than that, the first ~50 minutes of this record are simply a blast. It rocks you, teases you, laughs at you sometimes but mostly grips you with its unrelenting dynamics, sometimes poignant, more often quirky compositions, and stomps you under its flow of ideas. Thing is, the point is made after Chief Inspector Blancheflower (my personal favorite). The latter portion just feels like a chore. Wrapping up with Wolf Notes right away would have been a good choice, leaving more for the next time. Otherwise, this album is a great trip.… Collapse

Beautiful, complex, awesome. Like scotch, Blueberry Boat is an aquired taste. But once you have a taste for it, there is nothing like it. Wow.

This is an amazing album--one of the most dynamic albums I've ever heard. "Indie Rock Opera" as a genre doesn't do this album justice. Yes, some songs are long (9-10min), but they have so much "going on" that it's well worth it. There is nothing else like this album out there. Like Sigur Ros's "Agaetis Byrjun", it defines it's own genre. I highly recommend it.

very good lyrics, a rock opera

Great album.

This is definitely an exhibition of creativity and musicianship. Probably one of the best albums of the year.

Genius

One of the best releases this year. What are the critics thinking?

The most original album of 2004 with ease, I just don't understand some critics, well everybody has a free opinion,no

People are idiots. If you don't like this album, I do not like you. Its not a matter of good taste anymore. If you can't handle the greatness of this album, the sweeping orchestral sections and crushing guitar, you have bad taste in music. Thats all there is to it. Enjoy your Britney Spears CD, Fiery Furnaces-hater.

At first glance "Blueberry Boat" a 76 minute album whose title track is a nine minute epic that features forays into glitchy electronica and bluesy slide guitar and classical piano, topped by lyrics in which the lead singer attempts to fend off pirates who are viciously after a precious cargo of blueberries may seem like a challenging or to say the least abusrd listen. But it is this absurdly quirky sensibility which precisely makes this album so rewarding and certainly the best of the year. "Blueberry" is a stellar effort which not only challenges your conception of what music can sound like, but what music can be. … Expand