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Trans Am's Liberation is one of those rare albums that combine great musicianship, irony, sonic diversity, and originality. And to top it all off, the album rocks.
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While I’ll miss how amusingly unpredictable TA could be, I can’t complain about their first long-player that works, front to back.
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A political record as grand, explicit, and opaque as Radiohead's Hail to the Thief.
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Q MagazineThere is something unceasingly engaging about Trans Am. [Apr 2004, p.122]
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An interesting collage of styles.
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It's a bit of a disappointment considering the rich subject matter, though Trans Am prove themselves once again masters of their own oblique domain.
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Alternative PressThey've beefed up their bombastic prog-rock guitars and grandiose, Teutonic synth motifs to new levels of virtuoso excess. [Feb 2004, p.93]
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The WireIf nothing else, these [political] elements give Liberation a darker hue. [#240, p.67]
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‘Liberation’ is the most damning indictment of the Bush administration yet recorded, and it’s all subliminal. Magnificent.
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UrbGleefully uneasy listening. [Feb 2004, p.82]
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Entertainment WeeklyUnfortunately, Trans Am's New Order-meets-Chemical Brothers synth-nostalgia seldom provides a sufficiently scintillating soapbox. [20 Feb 2004, p.67]
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An ambitious, if flawed new album that once again tries to include many different things on one release, but unfortunately stumbles in several places.
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MojoChopper blades and police sirens pepper the album; indeed, shorn of this angsty hum, the by turns pastoral and metallic instrumental tracks pale. [Apr 2004, p.106]
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UncutDelivered via rolling, thunderous rhythms--part Can, part Black Sabbath--moody synths and mournfully melodic guitar, using the slow-build-to-explosion method. [Apr 2004, p.91]
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As a political album, Liberation may only be half-successful, but I'd still take angry Trans Am over the schlocky Trans Am of TA any day.
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While Trans Am's need to express their political views and their cliché-busting approach are both admirable, unfortunately their ways of expressing their dissent aren't all that inspired.
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Try as the trio might to inform its '80s pastiche with an extra degree of menace, the disc ends up sounding like the same old Trans Am: part Rush, part "Miami Vice" soundtrack and part pranksters just taking the piss.
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Rolling Stone[A] forgettable art project. [4 Mar 2004, p.66]
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Often translates into little more than spliced Dubya soundbites and “spooky” found sounds (helicopter blades, police sirens) played over dour, noncommittal loops.
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Friends: believe me when I say that the combination between the two disparate elements–unbearably goofy synth-pop and sub-par commentary on various parties’ political shortcomings–is indeed a deadly one.