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Apr 6, 2017Pure Comedy is indeed a very grand record, an old-fashioned major statement designed to evoke memories of classic long-players from the '70s. Often, its stately march and decorated pianos call to mind early Elton John, suggesting the hazy vistas of Madman Across the Water.
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Apr 5, 2017There is no rock here, although the prog nature of the music incorporates those influences, yet the album never feels bloated or one-note.
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Apr 4, 2017Misty keeps this album pretty genuine. There are jaunts and horns and dancing mixed with sorrow and piano and heartache; his lyrics cutting through any joy with wicked humour and his comic persona still second place to his incredible songwriting.
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Mar 30, 2017The album spins best when Misty is picking a fight with God or observing human nature as a screwball play, all while honoring the fact that people were given a raw deal in concept, not just execution.
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Apr 7, 2017It’s verbose and it aims high and it’s not a record you can stick on in the background while you play Candy Crush. But unplug from this modern game of life just for a little while and it’s a very, very special reward indeed.
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Apr 4, 2017Despite the running time, it should be noted that Pure Comedy moves at a clip; only ‘The Memo’ and its cold boardroom-speak textures belabour the narrative a little too much on a record that’s all about stretching out an exact, unwavering thread.
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Apr 6, 2017On Pure Comedy, Father John Misty is just about clever enough to glide entirely on his intellectualism, but by emotionally removing himself from his own narratives, he’s ended up making a record that’s smarter than it is affecting.
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Apr 3, 2017Pure Comedy is packed with so much meaning and complexity, it feels as overwhelmingly absurd, joyous, curious, tragic, extraordinary and contradictory as life itself.
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MagnetApr 14, 2017Tillman wisely scales back the orchestration and flourishes to their bare minimum in order to put his voice and lyrics at the forefront. [No. 141, p.54]
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Mar 29, 2017Pure Comedy is quite some trip and one that lifts Father John Misty to another level altogether. [May 2017, p.93]
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Apr 5, 2017A powerful piece of work, but one that will leave you with as many questions as it does answers.
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Apr 5, 2017No doubt some of the album feels overly sanctimonious. ... And yet Tillman’s prophetic songwriting makes Pure Comedy one of the first--and best--post-Trump albums in what’s sure to be a long line over the next four years.
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Apr 5, 2017This is a big-idea album in a way none of his work was before.
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Apr 7, 2017After that opening suite--“Pure Comedy,” “Total Entertainment Forever,” and “Revolution”--the music settles into a tonal plateau. Even the most gripping songs unspool with acoustic leisure, and they can be long and lofty trips.
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Apr 6, 2017Rather than rest on his laurels or deliver a bigger and better sequel, Tillman has instead created an album that covers a wider variety of subject matter with more focused and rich songwriting.
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Apr 3, 2017Pure Comedy’s scope, ambition, and beauty herald something bigger: the year’s first great album.
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Q MagazineMar 29, 2017Despite th[e] bleakness, Pure Comedy is delivered with wit and warmth, and redeemed by the tiniest twinkle of light. [May 2017, p.110]
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Mar 31, 2017It works because it’s so astonishingly, genuinely clever.
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Apr 6, 2017What makes this more than glib is a golden-era songwriting craft evidently shaped by Tillman's tenure with Fleet Foxes, and his unsparing self-examination.
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Mar 29, 2017It's something of a miracle, too, that he's managed to wring such beauty and profundity out of the mess of a society he sings about.
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Apr 5, 2017Pure Comedy is definitively a headphone album; where I Love You, Honeybear made you swoon with its overt eclecticism, the gems here need to be unearthed after a few excavations. The album’s pacing does not help matters, burdened with a middle section that dares you to fall asleep and counts on a deep love of Tillman’s voice.
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Apr 7, 2017Pure Comedy excels when Tillman trains his observant side-eye on smaller targets as well.
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Apr 6, 2017There’s something hugely impressive about coming up with an album that somehow manages to be both incredibly discomfiting and easy to listen to.
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Apr 5, 2017An absorbing, intermittently amusing album.
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Apr 5, 2017For now Pure Comedy is another elongated and extensive example of Misty’s intense outlook on cliché, contradictory and conceived contemporary life. If misunderstood, it’s easy to believe that the signified still signifies the signifier, but call Pure Comedy boring at your peril.
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Apr 5, 2017The music stays cozy, supportive and unobtrusively inventive, placing luminous details behind Mr. Tillman’s sympathetic, ever melodic voice.
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Apr 3, 2017He embraces the role, plays up to it, uses it to bend and manipulate the parameters of modern rock music and has managed to create something bitingly acerbic and cynical, yet achingly sincere. Again.
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UncutMar 29, 2017Overall, it's a long, strange ride, and Joshua judges ruefully. [May 2017, p.18]
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Apr 5, 2017Pure Comedy is big and clever, and oh so very brilliant.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 233 out of 280
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Mixed: 17 out of 280
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Negative: 30 out of 280
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Apr 10, 2017
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Apr 7, 2017
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Apr 7, 2017