- Record Label: DreamWorks
- Release Date: Apr 17, 2001
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It's all hugely ridiculous, of course, but executed with a surprising amount of passion.
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MagnetTheir dizzy, easygoing drone-pop has been replaced with faceless consistency, a sonic chutzpah that cries out "modern rock." This in itself doesn't mean Take Back... is a flop -- far from it. [#49, p.71]
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What's most striking is simply that they are able to take such a drastically different tack with this album and still end up sounding like the same band.
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Alternative PressLike Creeper's previous albums, Take Back The Universe is a delicate piece of criss-crossing jangles and loose-limbed riffs, but the shimmery sprawl never coalesces into anything concrete. [#154, p.73]
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Entertainment WeeklyBold indie-pop melodies with judicious dashes of dream pop and electronica, set to big-money production. [4/27/2001, p.119]
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But with gems like “Keep From Moving” and the country-tinged "Under the Tracks,” and even the vaguely disturbing, second-hand Bowie of “Lover’s Leap," the Creepers rein in their messier instincts, paring the proceedings down to smart, singalong and ultimately giddy jangle-pop.
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Full of solid songwriting and catchy melodies that do not pander to the cliches so often found in mainstream pop/rock albums.
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13 tracks which magically blend heavenly guitar weavings with penetrating melodies.
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Bucks expectations and actually makes good on the indie rock promise of the band's full-length debut, 1998's overhyped albeit underwhelming I Become Small and Go.
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Time -- and a bigger production budget -- has lost Creeper Lagoon's fuzzy, scatty edge to a fuller, more cohesive sound.
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The material is maddeningly inconsistent, sometimes in the course of the same song.
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SpinThe ideal major-label debut for the age of modern-rock insecurity -- think Everclear minus the arrogance. [5/2001, p.141]
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Where most rock bands that try to play pop forget that pop music requires pop songs, Sefchik and Laguana are constructionists in the classic pop tradition.
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Really, if your parents don't dig this, there's something wrong with them. This is music for the drive to pick up the kids from soccer practice, or to the doctor for dad's yearly prostate exam.
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BlenderCreeper retain their melodic ingenuity and slowly ascending anthems, but their vision is scattered -- the band can't decide on a single melody per song, so they ramble from one promising yet half-formed tune to the next. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.107]
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But if it verges on generic pop-rock, Take Back... also has more hooks than a bait and tackle shop.
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It's one of the best rock and roll records in years... the disc is a layered, beautiful thing that touches on every influence the band has revealed through its years with a refined production style that sounds at once edgy and glitteringly smooth.
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A far more accomplished work than anyone suspected this bunch of deadbeats capable of.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 1
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Mixed: 0 out of 1
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Negative: 0 out of 1
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MarkKAug 6, 2003