- Record Label: Sanctuary / Rough Trade
- Release Date: Sep 9, 2003
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
With an unlikely rock blend of classicism and narrative, British Sea Power has composed a brilliant album that's nearly perfect. It's not exactly pop, but it might as well be.
-
BSP's performance art antics and throwback posturing come with a distinct set of innovations and surprises, and The Decline of British Sea Power proves that BSP have the song-power to back up their bullshit.
-
British Sea Power have the talent and vision to be a truly inspirational new guitar band.
-
UncutA riveting debut packed with ideas and invention. [Jul 2003, p.126]
-
MojoThis is an album of stadium sized melodies and exquisite songwriting, allied with almost too many ideas. [Jun 2003, p.110]
-
Q MagazineUnabashed whimsy merges seamlessly with melodious garage rock. [Jul 2003, p.100]
-
BSP are an odd bunch: out of place, out of time, and quite possibly out of their minds. But given time to explore the depths of this record, they're also often out of this world.
-
Under The RadarBSP are in a league of their own -- a young band with an arsenal of ideas, the brains to pull them off and the guts to let them loose into the world. [#5, p.98]
-
British Sea Power's slightly camp, wholly menacing, startlingly audacious debut is unlike anything you'll hear this year.
-
Entertainment WeeklyIt's not all darkness: The Brighton, England-based quintet offers enough straight-ahead rockers to keep the CD from turning into dirge overkill. [Oct 2003, p.95]
-
Alternative PressAn intriguing debut. [Nov 2003, p.108]
-
We hear a lot of different sounds, but are never left in any doubt that they flow together with such fire and skill that you feel they could knock out a freeform jazz number and still sound like the same band.
-
MagnetAs confusing as it is ultimately compelling. [#61, p.89]
-
An enchanting, rhapsodic album of uncommon depth.
-
BlenderBritish Sea Power's vision makes most independent rock seem callow and weak-minded. [Sep 2003, p. 119]
-
British Sea Powers Classic? Not quite. Not yet. But we can see the high-tide mark.
-
Given the potency of their debut, British Sea Powers Decline can safely be interpreted as a marvelous exercise in self-deprecation.
-
Basically, it's the album they'd always promised us they'd make; consider 'The Decline...' British Sea Power's entrance pass to the ranks of the truly mighty.
-
The Decline of British Sea Power is a record you'll probably tell your friends about, but it won't make you into a fervent, foamy-mouthed convert -- at least, not unless you're in a suitably receptive mood and play the record at its optimum volume...which, in case you wondered, means as loud as possible.
-
The diverse influences are still percolating, and any sense of cohesive absorption of earlier rock outfits' methods and styles never quite congeal into original expression.
-
While some of their songs deliver nothing more than noisy twaddle, British Sea Power are a formidable band when they choose to simply stop making sense.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 37 out of 42
-
Mixed: 2 out of 42
-
Negative: 3 out of 42
-
GNov 23, 2006A truely astounding album.
-
ahmoseSep 24, 2005This a great album. Great lyrics, melodies. A classic.
-
nickdJan 9, 2004