by
Cursive
- Record Label: Saddle Creek
- Release Date: Aug 9, 2005
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Musically, Houses and Homes is mostly stellar.
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Alternative PressToo often, Kasher is lost in his screamy, overdramatic posturing. [Sep 2005, p.154]
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BlenderTakes Cursive back to their chickenscratch days. [Sep 2005, p.144]
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If you've only heard of their work on The Ugly Organ or Domsetica, then I suggest picking this up. It's a great archive of the band's early unheralded accomplishments.
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Entertainment WeeklyAs catchy as it is woeful. [26 Aug 2005, p.60]
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FilterA high-pitched punky mess. [#16, p.103]
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Surprisingly, the time frame covered by the collection does not detract from the listening experience, rewarding Cursive-completists with moments of power punk and the angular guitar work the band has come to be known for.
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A handful of these recordings show promise, and should prove enjoyable for diehards and newcomers alike.... These standouts sadly don’t compensate for the rest of the album’s general blandness.
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Expectedly, the longest lost tracks (talking '95, '96) are the most amateurish.
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Even Kasher's werewolf vocals do little to elevate these songs above the average.
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Songs that range from energetic, immature guitar hacking (“Dispenser”) to tedious slow-churners (“Icebreakers”) to just plain awfulness (“I Thought There’d Be More Than This,” “The Knowledgeable Hasbeens”).
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Rolling StoneSuggest[s] these guys' clatter-and-smash act was worth checking out back when you could have seen them in a basement. [25 Aug 2005, p.99]
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I would stress that this conglomerate of half-baked songs should in no way reflect on the rest of Cursive's canon -- there is a reason most of these songs have gone largely unnoticed and unappreciated.
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Under The RadarMuch of Differences gets wearying after the thirtieth minute of Tim Kasher's unhinged howling. [#10, p.106]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 6
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Mixed: 3 out of 6
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Negative: 0 out of 6
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AndyAug 22, 2006
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HeathGAug 17, 2005
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chrissysAug 16, 2005