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Thing of the Past succeeds on three different fronts. Certainly, excellent song selection is one, inspired musicianship and arrangements another, but the actual sound of the recording is equally important in putting Thing of the Past across.
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More than anything else, there's a sense of contentment and pleasure that purveys the Things Of The Past that could have been lifted from the Summer of Love itself.
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This is a great album, possibly the finest covers record in recent memory, and it’ll take some beating in 2008.
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The record is super studied, but never bloodless. And it’s much better than that sounds.
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UncutThe mood is sweet and slightly whacked-out as Cabic brings campfire cheeriness to Norman Greenbaum;s 'Hook & Ladder' and wistful resilence to Ian (Fairport) Matthews' 'Road to Ronderlin.' [June 2008, p.109]
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Q MagazineHere, as elsewhere, Thing of the Past is as educational as it is delightful. [June 2008, p.148]
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Ultimately, this album probably won’t be the critical sleeper hit that its predecessor was-–it’s hard to find fault with the band’s playing, the choice of songs, and the overall premise, but Thing of The Past only nudges their art forward a bit from "To Find Me Gone."
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Thing Of The Past is a comprehensive collection that dispels any previous notions that its creators are mere one-trick ponies, and as for that other bloke, Devendra what's his name?, Vetiver's identity crisis is surely a Thing Of The Past.
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Thing of the Past show how much Cabic and his band know and love about the folk tradition, and that they’ve clearly got the chops to be an integral part of it.
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Under The RadarA genre once kept alive through the oral lineage of mothers singing to their children, you get a similar feel on Thing of the Past that band leader Andy Cabric’s main motivation is simply keeping this simple but touching music alive. [Summer 2008]
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Thing of the Past is a perfectly pleasant, well-produced album that offers an authorized version of what Vetiver fans already unofficially know about the band.
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Some (Hawkwind's 'Hurry on Sundown') work by highlighting a different, tougher side of Vetiver. But too many others, including a version of Loudon Wainwright's 'Swimming Song', drift pleasantly by without the tension that characterises the best of Vetiver's own work.
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Thing of the Past contains no original songs (although it's unlikely that anyone without a nasty crate-digging habit will recognize most of these tracks), but Vetiver are awfully well suited to the material, and Cabic's vocals--sweet, smooth, and golden--shine.
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MojoAs fans of the or two previous albums might expect, there's little on this covers collection that proves Vetiver's love of the three-minute pop format: the mood is instead tuned to the free-festival campfire and the misty morning meditation. [July 2008, p.111]
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MagnetAs tasteful as it all is, you still wonder what Vetiver is bringing to this material other than reverence. [Summer 2008, p.109]
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Vetiver, a band with loads of potential yet to be fully realized, can't help but come across on Thing of the Past like a well-orchestrated coffeehouse act with unusually exquisite taste.