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A world away from their ladrock roots, you might say.
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Sounding more like Animal Collective than The La’s, in these times when one wrong move is seeing bands of Kasabian’s stature sink like stones, it seemed a brave comeback.
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The resulting epic is barmy and beautiful, suggesting that while Kasabian's amps go up to 11, they can also sound good when they're turned down to four.
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It's the sound of past and future uniting to good effect--and Kasabian's strongest statement yet that they're in this for the long haul.
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MojoThe results so far, as on 2006's martial piledriver "Empire," have both been levitating and gut-level, as befits a group who count DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing" and Oasis's "Definitely Maybe" among their musical epiphanies. These same virtues are all over "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum." [Jul 2009, p.93]
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Q MagazineWhat Kasabian lack in orginality they more than compensate for attitude and exhilarating hysteria. [Jul 2009, p.112]
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Stonking new record from former Lad rockers. Who’d have thought?
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Under The RadarWest Ryder is innovative rock'n'roll: traditional instruments freshened up with modern technology. [Summer 2009, p.67]
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The result is an interesting, unexpected piece of work, devoid of a militantly commercial single like Empire's self-titled track, and lacking the shaggy Madchester vibes that Christopher Karloff brought to 2004's Kasabian.
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All of which leads you to conclude that in their struggle to position themselves, Kasabian are trying too hard to be all things to all men.
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One suspects the end product here may have had more to do with the record's producer than its creators, and as a result, this album is as unconvincing as the band's hollow assurances that they're open to embracing new horizons.
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Between the groovier tracks, the album rarely keeps its feet or focus for long, getting lost in mazes of mangy Stones riffs or acoustic roundabouts with little purpose or pulse.
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When taking advantage of the opportunity to be as dumb as they need/want to be, West Ryder succeeds, which is another way of saying acoustic guitars have absolutely no reason to be involved.
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What pulls this album back from being anything but revelatory, however, is not only the typical lazy rock the band are purveyors of, especially 'Fire' and 'Fast Fuse,' but also the diabolical lyrical content that's employed throughout West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
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Thing is, most of the songs on West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, while never outright abhorrent on their own, just aren’t tight enough to keep from being devoured by all the sonic excess.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 78 out of 90
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Mixed: 8 out of 90
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Negative: 4 out of 90
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JackieKOct 19, 2009This album is amazing.
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Feb 3, 2020Great album, contains my favourite Kasabian song 'Where Did All The Love Go' and has some great deep cuts, namely Fast Fuse and Secret Alphabets
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Apr 17, 2018