Alligator: National: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Secret Meeting

2. Karen

3. Lit Up

4. Looking For Astronauts

5. Daughters Of The Soho Riots

6. Baby, We'll Be Fine

7. Friend Of Mine

8. Val Jester

9. All The Wine

10. Abel

11. Geese Of Beverly Road, The

12. City Middle

13. Mr. November

Product Description

Album Description

These five Cincinnati friends recorded two albums for Brassland before signing to Beggars Banquet. Their last effort, "Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers", was touted as one of the year's best by Rolling Stone and other magazines. On "Alligator", Matt Berninger's potent baritone still intones about matters fraught, funny, and sad; about record collections, missing persons, and medium-sized American hearts.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Album, July 27 2010

By

Music is Blood - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alligator (Vinyl) (LP Record)

Alligator is a fantastic album. A great alternative band, a very listenable sound, fantastic lyrics that are easy to connect with, and overall a near perfect group. The singing is fantastic, the music is driving yet mellow. Along with Boxer and High Violet it is hard to find something wrong with the album.

Important to note, in no way is this band country-alt. I don't know what that other reviewer was thinking, but it wasn't logical, instead it was an unfounded and poor judgement on their part. There is a level of americana in the music, seeing as the guys are all from Ohio and now live in New York, and the songs as such reflect their own lives. This aspect of americana is probably what registered to the reviewer as country, but be assured, there isn't any country here. Certainly not enough to declare any in the genre at the very least. And in my perception of the sound, as I said before, completely not there. This is important to clarify, not because country-alt isn't good, because it can be, but because those who don't know who The National are or what they sound like should not be mislead by the review.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So good you think they were Canadian!, Dec 9 2005

By

ander (Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alligator (Audio CD)

I bought this record on the strength of various message boards on the net thinking that the masses could not possibly be wrong. I was right. This might be the best record released in 2005. From the beginning insecurities of SECRET MEETING, to the final promising cries of MR NOVEMBER, this is a moody, brooding masterpiece. It is a gem that is waiting to be discovered by someone willing to surrender to the brilliance of John Berninger & co.

What I find stands out most apart from the obvious drum engine driving this record forward is the amazing lyrics sung by such an amazing voice. They evoke such imagery very much like Antony and the Johnsons.... self-defeat but tinged with a sense of hope that things will be fine in the end. I also really appreciate how they use the piano in most of the songs. As a piano player myself, I like it when the piano is in the forefront but here they use it so sparingly yet it is so effective. You have to hear KAREN and DAUGHTERS OF THE SOHO RIOTS to know what I am talking about and why I needed to mention it.

Now I don't want you to think this record will put you to sleep because there are full-throttle rock numbers on here.... LIT UP and ABEL to name a couple. It's all good. Although I can hear early U2 influences along with the other references listed in the previous reviews, they are really their own sound. All I can say is if you feel your record collection is missing that special CD of 2005, congrats... you found it. Now buy it!

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars great, steady, country alt music for the true ears, Feb 23 2010

By

Brian G. Muench "grasshopper" (nova scotia, canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Alligator (Audio CD)

The National is one of the best country-alt bands on the market in this space and time. They have consistantly put out great albums, since Alligator. Their sound is very easy to get into, and they never fail to please you with solid, memorable tunes.

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