High/Low (Audio Cassette): Nada Surf: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Deeper Well

2. Plan

3. Popular

4. Sleep

5. Stalemate

6. Treehouse

7. Icebox

8. Psychic Caramel

9. Hollywood

10. Zen Brain

Product Description

Un Essentiel Amazon.fr

"Popular" ou comment le devenir. Il a suffi d'un titre - ironique manuel d'instruction pour devenir "chouchou des profs" et roi de la cour du lycée - pour que les Nada Surf prennent d'assaut les esprits jeunes et rebelles. Et se retrouvent propulsés dans le panthéon du college-rock. Renouvelant un genre qui n'avait guère plus échauffé les sangs depuis Nirvana ou Pearl Jam, les trois New-yorkais ont mis une fougue tout adolescente dans cette power-pop punk et indisciplinée. Pieds de nez plutôt que bras d'honneur, les chansons de High/Low sont enthousiastes mais pas rageuses, énergiques mais jamais coléreuses. Ces hymnes bon enfant à l'efficacité contagieuse n'incitent pas à la révolte mais plutôt à l'hédonisme, à la gourmandise, tous ces péchés qu'on commet avec plaisir. High/Low, dans l'urgence, incite à vivre, pleinement. Pas simplistes pour autant, les compositions des trois songwriters recèlent aussi leur part d'ombre, comme le nébuleux "Icebox" qui, par contraste, ne fait que rendre le reste de l'album plus lumineux. --Anne-Claire Norot

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "The times I have the most to say..., April 3 2004

By

kendall lopere (H-Town, Tx, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High-Low (Audio CD)

...are the times when i can't talk"

I firmly believe that Nada Surf's debut album is one of the best rock albums of all time. I bought this album cos I'd heard "Popular" on MTV2 a few times, and thought I might throw it on a few compilation tapes - what I didn't expect was that the rest of the album would be so good, and so unlike Popular! Each song on here is unique and brilliant in it's own right. The lyrics are written from a detached outsiders point of view, but often stuffed with spite and hatred. While some reviews on here rather unfairly compare the band to Weezer, I'd say that "The Get Up Kids" are a better comparison. Weezer have never sounded this vicious, and that Nada Surf do it with only 3 members makes it even better. The song writing and guitar playing are particularly self assured, with time changes and other experimental traits pushed to the forefront - for example, one song uses distorted vs undistorted guitar to create a riff out of one note. Genius.
Also, like all good albums it gets better with each listen, and I should know, as I've been listening to it at least once a day for about a month now. Maybe I'm biased, maybe I'm hypnotized, maybe I need to get out more, but this album shines like an undiscovered and unpolished gem from one of American music's worst years of recent times. Try it and see.
Sadly the band have been going down hill since this peak, with neither "Proximity Effect", nor "Let Go" recapturing the angst and the anger vented on this disc.

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1.0 out of 5 stars nada surf: on how to sound like weezer, Jan 9 2004

By

Robby (boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High-Low (Audio CD)

I quickly wrote these guys off in 1996 as a bad weezer-rip off band, they even went out of their way to get Ric Ocasik (weezer's producer for "Blue") to produce "High/Low"

I bought the CD because radio in my town was spinning "Popular" and "Deeper Well" quite a bit and it made for good summer day road trip music.

now, looking back on the album, having heard and fallen in love with their new release "Let Go" and their 2000 UK release "The Proximity Effect", this album sounds like nothing more than a batch of quickly written songs in badly produced demo form.

it's ceratinly the last CD you should buy if you're checking the band out for the first time, I find backtracking worked the best

buy "Let Go" (their 2003 release), then "Proximity Effect" (2000 UK release, 2003 US release), and then "High/Low"

Matt's writing has matured greatly over time and the new record is a highly established work of art.

"high/low" is not

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4.0 out of 5 stars Thank God I Bought Let Go Last, Oct 7 2003

By

"aaaaaaambition" (norman, ok USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High-Low (Audio CD)

I saw Nada Surf last night (but only a few songs. Ozma opened for them and that's what I was there for, and if anyone is looking at this page, buy this CD and then go buy Ozma CDs) and they were a lot better than I expected. High/Low is really great, although as others have said, slightly "hollow". The Proximity Effect is also really good, and I hear they're rereleasing it on Barsuk, which is a good idea. Let Go, though, is far from being a masterpiece. Anyway, this isn't a review of let go.
You've heard Popular, and you know that it rules. If you enjoy listening to the chorus, then you'll enjoy listening to the rest of this. All of the songs are good, and they're great at writing a good melody, but there's nothing special about this. I haven't listened to this in a long time because when I feel like something like this, I listen to Ozma. It's still worth it to have this and be familiar with it, but I just can't imagine anyone LOVING it.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Thank God I bought 'Let Go' first !
Long ago Nada Surf insisted on releasing tiresome post grunge rubbish until they realised that they could write decent songs. Read more

Published on July 12 2003 by David O'Brien

5.0 out of 5 stars Boom shocka lock here comes the chief rocka
In a time when music is defined by 10 bands who all seem to share the same vocalist, it's good to take a step back about 8 years to a time when bands like Superdrag and Nada Surf... Read more

Published on Nov 6 2002 by Kristopher Wade