Customer Reviews

Fear Of Fours

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

All Lamb's albums are awesome, but this one sums them up best. This was the first time I'd heard Lamb (besides the K&D remix of Trans-Fatty Acid), and it was totally unlike anything else I had experienced. It was so intense and different. Every listen opened up new tracks that I hadn't noticed before, and Fear Of Fours has the most cohesive album structure that I have ever come across. Lamb wakes you up with Soft Mistake and Little Things, takes you on a wild journey with Ear Parcel and Five, and finally says good night with Lullaby, with killer tracks like B-line, All In Your Hands, Softly and Fly thrown in along the way. Fear of Fours is an absolute masterpiece, and is definately the place to start your love affair with Lamb. Happy listening

Andy Barlow and Louise Rhodes continue exploring interesting soundscapes after their intriguing self-titled debut. While not as risky and adventurous as that album, "Fear of Fours" still brings something new and provides a rich listening experience. In fact, it`s probably the duo`s best record to date, offering a strong and creative mix of trip-hop, drum n`bass, downtempo and electronica. Louise`s voice sounds a little weird at first, but after a couple of songs it doesn`t matter much since these compositions are always absorving and engaging, setting an unique and futuristic mood. There's a lot of good stuff to find here, like the heartfelt-but-not-corny ballad "Softly", the strange and addictive "Fly", the smooth instrumental "Five" or the epic "Bonfire". It expertly mixes light and darkness, the emotional and the mechanical, providing a fresh and original record that deserves more recognition. This gives "pop" a good name.

I first heard about this group on a local radio station, the group's name was not mentioned since I was listening to the station's "Extended Trip" show: they play 3 hours of chill-out or Acid Jazz music with no commercials. When I heard the Filla Brazilla mix of Cottonwool, I was hooked from that point (on Lamb and Filla Brazilla) after a week of research led me to the groups name.

I like this CD alot more than their previous one (where Cottonwool comes from). This is a mixed bag of different styled tunes to suit a wide variety of tastes. My favorite is the one that does not feature the lead singer's vocals, the one that starts off slow, featuring the trumpet. One of the greatest tunes ever.

By the way, I like her voice, she could be ALOT worse = Britney (the devil) Spears anyone?

I recently started hunting down any and all "Trip-Hop" inspired music and I am not quite sure how I came across Lamb, (probably thanks to Amazons suggestions) but I love this album as well as their newest "What Sound". Please if you enjoy smooth vocals and trippy hypnotic tunes then check this out!!!

Lamb separates themselves from the mileau of electronic "duos" comprising of a talented musician and a unique voice by writing songs which are capable of transcending the genre. Their debut album requires a lot of space and concentration but the results are mesmerizing. The first seven tracks on Fear of Fours sound like either failed attempts to mimic the success they found with their first album, or rather an attempt toward the mainstream. It isn't until you get to Ear Parcel that you hear a band beginning to forge in a new direction, and a welcome one at that. From track 8 on you'll hear a fusing of improvisational jazz and hardcore electronic rhythms accentuated by a peculiar, yet versatile voice that is both faxcinating, fresh, and wonderous. I hope that they realize the power of their creativity is relational to the boundaries they are willing to exceed rather than those they have established.

I bought this record after falling in love with the first commercially released record. I still love that record! But Fear of Fours tired relatively quickly for me. It is far to predictable in comparison to what this band is capable of. Don't get me wrong. It is not aweful, just a bit too predictable and cliche, but that is just my opinion.

If Louise Rhodes and Andy Barlow are not in love then they sure know what its all about. Louise is a living, breathing angel. By listening to this CD and there others, no one else I have ever heard has sung with such passion for love. The mystical trippy nature of the spiritual over sounds on beats that make you move like the days of ceremony exstacy of the shaman and put together with funky bass lines proves that these guys are in the spiritual world, standing high apon the mountain. Love is the answer and if you really want to feel it, get a copy of his CD and open your mind to love that is that high that only special people like Louise and Andy will ever get to feel in there lifetime. I recommend all there albums but I thought Id review this one because it was the first I bought.

I am not anti lamb at all really. Seriously I think the producer of the music has made some decent tracks and some of the vocals do fit well, and from the reviews I do intend to give the first lamb album a try as well, but I find the vocals on quite a few songs to be annoying, and the lyrics to be quite unimaginative as well. The portishead comparisons are in my opinion completly off, It sounds more like Ruby to me with out the evil sexy lyrics. Also The vocals alot of times sound like they where written after the songs, specially in the heavy Drum n bass type tracks. When the stuff comes together correctly Its pretty good music worthy of interestes, but I can't give an album that in my opinion has "horrid" songs anything above an 3, since I like to sit back and be able to listen to something without getting straigh annoyed at a really bad song.

*****There is another version with a Bonus disk floating around that doesn't seem to get mentioned very decently here as well it contains some hella great mixes of mostly first album songs, and got me into kruder and dorfmeister, and the global communication mix is godly.

Here is the track list.

1. B-line (andy votel mix) 2. Gorecki(global communication mix) 3. cottonwoll (filia brazilamix) 4. transfatty acid (kruder and dorfmeister)5. gold (hipoptomistic alchemy mix)

Like another reviewer mentioned, this release lacks the conflict between the beats and louise rhodes voice. Unlike their first CD which was a beautiful juxaposition of manic jungle/trip-hop/drum 'n' bass beats with the dreamy haunting vocals of louise on top, lamb has moved away from the edgy drum 'n' bass feel of their debut to a heavily jazz influenced sound that nearly drowns out louise's voice. With the exception of the marvelous 'little things' and the peppy 'fly', the rest of the tracks are weak throwaways that, like another reviewer stated, all sound a like and don't stand up very well after repeated listenings.

I personally met lamb at an in store performance in support of this CD. Actually, it was less of a performance and more of an intimate gathering, like chilling out with a couple of good friends.

"If you came here to hear us perform, we're sorry. We're saving that for tonight's show," louise addressed the audience. Andy then proceeded to spin an hour of head-bobbing downtempo, acid jazz and trip-hop while louise sat next to him, sipping water and looking absoulutely beautiful (louise and andy are even more gorgeous in person than in the photos in their liner notes).

After the show, while getting my CD autographed, andy explained how to find the hidden 'fourth' track on the CD. Put the CD in the CD player and after it reads hold down the I<< button. The CD should scan backwards reading negatively. The hidden track should start at around -3:20 or so. A short little jazzy number.

For those new to lamb, buy their debut. It's one of those CDs that will stay with you forever. Buy 'fear of fours' only if you're a diehard fan of lamb, if not then don't bother. It really falls short of their debut and is a disappointing follow up.

Lamb's debut is one of my all time favourites, actually it's only surpassed by the bends and ok computer in the 90's. The mix of Geoff Barrow's jungle producing and Lou Rhodes' folk/pop singing was just about perfect.

When fear of fours came out I bought it immediately and listened to it pretty much all the time; but, as opposed to the debut, which improves slightly every time I listen to it, this one gets more and more boring.

The first problem is that it sounds like there's no place for Barrow on this record, most of the songs are straightforward popballads, lacking the friction of the debut. The record's real highlight is earparcel where Barrow can let loose and have fun. The second problem is that the introduction of the brilliant bassist Jon Thorne, makes for a lighter, warmer sound, thus killing the dark, cold and mysterious universe of the debut

Overall, it seems Lou Rhodes has made her own record. The reason Rhodes and Barrow started Lamb in the first place was to create tension and conflict in the songs; this has all but disappeared

There are of course some treats on this record (otherwise it would have gotten a 1 or 2 rating), namely: Ear Parcel, a brilliant playground, a great mix between soft jazz and jungle producing; Soft mistake, a nice mellow repetition of a double bass "riff"; B-line, great all out attack; The strings on "all in your hands" and "bonfire", especially the sampling of some bach concert for cellos (on all in your hands) - the moment the cellos 'cave in' is the highlight of the album for me: it always leaves me with goosepimples

I think this could have made a nice ep if they had cut off the last six songs, they are quite boring and sound so similar that I'm having difficulty telling one from another, even though it's only been two weeks since I heard it last.

(a funny little detail is that there's no no. 4 on this album; after b-line (track 3) there's a BOOM, and then follows track 5. Obviously this is bacause of the name fear of fours)

This album is Lamb's Soft Mistake, I only hope they can incorporate the new bassist with the rolling breakbeats, and make an Ear Parcel the next time.