Great fucking album. Blows away most of the rest of their stuff, I think...The purists might say theyve changed/sold out, but I think its absolutely stellar pop music.

I never paid much attention to them before, but I really like this album. I was listening to the local college station this morning on the way to work, and they played "The Blues Are Still Blue." I was rockin' out.

Yup, I love it. Its not like their early stuff, which I also love.

Best record of '06, so far.

And I love their old stuff, but this beats 'em all (except If Your Feeling Sinister) IMO

My favorite band and, while I love this album, it's still only my third or fourth favorite by them.

I don't dislike it, I just don't think it's as solidly overwhelming as Dear Catastrophe.

Though I do like the older stuff, I seem to like B&S more and more the faster their tempos get.

I've been avoiding this for some reason...but too many qual recs to continue doing so.

Good stuff. I was late to the party too but I'm not sure it's better then some of their older albums but it's defintely solid.

I like it too, yet I totally forgot to rank it when we did the Top 20 recently. I'm guessing in part because I've had the the album since late '05 and it hasn't been in heavy rotation for awhile. It's a solid album, lots of catchy tunes, but I just didn't take to it like DCW or their earlier stuff. I would stick in in Top 20 for sure though.

I still say fuck 'em. It's so precious and dainty. "The Blues Are Still Blue" sounds like Gilbert O'Sullivan ferchrissakes.

Makes me glad I'm not part of a generation that has to pretend to like this shit.

I never really cared for B&S until this album, and I'm not pretending.

The only person pretending here is you.

We all know when you hear 'White Collar Boy' you're like Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor is lightning attacking Luke Skywalker - torn between self indoctrination and natural inclination.

I just had a conversation about this album with the girl who runs the burrito shop near my office yesterday. She's a recent convert.

Great fucking album.

Well...
It's a record we're listening to and enjoying, Barry...

<----sings "Claire"

After the lethargy of "Fold Your Hands", "Catastrophe Waitress" was a big charge for me - like they woke up a bit and decided to move forward instead of relying on the old templates. I think "Life Pursuit" nicely continues on that track.

Good thing you found out now -- it is perfect warm weather/summer listening.

and i don't see any 2006 release coming that has an inside shot at besting 'em save the decemberists (who won my #1 spot of 2005). they have perfected their songwriting

this is a pretty good album with a few clunkers thankfully at the end.

I'm old and I'm not happy. Everything today is improved and I don't like it. I hate it! In my day we didn't have hair dryers. If you wanted to blow dry your hair you stood outside during a hurricane. Your hair was dry but you had a sharp piece of wood driven clear through your skull and that's the way it was and you liked it! You loved it. Whoopee, I'm a human head-kabob. We didn't have Manoxidol and Hair Wings, in my day if your hair started falling out when you were 16 by 19 you were a bald freak. There was nothing you could do about it. Children would spit at you and nobody would mate with you so you couldn't pass on your disgusting baldness genes. You were a public menace, a crome dome by age 20 and that's the way it was and we liked it! We loved it. Hallelujiah look at me, I'm a bald freak oh happy day! Not like today, everybody feeling good about themselves. I hate it! In my day we didn't have these thin laytex condoms. So you could enjoy sexual pleasure. In my day there was only one kind of condom. You took a rabbit skin and wrapped around your privates and tied it off with a bungee cord and you couldn't feel nothing! And half the time you didn't even know your partner was there. And we used the same one over and over again! 'Cause we were ignorant morons! Just a bunch of hairless, head-kabobs standing around with rabbit skins on our dinks and that's the way we liked it!

I'm afraid i am with radcliffe. I'd love to introduce Stuart Murdoch to the knuckles on my right hand.

it's no surprise i agree with the elder statesman from vancouver about a solid 50% of the music posted/discussed here on the board.
but i must say to you, todd: good one.
don't bask in it. i'm sure you'll fuck up again any minute.

heh heh. nice one.

(still can't get into them... I find it "nice" but even as an obsessive Morrissey fan I still can't condone that level of fey-ness.)

omfg rodney...

i like this album. a lot but i'm not sure if it'll be top 20 for me (too many albums i love this year). i also really like dear catastrophe. and they are great live.... (refer to hollywood bowl review)

yeah, they ruled at the hollywood bowl. that was an awesome show with the shins...heaven.