Average Metacritic score 73 (25 reviews):

http://www.playlouder.com/review/+pieces-of-the-pe/

The Rapture
Pieces of the People We Love (Universal)
US Release date: 12 September 2006
Rating: 40

Let's get the hard facts out of the way first shall we? This sloppy bunch of bandwagon jumpers have been hanging round like a bad smell for what seems like ages. And despite a clutch of fairly good singles ('Sister Saviour', 'Alabama Sunshine') and one bona fide work of genius ('House of Jealous Lovers' DFA mix) anyone with any sense was underwhelmed by the dog turd in the swimming pool that was 'Echoes'. James Murphy's golden touch didn't transfer to the rest of the record and the end result was some kind of terrifying car-crash involving The Cure and The Farm.

Well prepare yourself to be merely whelmed. This time Ewan Pearson and Paul Epworth are making everything sound like a wasp in an empty ice-cream tub and making all the instruments sound dime store cheap. 'Don Gon Do It' is a fourth formesque shambolic 'funk' jam replete with embarrassingly awful drug cliches. "High. High as the sky." I mean, Christ, if this track was a child you'd slap it with an open palm. Some of the 'All Cats Are Grey' Asperger's yelping has been reigned in admittedly but it resurfaces on the insufferable first single 'Get Myself Into It'. Presumably it is medically possible to take enough cocaine to make this joyless 80's radio friendly ska stomp sound any good without killing yourself but to these (relatively) untainted ears it sounds like Madness circa 'Wings Of A Dove'. With fucking Sting on vocals. And again with the lyrics: "Gotta get myself into it. Do you want to help me do it?" You've just rhymed it with it Walt Whitman. The only thing you need get yourself into is a barrel. Full of glass. At the top of a crumbly cliff edge.

And so it goes on sonic cliche after awful lyrics after terrible synth settings after lazy drum beats after... well, you get the picture. We have to get as far as the last two songs to get any quality. 'The Sound' is a dementedly squally rocker, 'Never Enough' guitars, 'You Trip Me Up' feedback and a remedial take on the 'Tomorrow Never Knows' elliptical drum beat played at twice the speed. 'Live In Sunshine' is a medicated and lazy psychedelic track and is the sort of thing that the Brian Jonestown Massacre often attempt but rarely achieve. So burn these two tracks, nail the CD to a brick and throw it in the canal. File next to !!! and Out Hud as only capable of the occasional good single.

John Doran

reviewed on 15 Sep 2006

that review is rather harsh. i picked this out of the used bin yesterday and have only given it one listen so far, but i wasn't appalled by it. "get myself into it" is a pretty fun song. yes, the lyrics are terrible, but are you really listening to the rapture's lyrics? this is a band about music and the lyrics seem to be whatever sounds good when sung over the music.

Utter crap, save for a few singles, this band is the biggest joke in indie music!

This band is a lot of god damn fun is what they are.

What, because they make danceable music. Hardly. I'm going to disagree.

o/\o

Amen

wait - i thought this thread was about the rapture and not the killers.

I have a feeling you're not much fun in person.

I would imagine he doesn't enjoy clapping his hands or keeping a beat with his feet.

You know I share a lot of musical taste with you Bee...but I gotta say I'm diverting from you on this one

I don't listen to this much anymore, but for 2 straight weeks it had a monopoly over my car stereo. "The Devil" is probably my favorite dance-based song of the year.

Bee, why would you even bother posting a thread about a band you think are utter crap? I don't understand your logic.

Is this just your way of clogging up the board with a bunch of annoying posts every day until the end of the year?

Yeah, I don't get why you'd start a thread about this album. I don't remember anybody even talking about it.

I guess this could sorta be extended backlash against their overrated first album, but that's pretty unnecessary. They're really not that bad (I haven't heard one note of their new album, though), and by most accounts a really good live band.

i've heard 1 song. after reading a ton of bad reviews for it, this album has sat on my hard drive for many months now.

Year in review isn't about me but is about the indie music of obner.

Something about the Rapture brings out the hate in me.

like the album a lot more than the first one.

wow, harsh review. i like this album a lot. it will probably be in my top 20 and "the devil" is my favorite track on the album.

they are a lot of fun, especially live.

Uh...what? I have no idea what that statement means.

i dont think this album was mentioned once here this entire year

"Wasp in an empty ice-cream tub."

Heh. That phrase alone makes me want to like this record.

I really like this album, which is still in consideration for the lower 20. I wasn't holding out much hope for it as I didn't think much of Echoes, but this new one was far outpaces it. Pretty groovy overall.