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| Artist : Men In Fur |
| Album : Men In Fur |
| Label : Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records |
| Catalog # : HHBTM061 |
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+-------------------------------[Release Info]-------------------------------+
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| Source : CD |
| Genre : Indie |
| Language : English |
| Rip date : 2005-03-25 |
| Store date : 2004-00-00 |
| Rip tool : EAC |
| Encoder : LAME 3.90.3 --alt-preset standard |
| Quality : 192kbps avg VBR 44.1/Joint Stereo |
| Url : http://meninfur.heartonmysleeve.net |
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+--------------------------------[Track List]--------------------------------+
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| 1. The Messenger 3:29 |
| 2. Elisa 3:46 |
| 3. The Birds & The Bees 2:04 |
| 4. The Lonely Bear 1:42 |
| 5. Sister Moon 3:22 |
| 6. The Shepherd Song 3:08 |
| 7. Sam The Salmon 2:04 |
| 8. The Tiger Song 3:21 |
| 9. The Deer Song 4:15 |
| 10. The Monkey Song 2:31 |
| 11. The Snake Song 2:28 |
| 12. Rabbits In The Springtime 2:58 |
| 13. The Messenger (Reprise) 1:51 |
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| 36:59 |
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+-------------------------------[Release Notes]------------------------------+
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| I first heard Men in Fur on the Way Things Change 7" compilation on Red |
| Square Records. Their song on there, "Set Us Free", was written from the |
| point of view of rabbits trapped in a laboratory, pining away for the |
| green grass and warm sun of the outside world. When I heard that, I knew |
| that Men in Fur was going to be something big, and I couldn't wait for |
| their full album. And here it is. This CD is full of what the liner |
| notes describe as "new wave songs about animals." But it's so much more |
| than that. Rather than being an album-length vegan tweepop guilt trip, |
| the debut Men in Fur CD is a loose concept album that mixes elements of |
| science fiction and naturalist propaganda. |
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| The science fiction element of the Men in Fur story is introduced on the |
| first track, "The Messenger". From a city in outer space, where everyone |
| speaks in poetry, this messenger came to remind the human race of what |
| it used to be. Later in the album, "The Shepherd Song" elaborates on |
| this theme, when a shepherd dreams of a time in the past "when animals |
| and people got along, when birds taught children how to sing their |
| songs, before a forge had ever made a sword, before our rights had |
| turned into our wrongs." Another song, "Sister Moon" appears to document |
| the time when the messenger's people left Earth in their rocketships, |
| sung from the point of view of two people separated because one of them |
| went on the ship and the other stayed behind. |
| |
| The rest of the album contains all those aforementioned new wave songs |
| about animals. "The Tiger Song" is about a sheep and tiger jealous of |
| humanity's power of fire, and it humorously recounts their failures to |
| build their own fire by rubbing sticks together. The cute singing of |
| "baas" and "meows" on this song is worth this entire disc. "Elisa" is a |
| moving song about a brother and sister abandoned in childhood who were |
| raised by wolves. The lyrics are sung from the point of view of the |
| brother, finally revealing to his sister why they're different from the |
| other creatures of the forest ("Elisa, we are not wolves. Although we |
| live in the woods, we're just a couple naked children. We are not |
| animals"). Another highlight is "The Birds & the Bees", which is |
| actually much more innocent than the title implies. Taken literally, the |
| lyrics seem to be a love song that a bird and a bee sing to each other. |
| (By the way, if you wonder how the animal songs are related to the |
| sci-fi material, my guess is that they represent the parables and |
| stories passed down by the messenger.) |
| |
| Frankly, I love the concept of this album and I'm glad that Men in Fur |
| had the ambition to lyrically aim high on this debut. I think they hit |
| the target, managing not to seem too pretentious (a charge often levied |
| at pop concept albums), but also managing to be cohesive and dedicated |
| enough to the concept to have a story for those who read into it. |
| Besides that, the songs actually stand so well enough on their own that |
| many could make great singles. And yes, the musical portion of this |
| material is good, too. It's a warm mix of acoustic and electric guitars, |
| tweepop keyboards, live and programmed drums, and some other |
| electronics. While the lyrics are the big deal on this CD, there are a |
| couple great musical moments that really stand out. I love the backwards |
| guitars and bubbling sound effects at the beginning of "Sam the Salmon". |
| And the noisy fuzz guitar solos on "The Monkey Song" and "The Snake |
| Song" are incredible. They rock with a good amount of feedback, yet they |
| don't disrupt the general tweeness of the songs... if that makes any |
| sense to you. |
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| Simply put, this is just an incredible CD, a successful tweepop concept |
| album, and all tweepop fans should get it immediately. All fans of |
| animals should check this one out, as well. |
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| --Eric Wolf (http://www.mundanesounds.com) |
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