Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 unconvinced March 3, 2010
Mike J. Wheeler (Kingswinford, England)
Like many others I came across Midlake after listening to their previous album, 'The Trials of van Occupanther'. And like many I was positively bowled over by that particular album. So after what seems like an eternity we have the follow up, 'The Courage of Others'. My initial reaction on playing this a couple of weeks back when I first got it was one of slight disappointment. I played the album in the car and nothing about it really stood out. But that quite often happens with an album that grows with more plays. Trouble is it hasn't really grabbed me despite a good few plays. It's not that this is a particularly bad album it's just that it is, to be brutally honest, a little bland. I get the fact that they're enamoured with 70s British folk a la Pentangle/Fairports. Trouble is this has neither the 'honesty' or 'feel' of either of those bands at their best. In fact both had very variable output in any case in my opinion and this is comparable to some of the mediocre Pentangle stuff that I remember rather than the best of it.
The first few tracks are played at the same slow pace and delivered with a similar 'disinterested' vocal. Only on 'Children of the Grounds' does this album pick up to compare to van Occupanther and when it does, on this track it is good. Earlier on 'Winter Dies' is pretty good as well but does sound rather like something already done by Espers. I know those who love this album will hate this review but I have really given it a good few listens now. It's not a bad album at all, but in terms of living up to its predecessor it doesn't I'm afraid. Perhaps it needs more listens? The jury is out at the moment on that one but I shall endeavour. Disappointed - so far. (5.5/10)
 The emperors new clothes February 25, 2010
B. Garner (bath)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I simply cannot believe the amount of praise that has been heaped on such a dull and unimaginative album.
It's just plain boring - every song sounds exactly the same, nothing stands out.
Even down to the album artwork, the band have tried to encapsulate the spirit and sound of late 60's/early 70's psych and prog rock, but in my opinion the end result is a vacuous, overlong album of drivel.
I was just trying to get my newborn to sleep and stuck this on. Out like a light within 5 mins. Nuff said really...zzzzzzzzzz.....
 An old hippie says "Wow! Far Out Man!" Brilliant :-) February 24, 2010
M. R. N. Shackelford (Worthing, UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Confession: I am 53 years old and love Fairport Convention, (early) Steeleye Span, the Oyster Band, the fabulous Trees (etc. etc. you get the picture) as well as Van Der Graaf Generator and King Crimson (so I am NOT a dyed-in-the-wool folky).
I heard the previous album (Van Occu-thingy) and was not terribly impressed - it seemed like a pastiche of 70s stuff - Fleetwood Mac or whatever.
So I didn't buy this immediately. But various reviews suggested that this was something different - although there seems to be a great divide between "This is really rather fine" and "What a let down after the last one". So, calculating that as I was "let down" by the last one - there was a chance that there is something in this one.
And yes. After two listenings (straight after each other), this is a delicious CD.
My wife, on hearing it, assumed it was a UK band from Somerset (or similar), and was rather surprised to discover this ancient Olde English Folke Music was coming from Texas.
Superb musicianship, ranging from electric guitar, through flute, harpsichord to bassoon flows gently through these pastoral tunes (and the drummer really understands how to provide a sympathetic backing to this style of music, unlike the AWFUL drummer who I saw with J.Tull last year).
To be fair to some of the comments, the tracks are a bit similar. But that is the way it goes if you are playing folk music. There is not a lot of loud riffing, or rap, or funk, or whatever else is mistaken for music these days.
The cover looks like a Thundercat! February 23, 2010
Cortina Trap
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being the follow-up to one of my all time favourite album's 'The Trials of Van Occupanther', this album has a difficult task. How to move forward without losing that which made '..Occupanther' so special? At first I felt that they had failed, it was too dense, too cold. There was no light and shade, only darkness. But slowly the minor key mood drew me in deeper, the theme of nature runs through this album and listening to it can feel like entering a dark forest, one with only brief glimpses of light through the clearing, but as I spent more and more time moving ever deeper I began to want the darkness more than the light, I felt safer within the forest than outside where, 'The rulers have won, leaving all things undone'. It was like finding a camp of like-minded people. I decided to stay. Plus, the cover looks so much like a Thundercat's face!
These are songs built to last, and to live with.
 By next week it may be five stars February 22, 2010
joolsm (Sunny Devon UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am perplexed and enchanted by this album, and after many listens I am still veering from the opinion that it is either a work of genius or complete folly. That's what I love about it, in the end. Every listen I hear something new. I am a child of the 60's and spent a lot of the 70's listening to bands like Barclay James Harvest, Camel, Focus and Jethro Tull. I can hear all these bands and more in this album. It was this fact that put me off on the first few listens. What was the point, I thought, in revisiting those sounds and melodies that have been heard before. But on further listens, there are new gems to be found here. There are hints of Radiohead, The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver and even Tool. The playing is exquisite, the songwriting excellent and the mood and energy uplifting and invigorating. So what if it does hark back to another age, in the end it is just delightful, mesmerizing music. First few listens - 3 stars, currently four stars - next week - who knows?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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