High Ball ... Me?

Overall Album Score: 9.7 out of 10

To anybody, like me, who was left scratching their heads a little bit wondering how Coldplay ever managed to become utterly popular … wondering if there would ever be anything that ought to be considered a real Brit-pop classic … I think I stumbled upon something for you … Moose!!! … What’s weird is that this album was released in 2000, and we all missed it!!!!!

This is a band that’s invariably more interesting than Coldplay … the instrumentation is more luxurious, textured and even better thought-out; the sound is flooded, but it’s pretty much a work of genius. Most importantly of all, this album contains one important element that eludes Coldplay 96 percent of the time: MELODIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, SCREWWWWWWWWWWWWWW COLDPLAY! I just want to leave them in the dumpster now. … This stuff is so much more fantastic. This album warrants a thousand listens.

This album is a total gem. … What’s more is that, apart from it being available for purchase, it’s an unexposed gem! Who's talking about Moose? Anyone? I can't even find out much about them on the Internet.

Well, let me straighten one issue out before it gets out of hand … I probably shouldn’t be comparing this band to Coldplay. For a start, Coldplay wasn’t really known when this album came out … but, they are from the same country! And they’re in the same “school.” It’s just through a series of misfortunes (i.e. Moose most likely had real crappy promotion), this album was virtually unnoticed while, a few months later, Coldplay sold thousands. And time, so far, isn’t even correcting the issue. … Just to illustrate the fact that the world is stupidly unfair, I have to compare High Ball Me to Coldplay! I’m sorry!

One major similarity this band has with Coldplay is the type of musical arrangements. Both bands are believers in the ‘more is more’ philosophy. Neither of them are minimalists! However, Moose actually manages to pack ***more*** in their songs and, unlike Coldplay, Moose actually achieves perfect results nearly every time. While Coldplay is unquestionably nice, there are tooo many times in their albums where I was left going: “zzzzzzzzzzzz.”

Much to my delight, while these songs could be classified as dreary (similarly to Coldplay), they’re zippy, tuneful, diverse, and there’s a plethora of interesting instrumental choices in every track. Most of the time, the instrumentation is so brilliant that if you take a single harmony-line of a violin in the background or a bass line or a xylophone and separate it, you’d have a valid and totally different melody-line by itself! … All these things Moose manages to achieve with seeming ease and Coldplay was never able to realize … and, if they ever do, I’d be utterly surprised. And, I'd actually start to listen to Coldplay albums for pleasure.

At any rate, Moose have several songs in here that surpass Coldplay’s finest (“Yellow,” for instance) by a mile. The exuberant, exotic “Lily La Tigresse,” the dreary-but-somehow-still-upbeat “Keeping Up With You,” the phenomenally gorgeous “Only Man in Town,” and the total apex of instrumental brilliance that I haven’t heard since I last enjoyed Duran Duran’s “Tel Aviv” (which, incidentally, seems spiritually related to) “Won’t Look For Love.” … Even the album’s lesser tracks provide ambitious elements that not only work but are priceless. “Can’t Get Enough of You” has a guitar with a spaghetti-western twang (amongst floods of atmospheric synthesizers and a very fast-paced bongo drum). The factory-like repetition of “High Ball Me Baby” still manages to come off as a warm, non-dull track. The delightful “Pretend We Never Met.” … Geez … there’s tons of stuff and elements to these songs that I’m failing to even mention. There’s so much going on in these songs that it’ll take many upon many listens to properly dissect. … And that’s just what I’m going to do. I’m listening to this album on Rhapsody, but I just ordered it from Amazon … so I can listen to this masterwork in my CARRRRRRRRRRR STEREOOOOOO!!!!! Really. Listen to this album. Unless you're a stupid bastard, you'll like it.

… Of course, this band has a back-catalogue that dates to the early 90s … all of which is currently and stupidly UNAVAILABLEEEEEE on CD. I got two of them from iTunes. They're not quite as fantastic as this, unfortunately, but still ... better than Coldplay.

Anyway, you really should get this just in case they stop printing it. … Or get a Rhapsody subscription and hope that it stays on there. Or sucker me up to e-mailing you the tracks. If you’ve never taken my opinions seriously before (because I like ABBA or you think I’m an idiot), pleassssse try to listen to me here. I'm not joking about this.

Overall Album Score: 9.7 out of 10 (This is like Coldplay except it’s good. I can only hope that I’ll later hear something that’ll make what I’m about to say out-dated: This is the best dream-pop album I’ve ever heard.)

Average Song Score: 9.5 (They definitely have more than their fair share of fantastic songs in here … wow …)

Album Tilt: 9.5 (I ate this up like candy, and I don’t have any cavities! … My only complaint, and an incredibly minor one, is that it slows down a bit at the end.)

Artist Rating: 10 (The melodies aren’t only fantastic, but the instrumentation leaves Coldplay coughing in the dust behind them. Everyone should buy this album so that it’ll inspire them to make more.)

Track Reviews

A Starting Point 9/10

Let me ask you … what’s a better way to start an album than to have this really flooded-sounding thing with scary singing noises (that sounds like something on a Nintendo 64-era video adventure game) and other noises, only some of which are classifiable? … Heck if I know …

Can’t Get Enough of You 9/10

Another very flooded song (but it’s expertly arranged with some very tasty synthesizer noises) … The beat is fast-paced, which keeps it chugging along and interesting. The guitars are buried under the synthesizer noises. The melody is good, but it takes a backseat to the other aspects of the song …

Keeping Up With You 10/10

YES!!!!!!!!!!! Moose comes up with a groove that’s as punchy and delightful as realizing that you had a fresh bag of peanut-butter M&M’s inside your desk that you had forgotten about. The instrumentation was very well done and thoughtful, the melody is pleasant … Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Lily La Tigresse 10/10

The quiet, happy beat and the sweet melody (…maybe bordering on French-style music…) makes this song FANTASTICCCCCCCCCCCAL… The instrumentation, again, is absolutely delightful. Rarely do I get to hear instrumentation that’s like this … It’s like wearing silk underpants … almost.

Won’t Look For Love 10/10

…HOLY CRAP… This is an instrumental, but … HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! … Wait, who is this band? Why don’t people listen to them? Why are bands like Coldplay famous???????? … What???? This song contains a vast array of utterly fantastic musical ideas. A fast paced synth (that resembles a harpsichord) playing a very familiar (and gorgeous) line of classical music. Then, the song pipes up into something that, oddly enough, is unquestionably a spiritual relative to Duran Duran’s “Tel Aviv” (another favorite song of mine) … There’s more, but I don’t want to describe it in case I’d screw it up. … Seriously, this song isn’t even four minutes long, but I’m just left marveling at how wonderful this is … My mouth is hanging open and dribble is coming out. This is my new favorite song … until I can remember all the other songs that I like …

High Ball Me Baby! 9/10

An oddly industrial-sounding song (and I don’t mean industrial as in the musical style … I mean industrial as in the song is overwhelmed by mechanical noises one might think to hear in a factory) … That sort of thing doesn’t work so well compared to some of the more glorious songs in here, but … I’d be danged proud if I ever came up with a song like this! The melody is nice, and there is still some quite tasty lines of melody (written in a barely heard xylophone) that makes this more than worth it.

Only Man in Town 10/10

GGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!! This song gives me another reason to decry this band as being among the most underrated in HISTORY … (I’ve said this dozens of times in this review by now and you’re sick of hearing it, but … YOU *****NEED***** to get this album … even if you don’t like new-fangled dream-pop bands …) The melody RULES and the instrumentation is EVEN BETTER. Both melody and instrument fly miles ahead of Coldplay’s best. … I AM NOT EVEN KIDDINGGGGGG!!!!! FORGET THAT I AM THE MUSIC REVIEWER WHO LOVES ABBA, AND YOU NEVER ACTUALLY BELIEVE ME!!!! YOU WON’T BE SORRYYYYY!!!!!!!!

Pretend We Never Met 9.5/10

Oh geeeezzzzzzzzz … Another utterly fantastic song. Upbeat, zippy … utterly thoughtful … The melody, again, is great … the instrumentation is … uggggggggg … It’s not as good as “Only Man in Town,” but … mannnnnnnnnnnnn … There aren’t many albums in existence where a song like this wouldn’t be considered the highlight. Delightful to the 35th power.

There’s a Place 9/10

Ah, what’s this???? … It starts up rather boring and … dare I say it … Coldplayian (okay, nerd, I realize this album was released before Coldplay, so shut up) … But it picks up steam halfway through. The chorus is very nice, too, which completely redeems the track. I can forgive sitting through the somewhat dull beginning thanks to the chorus ... I mean, this is probably the worst song in here, and it's still hookier than most Coldplay songs. Go freaking figure.

Wonder Where I’ll Go 9/10

A slow song, but it’s still interesting! Characterized by those monk-chants throughout the song and a dreary (but good) melody, a sweeping chorus, and some echoey guitars (I don’t know the terminology … sorry …), this is another hit for this totally unfamous band…

Twelve New Ways to Fly

Huh??? … Oh, 30 seconds … quiet with some vocals … mmmm … good album … I am left to briefly reminisce …

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