Final Straw

Artist: Snow Patrol
Label: Universal
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 602498660898
EAN: 0602498660898
ASIN: B0001BH15K

Release Date: 2004-02-02

Final Straw

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Tracks:

How to Be Dead
Wow
Gleaming Auction
Whatever's Left
Spitting Games
Chocolate
Run
Grazed Knees
Ways & Means
Tiny Little Fractures
Somewhere a Clock Is Ticking
Same
We Can Run Away Now They're All Dead and Gone [*]
Half the Fun [*]

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Album Description

Limited edition reissue of the British indie rockers' third album features 14 tracks including the singles 'Run' & 'Spitting Games', as well as 2 bonus tracks, 'We Can Run Away Now They're All Dead & Gone' & 'Half The Fun'. Polydor/Universal. 2004.

Album Details

Snow Patrol Are a Northern Irish Quartet Now Based in Scotland. Final Straw is the Band's Third Album and Charted High on the UK Chart Soon after Its Release in August 2003. The Album features the Singles "Run", "Spitting Games" and "Chocolate". "an Album with Massive Presence, Immediately Engaging the Listener in the Band's Emotionally-charged Song's" - the Judging Panel of the Northern Mercury Music Prize.

Customer Reviews:

Not quite the final straw.......2005-05-21

After several solid albums in the UK, Snow Patrol gets some US attention with their breakout album, "Final Straw." Their melancholy rock'n'roll has a sort of chilly, late-autumn sound and a lot of songs about falling-out with lovers, but avoids being the cliched, whiny album about The End of the Band Leader's Relationship.

"Run" serves as the most polished, radio-oriented song -- smooth and vaguely Coldplayish -- but songs like "Run" and "Spitting Games" take a different tack: More rough indie-rock with some wicked basslines and a solid rhythm. The most musically rich song is "Ways and Means," a magnificent, slow-grinding song that includes violins, synths and cymbals.

Snow Patrol don't really forge any new paths into the world of rock music. Most of their songs are rooted in gritty indie-rock bands, as well as some classics like Pink Floyd. But they do have a solid, engaging style, in the form of a "message": Gary Lightbody seems to be asking his lovers to please, please, PLEASE understand him.

The songs almost border on dance music sometimes -- some strings, barely-restrained chugging guitars, solid basslines and the occasional lovely roll of electronic sound serve to contrast the melancholy tone. Not to mention delicate touches like strings, which also polish up the edges.

It seems a little weird to have such musically upbeat instrumentation while singing about being drenched in the rain. But it saves "Final Straw" from being yet another mopey pop album about The End of the Relationship, but not so perky that it becomes annoying.

Gary Lightbody's vocals sometimes get buried under the drums; they are best highlighted in songs like "Run," where the sound is lower-key. Snow Patrol's guys do need a bit of serious help with some of the songwriting. "My heart is bursting in your perfect eyes/ As blue as oceans and as pure as skies." While these songs have an earnestly sweet quality, it can't be denied that the writing is pretty banal.

"Final Straw" is a solid album, but it leaves one with the impression that Snow Patrol can -- and probably will -- do even better. While this bittersweet breakout is destined to be quite popular, it probably deserves it.

BEST ALBUM!!!!.......2004-02-15

Snow Patrol's latest album, Final Straw, is the best album I've heard in a long time. Their work on The Reindeer Section's "Your Sweet Voice" has the same soothing, catchy qualities as their work on this album. Standouts on the album are "How to be Dead," "Spitting Games," and "Chocolate." The haunting chouruses are hard to get out of your head, but they are not annoying and you never get sick of them, so you don't mind when they're stuck in your head. The CD has wide appeal- I believe you'll like it whatever your age and whatever kind of music you like. If you like the Scottish/Indie/Alt/Rock bands like Idlewild and The Reindeer Section, you'll love Snow Patrol's Final Straw. If I could buy any Snow Patrol CD, I'd buy Final Straw. Importing the CD is cheap- it costs around $16, and it only takes about 12 days to be shipped to the US, and it is definitely worth the wait. When I went to http://www.snowpatrol.net/ to hear sneak- previews of the album, I was definitely sold.

europe is spoiled rotten...........2004-01-26

In todays era of soul-less corporate rock and cash-safe "attack of the clones", I've begun to look over the pond for my music needs. Bands such as Muse, Kent, Doves, and Idlewild (just to name a few) get regular spin time in my ear buds.

A while back I got into the Reindeer Section, a side project of Gary Lightbody (creative force behind Snow Patrol) which incorporated a lot of euro talent on multiple tracks. The albums were a chance for Lightbody to experiment with some *safe* and *marketable* sounds, while retaining some integrity in the indie market by not carbon copying each track or sticking to a particular formula too closely (or marketing it to death). The Reindeer project, to me, was a simple attempt to get some people together and create some good music and, in my opinion, they succeeded nicely.

Fast forward to today. Lightbody took all that he learned with Reindeer Section, what he thought worked, what he thought could be improved, and created Final Staw, the new Snow Patrol album. What he and his band created is a more "radio friendly" version of Snow Patrol, which will no doubt upset the long-term fans, however...and it needs to be said.....WOW! Radio-friendly never sounded so good.

There are no "skip me's" on this cd. All tracks are solid. As others pointed out, some (like "Run") stand out as singles, but the other songs that are more radio-edgy stand out like polished gems. I think this band has grown a lot since Polar Bears and am glad I've been along for the ride.

Folk Implosion.......2004-01-22

If you like folk implosion you will like snow patrol and vice versa. Nuff' said.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Mr. Taste ~ Ed Thigpen

Jazz Way Out ~ Wilbur Harden, John Coltrane

Red Warrior ~ Ronald Shannon Jackson

Comin Thru ~ Duncan Millar

Blue Mambo ~ Various Artists

Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane ~ Burrell, Coltrane

Love 'n' Life Things 'n' Times

Versions Jane ~ Jane Birkin

For Installation ~ Spangle Call Lilli L

Buenos Dias America ~ Pablo Milanes