The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

For a band that's been compared to Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Wilco, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, the National sure sounds a lot more like the Czars or Uncle Tupelo on this sophomore album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. The band focuses on slow atmospheric songs, it's when it kicks out the jams that the music is the most compelling.. With so many influences rearing their heads and ample musical chops in the bag, the National might not be masters of any one genre, but it creates a fine amalgam nonetheless. Brassland. 2003. Album Description

Dark, depressing, and delicious

This is one of my favorite albums in recent years. I think it contains some of the band's best work. There are a few songs that are not quite as good, but the good songs are exquisite, and most of them are good songs. June 19, 2008

Enjoyed Gift!

I gave this as a gift at Christmas to a friend who had this on his "wish list". He really enjoys it! Fast delivery!! March 4, 2008

Terrible beauty

God! I love this album.

I happened upon The National's "Boxer" through an "If you liked this (Tindersticks) you will like this" and I did. I dug Boxer, though I grew weary of it (except for a couple of tracks) rather quickly. Then I bought this. Constant rotation, slow burn, gorgeous, deep...I will not weary of this album. It has a perfect gritty heart. January 11, 2008

It Started Here

Are you here because of Boxer and Alligator? Don't click on by...this where this band, which is lurks at the corner of alt-country and chamber pop, gets really good.

And this is where you catch them when their alt-country started to rock out, and when lead singer Matt Berninger, he of the Leonard Cohen-meets-Bono lyrics and velvet baritone chops, used to sing even more bitterly about heartbreak. And this is where Padma Newsome, the violen, piano and viola-toting guy that lights up "Alligator" and "Boxer" first comes along for the ride.

The songs on "Sad Song" are sad, but they're also bitter, and they also show the beginnings of a band that's grown to truly deserve a "symphonic rock" tag.

The characters Berninger sings about, over swirls of violen and chimes of guitar, are having a bad day. They've been cheated, mistreated, and, in the case of the disc's best song, "90-Mile Water Wall," they're suffering from a love so strong and wrong they'd rather drown than hang with their beloved.

But like all really good dark things, this is done with a sly sense of humor. On "Available," the thrum of dual guitar and the increasingly urgent chugs of their killer drummer power Berningers plaintive questions. "Why did you dress me down, and liquor me up?"

If you like the later stuff of these boy from Brooklyn, yep, you should add this to rack. It's rougher, more bitter and, while maybe not better, an equal companion to the stuff that Pitchfork's been crowing over lately.

And if you've read this far, and you like this band, you also owe it to yourself to buy the Nat's little appreciated, critically adored EP "Cherry Tree." It's even better than this. September 6, 2007

one of my Top 3

The first song is low...talks about personal weakness and how to hide your feelings from another. Mentions strangers ("you're just another one of them"), death and unknown men.

The second is completely different, in tone, in tempo. Full of energy & screams. Talks about being lonely ("she's lonely, man"), ghosts, haunted ("by an important life you could have led").. OK, same doleful content, but a lot more upbeat and forms a beautiful contrast to the first song.

I highly recommend this band because it's not typical Alt Country. No. Beautiful violins--it's more like a combination of continental classical mixed in with heartfelt American art-nouveau. Allez-y et achetez-le. May 3, 2007

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