Search - Arab Strap :: Mad for Sadness

Brilliant post coital misery

el dangeroso | Asheville, NC | 09/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Arab Strap have for years now been purveyors of a moping, desolate rock that differentiates itself from similar bands like Snow Patrol or Belle and Sebastian through it's pure authenticity and blackened heart. While Belle often sound like they spent most of their afternoons in the local library exchanging witty barbs with the chess club and filling in literary ad-libs, Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat sounds like he's misspent his young adulthood in the wrong pubs, bringing home the wrong girls, and often regretting it...before doing it again the next night. He's a character actor, a drunken Scottish chain smoker with an amnesiac conscience portraying the anti-romantic balladeer. They are certainly given to exploring consequences, giving them drama and weight and a noisy backbeat. Mad For Sadness is a brilliant exploration of this world of darkened corners,and along with Philophobia is the best place for a novice Strap fan to start. They strum and pound and moan and whisper and rock through ten perfect tracks, creating a satisfying soundtrack for rainy days and snowy nights. Check out the gorgeously volatile "New Birds," Girls Of Summer," and "Afterwards." You won't regret it, although you may start regretting everything else in your life."

Great Live Arab Strap Album

RadioNDN | Midwestern USA | 07/31/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Essential live recording of this band, recorded in London in 1998. Features amazing versions of "New Birds" and "Girls of Summer," which alone are worth the price of the CD. If you are an Arab Strap fan, you must own this. If you are new to this Scottish band, this is a brilliant introduction to their stark, introspective, and often acid mixture of folk and rock music. Fabulously good."

If only live albums were all this good!!

Simone Oltolina | Morbio Inferiore, TI Switzerland | 12/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Arab strap are an excellent band and each of their records is a good one but Mad for Sadness is overall the best one and that's probably because the live-formula is the more suitable for the band. It also represents an excellent entry-point! I think that on this record the Arab manage to convey the feel that on their studio albums has always eluded them."