Search - Kitchens of Distinction :: Cowboys & Aliens

A Crowning Moment for Dreampop

sfobos | Massachusetts, USA | 05/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"KOD was one of those rare bands that got better and better with each new album... this final monument to Patrick Fitzgerald's songwriting and Julian Swayles' guitar mastery is little shy of breathtaking. The initial 4 songs are as strong and aggressive (not a term usually associated with Dreampop) as anything in the KOD catalogue, but it's the final 2/3 of the album that raise it to such incredible heights.First: the guitar. I never had the opportunity to see the band live, so I can only imagine the wall of pedal effects that Swayles had available to him in creating these songs -- the image of one man generating a symphony of soaring, pleading sounds from a single instrument must have been hypnotic. From the bouncy, poppy-into-symphonic evolution of "Come On Now" to the gotcha! fade-and-return of "One of Those Sometimes Is Now," his work is exhilarating... but never more so than on "Prince of Mars," which climaxes with what may well be the most lyrical, haunting and moving three minutes of guitar solo ever recorded.Second: the words. Fitzgerald's songwriting grew progressively stronger and stronger with each successive album, and COWBOYS AND ALIENS stands as his masterwork. While "Here Come The Swans" paints with vivid metaphor the terror of standing alone and inadequate in a world of cool and beauty, "Remember Me," "One of Those Sometimes" and "Now It's Time To Say Goodbye" capture the death of love and romance in chilling, sad detail -- adopting the voice of the betrayed and betrayer with equal strength.But, as with the music, the apex of the album's lyrical strength comes in "Prince of Mars." A lament of stunning power and lasting emotive impact, the song captures a whirl of confusion, love and loss, culminating with the desperate "We'll draw ourselves a new world" - a yearning for a better life, a better world, that can never be - that segues flawlessly into Swayles' beatific solo. Is the album perfect? No. The title song is as strange and out-of-place as the odd juxtaposition of COWBOYS AND ALIENS suggests. But as a work that, as a whole, expresses the passions, sorrows and shame of the lost and awkward with such brilliance and poignancy... it comes awfully close."

Best Album Ever - Possibly

06/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been into progressive since the early 70's. After listening to every thing I own over the past few months, I have come to the conclusion that not only is this the best KOD album, but it is the best album I own period. Could there be a better song than Prince of Mars. Here Come the Swans is so unique, just nothing like it. The critics missed this one, and while all of KOD's albums and CD's are top notch, this one is the best - hands down."