Search - Samples :: Outpost

Over-produced, but still the Samples

10/06/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a Samples fan for about 5 years now, and Outpost stands out as the one album that doesn't quite fit with the rest of their amazing catalog. Blame it on the major label influence (the band went back to the W.A.R.? label after Outpost, and even mentioned in the liner notes of their next album "Transmissions..." that the Outpost era was not a happy one), or blame it on over-production, but Outpost misses the mark. The band seems flat (they almost sound *miserable*) and there are too many layers and effects cluttering up some great songs.Most of the songs on the album are available elsewhere in superior versions (I'd suggest "Transmissions..." which is a must-own for anyone with a passing interest in the band). But since Outpost is still a Samples album, it is still better than a lot of the music out there. The songs are well-written, and the music is as catchy as there is out there. Unfortunately, the "major label" album is really just a footnote to a great collection of work by the band, and really should be for hard-core fans and completists only."

Someone Give my Bonny (Samples) back to Me

M. Swinney | Flower Mound, TX | 07/23/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Someone took the energy, songwriting brilliance, and extreme musical talent of a Boulder, Colorado-based band and replaced them with these guys that released this sub-mediocre hack-laden tripe. The entirety of this album sounds flat and uninspired. Let's blame it on the melingering of a major record label's influence, because the early Samples remains as some of my favorite music. Go get the CD's "No Room", "The Last Drag", and "Underwater People", and thank me that I gave you this recommendation. The Samples hit a downhill slide in the mid-nineties and hit rock-bottom with this one. "It's Curtains" has some merit bringing back the Samples of old. "Information" is salvageable musically with a semi-unique sound. However, The Samples (or the string-pulling record execs) try to salvage this CD (or the band ran out of material), by dusting off some of their older better songs, "Did You Ever Look So Nice" and "Birth of Words", but don't be suckered in, these are lesser more desperate versions that should have never seen the light of day. Someone has got to tell Sean Kelly and crew that they don't have to rhyme every single line on their new songs and that rhyming more than twice with stupid contrived words that don't fit should be outlawed, banished to an Outpost far far away. Oh, where are the Yossarians and Samples of old? Stay away from this one, my beloved listening friends."

Hey, guys, I like it!

Richard D. Hodgson | Madera, CA United States | 10/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of other reviewers have dissed this album. Sorry, but I strongly disagree. This was the first Samples album I ever bought (though I had heard the band before on an obscure show on PBS) and I dug it from the start. Ok, maybe its not as deep as "The Last Drag" (my other favorite) or some of the other albums, but don't hold that against it. Some of the songs have appeared on other earlier albums, but that's ok too-- these versions are different. And that's not a bad thing. Overall it probably rocks a bit harder than some of the others, and while not a requirement, that's not bad either. The live hidden bonus cut "When It's Raining" (originally from "No Room") is alone worth the purchase price. In my opinion, a very fine album from an excellent and underappreciated band."