Search - Sigur Ros :: Takk (Spec)

Their best effort to date

K. Spindler | Bangkok, Thailand | 11/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"So you're here wondering whether to sink however many bucks into the latest Sigur Ros album. You're either a bona-fide fan looking for affirmation that this latest effort doesn't suck before purchasing it (it doesn't, buy it now), or you're a fence-sitter, having heard them before, and thought their sound was beautiful and wonderfully weird, occasionally inspired but also occasionally incredibly self-indulgent and, well, pointless.



I'm here to offer my opinion that Takk is Sigur Ros' most focused and joyous album to date, and my personal pick of the bunch (I do have all their previous albums). Songs- indeed, you can even classify them as songs instead of moods and atmospheres- have structure and momentum that reaches satisfying conclusions. Some even had me rockin' in my chair. All are beautiful as only songs crafted by this bunch of Icelanders can be.



Will Takk, then, be able to convert a non-fan? I'm not sure; after all, it is another Sigur Ros album, with all that implies. And if their other albums invoked a terrible sense of pretentious, faux-art, hipster nonsense in you, then this latest effort will hardly change your mind. But if you wonder what Sigur Ros have been doing in the 3 years since their previous album, and are willing to give these lads some leeway for their indulgences, I'd say this album is well worth a gamble.



As a side note, the special edition packaging is a thing of beauty and I urge you to choose it over the normal CD case."

There is no band greater than Sigur Ros

Franka Maerz | Harrisburg, PA | 10/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I give this album 5 stars, triple platinum, a sweep at the Grammys, a 30 minute time slot on late night television, a 2.5 hour uninterupted network concert broadcast and a key to the world.



The calming, self-titled intro "Takk" leads into what is arguably the best composition Sigur Ros has ever produced thus far in "Glosoli". The first time I heard it I played it like 30 times in a row as I couldn't get enough of Jonnsi's falsetto and bowed guitar. I saw Sigur Ros open with this song in Philly in September 05 and it was very powerful.



Every song on this album is fantastic and it has a very good pace in that (unlike U2's last two albums)you're not slammed with 5 slow songs in a row. The strings that conclude "Soeglapur" flows nicely into the crisp piano that leads into "Milano." "Gong" picks up the pace a bit and places itself in perfect sequence followed by the masterpeice that is "Anvardi." An absolutely stellar performance on this track. "Heysatan" concludes this work as if Sigur Ros are saying "Takk" for the very last time.



Without a doubt the best album Alternative music has seen since Radiohead's OK Komputer. This CD will be a classic album palettable for generations.



More about the concert - I had been salivating to see these guys live for the last three years. I can honestly say that this was a concert like none other that I've seen before. My wife began crying at points in the show because the music was so beautiful. At the conclusion of the show, Sigur Ros took two curtain calls in the midst of a 7 minute standing ovation. I couldn't keep a dry eye during the ovation as I felt such strong gratitude in witnessing Sigur Ros' playing their hearts out in what was a powerful and emotional performance."

Blown Away

Barrett Gordon | Sweden | 03/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this on a throwout table outside a boring local record shop. I had heard a few things by Sigur Ros before but nothing that really impressed me. I bought this because the cover was so cool. Then I listened to it. Absolute magic. The best thing I have heard for a long time. I have not yet taken out of the CD player and it has been 3 days. Like being dragged through some fantastic dream by a team of naked angels on opium. Before you leave this miserable planet listen to this record, things are not so bad after all.

"