I still love Bring It Down & Panic On. The other 2 had their moments but were pretty patchy.
― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 1 September 2005 10:45 (eighteen years ago) link
'bring it down' is the debut... 'beautiful john' is a really pretty light jangle, 'while away' does the noise-fringed downer girl group thing better than anyone else ever, anywhere, and 'swim' is just dreamy. the other tracks are pretty killer too.
'panic on' was the second album, and i love about every song, but especially 'car song' (chorus: 'i think of you all day long / now try and get some sleep' [swooning guitar break] = PERFECTION), 'almost lost my mind' (where the guitars sound like steel drums, and mary sounds like karen carpenter), 'day in day out' (chorus: "you never even ask me how i feel") and 'when you smile' (chorus: "seems i only see you smile when you dream"). aw, this record is PERFECT.
'tragic magic' was the major-debut that suffered from dated post-trip hop production and no motivation from the label. there's some good stuff on there, but only 'hung up in you' and 'don greene' really kill.
'hello june fool' was their last, and i reckon it might be their best. darker, more mature, less upbeat, possessed of a real dreamy, opiated gloom that's like a really heavy, humid summer day, headache music. but the songs... especially 'should've known' (spector-pop melancholia), 'hello june fool' (a big squalling lazy anthem) and the heavy dub of 'dark rain'.
if you see any of these albums, i would say buy them.
― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 1 September 2005 15:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― jb, Thursday, 1 September 2005 15:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― js (honestengine), Thursday, 1 September 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― mattS, Thursday, 1 September 2005 23:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mitch Mitchell (mitya), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link
Bring it Down is nearly as good, but I didn't really like Tragic Magic (bought in Tower Records in New Orleans!) and sold it eventually. From the sound of it I ought to get Hello June Fool though.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 08:13 (eighteen years ago) link
Madder Rose somehow flew just below my radar for a few years without ever managing to attract my interest. But on the basis of "Car Song" alone, they're worth revisiting.
― pleased to mitya (mitya), Sunday, 16 July 2006 03:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Cunga (Cunga), Sunday, 16 July 2006 04:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― mts (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 16 July 2006 06:55 (seventeen years ago) link
"Texas", off Hot Boxing is an excellent song. Bob Mould's production gives the guitars a Sugary roar on the choruses, which accentuates their rush coming out of the verses. The singing is pretty much par for the early 90s indie course, but the Stipe-y backing vocals on the chorus are candy to a REM head like me.
― Euler, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I've seen Magnapop and they were great live.
― l'homme moderne: il forniquait et lisait des journaux (Michael White), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:48 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, I saw them on the Sugar tour mentioned above and I enjoyed them a lot more than Sugar that night (that roar gets wearying after two hours).
― Euler, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:50 (fourteen years ago) link
God I used to love that album.
― *:--☆--:*:--☆:*:--☆--:*:--☆--: (ENBB), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:50 (fourteen years ago) link
OTOH:
Conscious now so you walk aroundAwake enough to hold your groundThe river's edge, you jump right inThe current's strong, it makes you spinYour arms in a wild rotationYour arms in a wild rotation
Truth's enough to set you afloatDescribe the truth as a yellow life boatAdmitting this you climb the ladderBut now the yellow boat just looksSadder
Hey Rose, hey MadderHey Rose, do I make you sadder?
*** *** ***
from memory, at least a decade down the line
― a bleak, sometimes frightening portrait of ceiling cat (contenderizer), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 15:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i still miss madder rose
― no bubo, no credibility (stevie), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 16:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I remember reading a review of Madder Rose ca. 1993 that made me want to hear them. But I never did.
So I'll take Magnapop by default -- I never heard any of their albums, either, but I really liked "Slowly, Slowly" and "Lay It Down."
― M. Grissom/DeShields (jaymc), Wednesday, 14 October 2009 16:13 (fourteen years ago) link
just listened to "Texas" off Hot Boxing---it's been a while, & I know the record was produced by Bob Mould, but this sounds like a Sugar song. I can't find anything online about the genesis of this song, but maybe someone here knows what kind of a role Mould played in the songwriting on this album? He isn't credited on any songs here, fwiw.
― Euler, Monday, 23 August 2010 16:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Saw Madder Rose open for the Sundays in 1993. Pretty great show!
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 23 August 2010 16:56 (thirteen years ago) link
every time this thread is revived i hope in vain for madder rose reunion/posting of rarities/live youtubes
― (I'm in the "I'd rather have come coffee" camp) (stevie), Monday, 23 August 2010 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link
there is a new madder rose album?!
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 23:07 (four years ago) link
Huh. Didn't expect that!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 23:09 (four years ago) link
https://store.tromerecords.com/album/to-be-beautiful
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 23:09 (four years ago) link
!!!
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 23:14 (four years ago) link
One of my buddies is in Magnapop, they still do the occasional tour.
― InternationalWaters, Thursday, 12 September 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
It's v good! The new LP, I mean...
― SHANTY the golden fish portion (stevie), Thursday, 12 September 2019 22:04 (four years ago) link
last thing I expected to see but welcome
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Saturday, 14 September 2019 15:13 (four years ago) link
and not to be outdone... https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/magnapop-the-circle-is-round
― geoffreyess, Saturday, 14 September 2019 16:08 (four years ago) link
impeccable timing
― mookieproof, Saturday, 14 September 2019 19:33 (four years ago) link
Love both these. Magnapop was doing a live on FB yesterday.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Saturday, 14 September 2019 21:12 (four years ago) link
Magnapop. I cannot help but listen to Slowly, slowly" with velocity girl's "sorry again" and Spinane's "Spitfire" all in a row. they all belong together for me.
― Yerac, Saturday, 14 September 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
Magnapop's "Lay It Down" was secretly one of the great songs of the 90s.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Saturday, 14 September 2019 22:14 (four years ago) link
x-post - YES. My senior year of HS jams. <3
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Saturday, 14 September 2019 23:24 (four years ago) link
mine too!
― fremmes with neppavenettes (rip van wanko), Saturday, 14 September 2019 23:58 (four years ago) link
saw magnapop in alaska circa 1995 with jon wurster filling in as emergency drummer
― mookieproof, Sunday, 15 September 2019 00:02 (four years ago) link
try to get some sleep
― mookieproof, Sunday, 5 April 2020 02:23 (three years ago) link
easy for you to say, Mary!
― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Sunday, 5 April 2020 06:23 (three years ago) link
Great song, listening to it and that 2nd album a lot lately. It's odd I never checked out that 2nd album of theirs until recently because I loved their 1st one so much.
― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Sunday, 5 April 2020 08:49 (three years ago) link
The second is my favourite. Their fourth, Hello June Fool, is really, really excellent too.
― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Sunday, 5 April 2020 09:31 (three years ago) link
2nd LP is my first and still favourite, Drop a Bomb -> Ultra Anxiety -> Happy New Year especially.
― Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 April 2020 09:49 (three years ago) link
They were so so great live, too. I remember an "unplugged" show at Dingwalls circa Panic On, with everyone plugged in and Johnny Kick playing conga with empty Evian bottles, that was just wonderfulness. They did the best covers, too.
― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Sunday, 5 April 2020 17:25 (three years ago) link
apparently there's a new Madder Rose album coming out later this year. I love their 1st 2 albums so much, I think Panic On is one of my favourite albums of all time tbh
― even the birds in the trees seemed to whisper "get fucked" (bovarism), Sunday, 6 March 2022 02:11 (two years ago) link
now try to get some sleep
― mookieproof, Sunday, 6 March 2022 02:14 (two years ago) link
Excellent news - there was great stuff on the album they put out on 2019. Their first two albums are fantastic, but I also really love their fourth, Hello June Fool. Very much worth checking out if you've never heard it.
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Sunday, 6 March 2022 21:19 (two years ago) link
New album (‘No One Gets Hurt Ever’) is now out and I’m enjoying it. Really liked ‘To Be Beautiful’ too.
― hamicle, Monday, 7 August 2023 23:08 (seven months ago) link
ty!
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 03:20 (seven months ago) link
I love it. Better than the last one! Much more in their classic vein.
― serving aunt (stevie), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 06:42 (seven months ago) link