|
Oh Inverted World | 
| Artist: Shins
Label: Sub Pop
Category: Music
New (22) Used (5) Collectible (1) from £4.98
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 3804
Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 550
UPC: 098787055023
EAN: 0098787055023
ASIN: B00005JSHW
Release Date: August 16, 2004
|
| Tracks:
| • | Caring Is Creepy | | • | One By One All Day | | • | Weird Divide | | • | Know Your Onion | | • | Girl Inform Me | | • | New Slang | | • | Cellbate Life | | • | Girl On The Wing | | • | Your Algebra | | • | Pressed In A Book | | • | Past And Pending |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Oh, Inverted World, the sun-baked debut album from Albuquerque indie quartet The Shins, signposts a fascinating change of direction for Sub Pop Records. Back in the early 90s, bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney made the name synonymous with the dark, angst-ridden grunge sound. Now, it would seem, Sub Pop wears a flower in its hair. The florid harmonies and bucolic acoustics of "Caring Is Creepy" and "Know Your Onion" bring to mind a vision of the verdant hills and gleaming bays of California that's remained largely dormant since The Beach Boys hung up their surfboards: a sound that's undeniably nostalgic, but so vividly realised and perfectly recorded it seems almost churlish to mention it. It's not all simple sunshine pop, either: the delicate, melancholy spaghetti western strum of "New Slang" recalls the barren desertscapes of Ennio Morricone, while the shadowy, monastic vocals and trilling cellos of "Your Algebra" provide a chilling two minutes of commendably dark psychedelia. Sure, it might have one foot in the past but Oh, Inverted World sounds like a fresh start for Sub Pop--one that drowns out the muddy roar of grunge with the hum of good vibrations. --Louis Pattison
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Garden State Killed My Shins December 27, 2008
The lone star is for the genius of the last song on the album. The rest has been sucked dry by mr scrubs and his pointless fanbase.
 Oh, Inverted World March 1, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Shins make great pop music. All of the songs on this album have a bright, catchy appeal. They are laid back but refreshingly original. My particular stand-out tracks are Caring is Creepy, Know Yr Onion!, New Slang, Girl on the Wing and Pressed in a Book. The only one I skip is the befuddling Your Algebra.
As well as the quality music, James Mercer's lyrics are a delight in themselves. Lines like 'a luscious mix of words and tricks' or 'no icicles stuck in my hide' show what an inventive lyricist he is. A pity you cannot always discern the words in the songs, but the CD jacket has them printed.
Chutes Too Narrow is the more accessable album so you may want to start your Shins experience there, but this is still amazing and well worth your money.
 Gorgeous December 30, 2005
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I kept meaning to go and see Garden Sate but missed it, so missed out on The Shins until a couple of days ago when my son played me a compilation album one of his pals had made up with Caring is Creepy on it and I was hooked. Was worried that Caring would be the best thing on the album, but it isn't ;there's not a bad song on it. New Slang is just lovely, the lyrics are beautiful ; never mind I've no idea what they mean.
Words like " beautiful " get bandied around far too easily to describe bland pap ( step up James Blunt and Katie Melua) but this really is beautiful, thoughtful and intelligent
A 21st Century masterpiece... November 21, 2005
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
2001's 'Oh, Inverted World' remains one of the great albums released thus far in the zeroes - a classic I'd rate alongside such albums as 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot','Mass Romantic','snow borne sorrow','69 Love Songs','Carbon Glacier','Turn on the Bright Lights'& 'Lift Yr Skinny Fists...'It was on some Sub Pop samplers I became aware of The Shins - the wonderful 'New Slang (When You Notice the Stripes' sounding like a more sophisticated Elliott Smith. The Shins album fitting into a similar spectrum to acts like Apples In Stereo,The Kingsbury Manx and The New Pornographers. There's a sense of pop here, alongside elements of folk and psychedelia - any fans of more recent bands like The Arcade Fire and The Decemberists should find much here to adore! It's all wonderful, having that melancholic autumn feel to things - songs like 'Girl Inform Me' and the Blur-meets-Van Dyke Parks of 'The Weird Divide' are ideal songs to fall in or out of love to. As the sticker on a more recent reissue notes, two songs here the aforementioned 'New Slang' and opener 'Caring is Creepy' featured in the indie-movie 'Garden State'- though whether this is a good thing or not depends if you thought it was minor-pseudo indie fare which irritated profoundly, having the depth of an episode of 'The OC'! I love this album, though it's not that long; the follow-up 'Chutes Too Narrow' was fine too, though as some reviews have noted - the weight of expectation and claims of greatness for this debut dilute its effect. The oddest track here remains 'Your Algebra', which reminds me a little of Pink Floyd's 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' and a lot of Dead Can Dance's 'Severance' for some reason! Closing joy 'The Past and Pending' remains the highlight, gorgeous melancholic folk-inflected rock that veers off into psychedelic territory with some gorgeous french horn...A 21st Century masterpiece and an album no one should be without anyway!
Strange,very strange indeed! September 27, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
On hearing this for the first time I wasn't sure what the hell I was listening to!
The first thing that strikes you is the production-the whole record has such an eerie veneer-as if The Zombies had composed the soundtrack to a long forgotten horror film.
The sixties references are easy to spot,from The Kinks to the above mentioned Zombies.Then as these nuggets of psych-pop wormed their way into my brain I stopped playing spot the influence and started to enjoy this great record. For lovers of Elephant 6/ Kinks/ Zombies and the first Simian album.
| |
|
|
| |
