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Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix |  | Artist: Phoenix
Label: Glass Note
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $6.88
as of 3/9/2010 10:18 PST details
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New (36) Used (6) from $6.88
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 62
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 105
UPC: 892038002176
EAN: 0892038002176
ASIN: B0021X515S
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Lisztomania | | • | 1901 | | • | Fences | | • | Love Like A Sunset Pt. 1 | | • | Love Like A Sunset Pt. 2 | | • | Lasso | | • | Rome | | • | Countdown | | • | Girlfriend | | • | Armistice |
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Album Description
2009 album from the French Electro-Rockers. Born out of restlessness and a steady hunt for inspiration, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a career-defining album filled with the band's signature melding of synthetics and organics, sharp, danceable rhythms, infectious choruses with a considerable dose of aural panache and candy-colored pop sensibilities.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
 Brilliant synth-rock Europop - Phoenix's best yet May 15, 2009
M. Mills (East Coast, USA)
73 out of 80 found this review helpful
Phoenix are one of the greatest bands to come out of France in the last 15 years (along with Daft Punk and Air, two of my great musical loves, and several other bands that formed around the same time), and they are finally receiving some well-deserved attention. Phoenix just keep getting better, and they know it -- they love it, they exploit it, they bathe in its glory. Seriously, who else would have the "couilles" to title their fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix? But it's justified. This album is pure shining genius from a band with a unique and creative sound, a gift that the American public is starved for in these vapid, manufactured Disney-pop times. I've been hooked on Phoenix since the moment I saw their "If I Ever Feel Better" video in 2001 while living in Paris. Over the past decade, Phoenix have continually reinvented their sound -- with undeniable cohesion and hat-tips to previous albums -- and WAP, their pièce de résistance, is no exception.
It helps in assessing the roots of WAP, their fourth album, to look back across Phoenix's discography. United (2000) was a bizarre yet pleasing amalgamation of insanely catchy pop gems, dark bluesy instrumentals, hollering garage rock, and smooth downtempo. (Interestingly, their "Too Young" single, from United, was featured in the night-on-the-town apartment scene in Lost in Translation; this was America's first real taste of Phoenix.) By contrast, their second album, Alphabetical (2004), had a far more cohesive sound: its synth-y, finger-tapping indie pop made for a crisp, solid album. Listening to Alphabetical, you likely thought, "Wow, Phoenix have really come into their own since United!" Then in 2006, on It's Never Been Like That, Phoenix came hurtling back to their garage rock ethos, and the faithful listener was surprised once again. INBLT was rougher, edgier, less synth-y, more raw sounding than Alphabetical. (It probably helped enhance INBLT's "garage rock" sound that Phoenix produced it at Planet Roc Studios in Berlin, a Cold War-era radio station/recording studio. When you listen to Phoenix's albums in succession, you can hear this distinct difference.)
So here we are with their fourth album, a gleaming culmination of all their previous efforts. WAP has deep, undeniable rock roots yet equally incorporates luscious synth and keyboard, thanks to the skillful Philippe Zdar (of Cassius fame), who produced WAP as well as United. You can particularly hear Zdar's influence on the nearly-danceable tracks "1901" and "Girlfriend," which are also the first two radio releases. The guitars are piquing, the keyboards lush and full, the drum kits ablaze; this continues for the album's entirety. The lyrics are -- in Phoenix's trademark way -- nonsensical at times, yet interspersed with luminous moments of double entendre. For those looking for thematic cohesion, you won't be disappointed: WAP contains some obvious historical references, including "Lisztomania," "Rome," and "Armistice," not to mention the name of the album itself.
My top favorites on this seriously head-bobbing album include "1901," "Lasso," and "Girlfriend." In actuality, though, I could list every song as a highlight, as there's not a bad one among them. Most listeners will also enjoy "Lisztomania" for its sheer catchiness; "Fences" for its falsetto harmonies and lyrical allegory; "Love Like a Sunset" (an extended version of the single "Twenty-One One Zero") for its soul-searching instrumental depths; and "Rome" for its sonic lookback at "Sometimes in the Fall" (from INBLT, 2006). Listening to WAP will make you feel good: most tracks are seriously upbeat. And, if you're anything like me, you'll feel fortunate that there are still bands out there capable of producing such masterworks.
I think all Phoenix fans will enjoy this amazing album, by far their best to date. If you most enjoyed Alphabetical, you'll love WAP's crisp, return-to-synth beats. By contrast, if you preferred the rougher sound of INBLT, you'll appreciate WAP's rock richness. Very highly recommended, even for fans new to Phoenix. (Most people would tell new fans to start at the beginning of their anthology, but I think it would be fine to start with WAP and go backwards if you wanted.) Absolutely brilliant work, this album.
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 9/10 June 5, 2009
Rudolph Klapper (Los Angeles / Orlando)
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
Phoenix has been chugging along dutifully for years ever since their taste-making role in Lost in Translation's soundtrack, but fame has continued to elude the French foursome. Lost in Translation wasn't Garden State, and Phoenix certainly isn't the Shins, but despite Phoenix's ability to churn out irresistibly catchy pop singles, those same singles have never managed to translate into pop success. Maybe something was lost in translation over the Atlantic (sorry, I had to), but Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, their 4th major label effort, offers more than enough quirky synth-rock to finally give the band a hit on American shores.
The one-two punch of first single "Lisztomania" and "1901" that opens the record is the kind of combo that could prevent the rest of the album from being heard. Both are bouncy slices of indie rock guaranteed to get feet tapping: "Lisztomania" rides a jittery beat and vocalist Thomas Mars' oscillating vocals to a chorus perfectly memorable and perfectly simple, while "1901" mixes buzzing synths with a jangly chorus and a Mars' echoing refrain of "fallin'" that begs to be sung along to.
Previous listeners of Phoenix will find little difference initially between Wolfgang and their 2006 work, It's Never Been Like That. While most of Wolfgang retains Phoenix's relentless energy and effervescent melodies, the album as a whole feels more fleshed out, more organic sounding than INBLT, which at times sounded mechanical and clashing. "Fences" switches between a down-tempo disco groove and Mars' falsetto verses to a keyboard-heavy chorus with yet another on-the-money chorus, while on a song like "Lasso," Mars sounds more focused and natural than ever before, his habit of over-enunciating lessened and his versatile range exploited nicely. Speaking of "Lasso," not only does it have one of the best choruses on the record, the drums at the beginning always remind me of "Down With The Sickness." Very odd.
Perhaps most importantly, Wolfgang comes off as a very vibrant, modern-sounding record. Songs like the "Love Like A Sunset" duo and "Big Sun" sound like the stereophonic equivalent of a rainbow, full-bodied compositions that embrace a Wall-of-Sound production style but maintain Phoenix's dedication to keeping it relatively danceable, resulting in something fresh in the group's rather tired oeuvre. "Love Like A Sunset," in particular, is about as experimental as Phoenix are likely to get, the first part coming off as what a band like Explosions in the Sky might sound like with a more defined sense of rhythm and an interest in `80s pop while the second resolves all the tension in a potent wave of major-key harmonies.
"Rome" follows in much the same vein as "Love Like A Sunset," matching a sparkling layer of sound and the album's best lyrics together into Wolfgang's most fully realized tune. The metaphor of Rome's downfall with the end of a relationship paired with the shimmering cascade of guitar make the song an obvious highlight.
The only nagging problem with the record, and it's one with Phoenix's discography in general, is the lyrical content, which is more often than not nonsensical and incomprehensible. "Lisztomania" opens up with Mars yelping "so sentimental / not sentimental no! / romantic not disgusting yet / darling I'm down and lonely," while the chorus cryptically continues "think less but see it grow . . . I'm not easily offended / it's not hard to let it go / from a mess to the masses." English not being their first language, though, it's hard not to forgive the band and instead admire Mars' frequently clever vocal stylings.
After the epic productions of "Rome" and "Big Sun," the closing songs almost seem to pale in comparison. "Girlfriend" is an acceptable pop/rock ditty that, on its own, would be a well above-average song on any band's record, but at the tail end of this one, brings nothing new to the table. Closer "Armistice" boasts some nifty drum work and another excellent chorus breakdown, but its abrupt ending and overall sameness seems like an ill-fitting conclusion to such a stunning album.
And stunning it is. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is surely the high point of this band's decade-long career, a finely-crafted, tightly-performed collection of concise, vivid dance-rock that rarely misses a beat and shows Phoenix willing to grow beyond the structural boundaries they seemed to impose on themselves with It's Never Been Like That. Who says France never gave us anything good?
Rock Me Amadeus!! This has got to be the best album of the year, if not the century!! August 31, 2009
JOHN P. HANSSEN (ventura, CA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This latest album by Phoenix is absolutely superb, if not nearly flawless. I first heard the song "Rome" while I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I immediately said to myself, "Man, I gotta find out who sings this song!" It didn't take me long to find out, since I happened to be right next to the music section. Found out immediately from the clerk that it was Phoenix, did a trial listen to the others songs, and said, "That's it! I'm buying it right now!"
This is just one of the aspects that makes this album so amazing--it's seemingly instant addictive appeal. Another amazing aspect about this album, which is very rare these days, is the fact that there are ABSOLUTELY NO FILLERS!! EVERY LAST SONG COULD EASILY BE A GREATEST HIT!! And just when you thought they didn't make such records like they used to.
Describing what Phoenix sound like on this album, is somewhat of a challenge, since their sound is rather unique. The best way I can describe the sound is a cross between an electronic voice of Paul McCartney, a little bit of synth rock of "The Killers", mixed with the incredible lush pop sounds of early eighties ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, for those too young to remember), yet mixed with a sound that is all their own.
There is really not much more I can say, except that I highly recommend this album to everyone. If anyone is missing the days when albums did not have any fillers and bands that actually had exceptional talent, then go ahead and buy this album. The Phoenix has risen, and will not disappoint.
Out of The Ashes of Brilliance January 13, 2010
Flap Jackson (State Road, NC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Straight out of France, Phoenix is less of a band rising out of the ashes, and more like a bird setting the world on fire with its perfect blend of synth, rock and pop. Their sound is entrancing and only raised in quality by its quirky lyrics, and 21st century catchiness. Mark my words, you're going to be seeing a lot of artists in the next decade building off of, and using the sound blueprint that Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix leaves.
Highlights Include:
Lisztomania
1901
Fences
Lasso
The album's surprising success is defined by the first two tracks, the most famous of which has been used in car commercials, '1901.' With its brilliant light show of sound and lyrics, the song is an instant classic for indie fans, alternative rock fans, and even pop fans alike. If that wasn't enough creative brilliance for you, it's preceded by 'Lisztomania,' which apparently refers to the fevered love for a classical music performer. But aside from its quirky lyrics, which actually use some French, its music is simply brilliant and mind-blowing. Of course, the rest of the album doesn't live up to the lofty expectations laid down by the first two tracks of two instant classics in a row, but still, the album puts up a pretty good fight, and it knocks out the competition in the end.
In fact, if there was one element I could truly criticize the album for is its almost EP length. If you drop the 6 minute instrumental track, that's simply dazzling, the album is only 30 minutes long. Again, all of it works well, but it just leaves you wanting more, and leaves you questioning the true need for the filler.
Overall, Phoenix tosses borders and conventions aside in favor for an expertly crafted alternative pop/rock album. When it works, it's almost magical, and when it doesn't, it's still dazzling. And I'll admit it, I've heard a lot of music coming out of France, and this is by far the most imaginative, and they're probably the country's best import. So, here's to the continued success of Phoenix, and may they never encounter a scenario where they may have to rise out of the ashes. But if Phoenix does rise, it will be out of the ashes of brilliance.
Really Brilliant music July 26, 2009
Tristan Harward (Boston, MA United States)
Albums like this don't come along every year (or if they do, I have a heck of a time finding them). From start to finish, this is an album full of masterful pop songwriting and awesome production combined into a lush tapestry of harmonious synth vocal awesomeness.
One of my favorite songs is the first, Lisztomania. It starts strong, uses varied silence and dynamics (gasp!) and excellent musicality to actually develop the song through its choruses ending up at a truly gorgeous lush drop away and a build-up to another power-pop verse straight to the end, which in itself leads into (gasp!) the next song!
The whole album essentially goes that way. In the middle, it drops into something more dynamic -- something more mysterious -- in Love Like a Sunset, both parts of which are great on their own merit. Then the catchiness hits again with Lasso. It doesn't stop - every song after that has a hook, to catch you line and sinker into liking it and being interested in it, and loving it as much as the last one. No track gives you a reason to dislike it, even as hard as you try to find something wrong; nope, there's the chorus and I'll be darned if it doesn't perfectly match the personality of the song.
The only thing wrong with the album may be the last track, which isn't quite as unique as some of the others, and not quite a thoughtful ending either; it doesn't exactly know what to be. I'd like to think it should have gone somewhere in the middle instead, for those of us who still listen to albums in order.
Anyway, the simplest way to put it is that I've been addicted to this album for... hmm... 3 weeks straight. It's definitely one of those. Don't miss it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
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