Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Starsailor

Alcoholic

Label: EMI Records Release Date: 17/09/2001

jwisbey by Joe Wisbey September 17th, 2001

It's been a long time coming. But it's here. It's the best record of the last 4 years. It's the most powerful, vivid, emotional lyric since Morrissey used to exist. It's Starsailor.

Now, I'm more than aware that many of you who are reading this now, don't particularly like this record. Hey! There may even be one or two of you who actually dislike it. But even if you despise anything with any kind of melody, and naked despair just isn’t your bag, you have to admit that this record has SOMETHING.

Something more than "Yellow", which had words that clearly Chris Martin borrowed off one of Noel Gallagher's worst days. Something more than any Travis song ever written, this is not MOR Radio Two stuff. This is just a tad, not much I grant you, but just a tad different to anything else out there at the moment. I'm not saying that everything else it shit, and Starsailor are our lord and masters who‘ve come to save us, it's just that when I first heard this record, I stopped. I put down my pint, and looked out of the window of my pub, and felt something change. I felt moved by a song for the first time since "No Surprises".

I could imagine the daddy of the song, and his desperate, violent fight against alcoholism. I could imagine the no doubt beaten Mother, who "kept it all inside" and suffered in silence while her husband sent who through hell. I could imagine the narrator of the song, who was just so much BETTER than all this, and who knew a way out and was ready to go. There’s a whole Northern play within this song, in 3 and a half minutes. It's a gritty, rainy, cold drama full of unsatisfied characters and violent oppressors. It’s so real, so much the opposite of production line pop.

I wish I could tell you why I love this record so much. I've had a good go. Just be careful you don't miss out on them while they're here. You may just miss them when they're gone.

  • 10
    Joe Wisbey's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

The Donnas

Turn 21

Mobback

The Vines at Camden Electric Ballroom, Camden, Thu 19 Feb

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND