Artist: Thrice
Album: Beggars
Label: Vagrant
Purchase: SmartPunk
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Overall: 9.5
Music: 9.5
Lyrics: 9
Production: 9
Without any type of progression, we become dull, stagnate beings that float around aimlessly until Death knocks on the door and begs for the keys to our existence. We then fail to reinvent ourselves, not for the sake of reinvention, but for the sheer necessity to constantly improve our condition and shift through the experiences that shape who we are. Music without this sense of maturation will sound the same throughout a lifeless discography, each record appearing like the predecessor except with a new cover and the songs rearranged with less-than-creative titles. What creates a musical act that will stand the test of unforgiving time is their ability to accept that their sound will change over the years and when it comes down to it, it’s about expressing themselves freely without attaching their creative spirits to the type of records critics or obsessive fans want to hear.
Thrice has been creating music as early as their high school years (circa 1998), putting out records that have been progressing towards a specific point, whether consciously or subconsciously. On September 15th, 2009 (digital version released in August) the band will release the record that everything else has led up to. “Beggars” is the record that proves that progression must be implemented because it is a risk worth taking, the result being the creation of songs that will leave the listener in awe and convince the naysayers that Thrice is one of the most important bands of our time.
Ten tracks that bring back a rawness and honesty that were once allocated to “alternative rock” in the 1990’s. With computers taking over much of the “talent” many mainstream artists are praised on, there seems to be a need to hear music that relies solely on the human-to-instrument talent of the musician(s). Each track feels raw, not sloppy but more in the sense that the band is inside your bedroom playing a private show for you instead of just pouring through speakers or headphones. The first half of the record has more groove than previous Thrice releases, being more energetic without the screaming and hard yelling they were known for in the first phase of the band. There are a few slower songs (“Wood & Wire”, “The Great Exchange”, and “Beggars”), but these songs are soaked deep in honesty and showcase the beauty of Dustin Kenrsue’s lyrics. One of the most haunting and truthful lines comes from the last track; “If there’s one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all.”
The more you listen to this record, the more it grows on you and the easier it is for you realize the perfection of the groove, soul-wrenching monster that is “Beggars”.
Note from the reviewer: I did not find it appropriate to dissect each song on the record, as other reviewers are more likely to have already done based on some invisible critique formula. Attempting to translate the essence of each song in word form would be a failed attempt and it would also serve as a spoiler, taking away from that first time you listen to the record straight through. Showing you the most important parts of the movie before you sit down in the theater with your soda and popcorn, ready to be taken to another world. I highly advise you purchase a copy of “Beggars”, listen to it somewhere isolated where there is no other noise interference, and allow the music to enter you and expand you and make you feel something that mainstream music can’t provide you with.
Great review, In my opinion Thrice is the most important band of our time, Beggars is an epic record and their greatest achievement to date, I’m happy to see that Thrice is finnally getting their due respect, can’t wait to hear what comes next.
I like that last note at the end of the review. It is so true that when you dissect a song into words, you are kind of downgrading the song by giving away the emotion in words that can’t even come close to describing the actual feeling of listening to it for the first time. So purchase this record for yourself and let the music “enter you” because you will not be disappointed.
Thrice is the greatest band of our time. I didn’t tattoo their logo on my arm for nothing. They have written music off raw talent that has made me want to be a better person and chase my dreams. Beggars is epic
This is a great review! He/she said it perfectly “I highly advise you purchase a copy of “Beggarsâ€, listen to it somewhere isolated where there is no other noise interference, and allow the music to enter you and expand you and make you feel something that mainstream music can’t provide you with.” You have to with music. Too many people just put music on and listen or skip and take it off.
wow great review.thrice is so important to me.for so long they have been the most underrated band out there.i hope this brilliant record changes that.utmost respect for the boys of thrice.so rare to see a band change their sound each and every album,progressing in amazing directions every time.thrice is the best!and i also have a thrice tattoo on my arm russell lol
Well, I think people are making too much of this record. It really is not as good as clueless listeners like Manuel Garcia would have you believe. Thrice is not progressing with Beggers, they are stagnating. The whole record sounds like B-Sides from The Alchemy Index. Think thrice before you waste your money. (Heh.)
To Meh. I’m not going to argue with you. It is pretty sad that you felt the need to laugh at your own pun..which wasnt even that clever. Also they have their own studio..so what money was wasted? Take your own advice and make sure you know what you are talking about before looking stupid. “Beggars” is an incredible album that anyone with a heart would enjoy and be somewhat moved by..in one way or another. Dustin is a lyrical genius..always has been.
Yeah great album. Any true fan can see that they are progressing. Compare this album to the alchemy Index…..completely different…and better. I feel this album is like a successful version of Vheissu. Not to say Vheissu wasnt successful but, we all know that album was “missing something”. I think being in a studio at Teppei’s home without a producer there did them some good.
btw. laughing at your own joke really makes you look like an ass.
I am a big fan of thrice and i like the new album. but for me the index was a master piece that showed there many talents. I really like the the new album it has many good songs on it but i feel it is not living up to my expectations after the index. but that won’t stop me from listening to the record its very good and i think “in exile” is my favorite track.
Beggars is by far my favorite album by Thrice! Dustin’s lyrics are truly amazing and something that the world needs to hear….i think he should win some award for how great of a lyricist he is! This album moves me sooooo much and i can relate to so much of it. My favorite thing about the album is that I can visualize Dustin’s lyrics like a movie and its freaking awesome!
This is a great review. I look forward to listening to this album.
Thanks.
After repeated listens to this album (Dustin’s advice was to spin it at least 10 times before passing judgment, and it’s been at least double that by now), I’m sorry to say that, save for a few songs, it has been a serious letdown.
For those saying this is Thrice’s crowning achievement, I couldn’t disagree more. I feel that a couple songs on Beggars are some of the band’s worst material to date. They really overdid the Blues on this album (big time). Beggars doesn’t hold a candle to Vheissu, and I can’t even say that it’s as good as The Alchemy Index, which I didn’t find to be particularly stellar in the first place. I can’t (and won’t) really compare it with their older material, since it’s so far removed from that style of music.
The band also kept talking about how this record has an energy that was lacking in the past two albums (which they described as “sleepy”). As a whole, I don’t see that at all. There are a handful of energetic songs, a handful of ‘sleepy’ songs, and a few songs in between. No different from Vheissu and TAI (particularly the latter). The *feel* of the album is different, but that does not automatically mean that it’s more energetic.
It’s not an epic record either, at all. But the band wasn’t trying to write an epic album, so I wasn’t expecting that.
I gave it a fair chance. There are some great songs, some okay songs, and a couple that I now automatically skip. I wanted to love it, and I still want to. But it’s just okay, to me. Certainly not terrible, but also not even a quarter as good as everyone is making it out to be. All in all, it has been a big disappointment from my favorite band, and I hope the next record sounds nothing like this one.
Here’s a big concept about music –
Let’s say music is a language. Genres such as rap and hip hop use very simple beats, rhythms, and so forth; I’d like to think they’re using “simple words”; words that anyone can understand, and that’s why rap and hip hop, and lots of radio hits are so popular. Anybody can pick it up the first time, listen to it, understand the beat, groove with it and enjoy it. Anyone can understand that genre’s simple “words”. Even for all you rap and hip hop haters out there; you can’t deny that you’ve ever felt the groove from that music.
You’ll also notice that hardly anyone enjoys jazz, compared to the how many people enjoy radio hits. Most people think it’s obnoxious, just people playing a bunch of random notes. The thing is, jazz uses the “biggest words”, I guess you could say even that we’re “too stupid to understand”, as far as understanding all of the jazz concepts that we hear, and don’t want to listen to. Jazz has the most complicated rhythms, beats, etc. out there, but once you really listen to it, and take time to understand it, it’s simply amazing. All the technical ability, phrasing, knowledge, unity, etc. going on with all the musicians is just outstanding, it blows me away. It takes a true musician, with a great understanding and knowledge of music, to listen to a Charlie parker, or Miles Davis song, and like it the first time through, notice everything that’s going on, and enjoy it to its full extent. Quite frankly, I’d say it’s near impossible to listen to jazz and understand all the complicated “words” in there the first time.
Now, for albums like this, my personal opinion is that they use “big words”; the music is much more in depth, compared to some. I think this is one factor that differentiates the fans of the old thrice stuff from the new ones. Honestly, I just think they aren’t taking the time to understand the new stuff. There’s a lot more going on, a more complicated beat, it takes longer to understand. To be honest, the first couple times I listened to this album, and some other thrice stuff, I didn’t enjoy it too much because I didn’t really know what was going on in the music. So I kept listening to it, and naturally, it got better, better, and better as I got to understand the “words”, the musicality, of the whole album more. This album is really a work of art. I’m still listening to it, and discovering new things, and I will still be discovering new things in this album for a long time to come.
So what am I saying?
I’m saying that most people who take the time to understand all the “words” in this music will really enjoy it, regardless of what they usually listen to. Good music is good music; you just have to understand what’s going on in the album. For some people, it’ll take longer to understand the core things going on in this album, maybe even more than ten times, just to comprehend the groove of this album.
Hey, I’ve listened to the alchemy index over twenty times, and I’m still catching new things. Even after so many times, I’m still deriving new meaning from the “words”, discovering new things happening in the music. A few people might listen to it the first time and catch everything right away. I couldn’t, the “words” were a little complicated for me, I had to listen to it a couple of times to “understand what they were saying” enough just to be able to enjoy it, and groove to it, and like I said, I’m still comprehending more and more of the music as I keep listening to it. To be honest, I think it would take more than a musical prodigy to sit down and listen to this album the first time, and really understand everything that happened in the album.
“Growing on it” is a term often used for lots of music. I guess you could say I just thoroughly explained what “growing on it” really means.
I hope you understand this. It’s kind of a complicated concept for some.
This album is awesome. I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to listen to it yet again, and understand the “words” even more.
-Dan
To the reviewer who thought Vheissu was missing something:
There are opinions and then there are matters of fact. Vheissu is Thrice’s crowning jewel. It is perfect. Listen to it again.
I don’t agree that it’s perfect, but otherwise, amen to that.
Beggars can’t hold a candle to Vheissu.
Alright… Beggars is a ok album. lyrically its really good. musicaly its ok. i was hoping for something a little harder and faster. my hope was that after they were done with the alchemy cds they would go back to makin a album that would trump vhessiu and artist. but i was wrong… the real thrice needs to come back. not this half made music.
What can you really say about Thrice’s history as musicians? They’re well rounded and all inclusive. From Identity Crisis to Beggars they have truly defined a sound that, to some, can be picked out as theirs from a few seconds of listening all the while using creative measures to make it happen. So Beggars does push the “bluseyness” a bit much early on, I agree with that. It’s Dustin’s forte and a staple in his solo singing and playing (you had to have guessed that ‘Please Come Home’ and ‘This Night…’ was going to be flipped into this somehow). Even if you have some qualms with the album’s flavor in the select few songs on the listing, it must be immediately dispelled by ‘The Weight’; and if not that then ‘Talking Through Glass’ (the guitar riff alone is awesome, very Sounds Of Animals Fighting/RX Bandits). To say that the album doesn’t stack up to Vheissu is superfluous because they’re two different albums for two different genres. Like Illusion of Safety to Artist in The Ambulance and Identity Crisis against all of them.
If you have a problem with the way they’re making music since Vheissu then you just don’t like the band anymore.
I look forward to seeing them play with artists of the like such as Kings of Leon.
Experiment is an essential aspect of progressive music and that reflects well in “Beggars”.The risk is worth taking and it provides a certain market value to the the creators of the song who are now recognized as “in” and happening!