Product Description

Fourth album from one of America's strangest major label bands follows 2002's universally acclaimed 'Source Tags And Codes'. On this album they take their crashing, tumbling barrage of rock noise in unexpected directions, incorporating folk, punk and psychedelia and drawing lyrical inspiration fromVictorian Britain, Che Guevara and the cult of celebrity. Includes the title-track single.

Track Listing

1. Ode To Isis
2. Will You Smile Again For Me
3. Worlds Apart
4. The Summer Of '91
5. The Rest Will Follow
6. Caterwaul
7. A Classic Art Showcase
8. Let It Dive
9. To Russia, My Homeland
10. All White
11. The Best
12. The Lost City Of Refuge
13. Aged Dolls
14. Richter Scale Madness

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35116 in Music
• Released on: 2005-01-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 59 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Not content with being the cult heroes of thousands, the members of And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have set their sights on becoming the idols of millions with Worlds Apart. They're still as noisy as ever, but they've further toned down the weirdness that had already started fading away on their previous album, Source Tags and Codes. What's left is the strongest songwriting this band have yet displayed, and their best--and most accessible--album yet. "Caterwaul" has an energetic, rolling bounce that sure to make it a live standard for years to come, while the title track manages to fit years of punk vitriol into three minutes of understated anger. That any of these songs wouldn't sound out of place on the soundtrack to any American teen drama is no disrespect. The new sound of the Trail of Dead is subtler, but their music is just as revolutionary. And with Worlds Apart, they're taking themselves directly into the mainstream. --Robert Burrow

Customer Reviews

one of my favourite albums of all time
i had never heard of and you will know us by the trail of dead untill i heard their song smile again on the shield.

this album has got it all, it is like an up and down rollercoaster which will leave you craving and yearning to hear the next song. I find it impossibly hard not to listen all the songs all the way through becuase it takes me away to another world.

it is full of differnt styles and emotions brought to you primarily by the astounding lyrics which grace this album throughout, if you are considering buying this album DO IT NOW you wont be dissapointed!

nick

America's conscience......(Yawn)
Too tendentious by half. Sorry, this just plinks and plonks along without really going anywhere. There's a lot of anger, but what's the point?

I will stand accused of being an old fart, but for psychedelia the Butthole Surfers (Hairway to Steven, Rembrandt Pussyhorse)do the biz far better. As a call to arms you can't beat 60-something Neil Young (Living with War).

In this album the ToDs take themselves far too seriously, and its dull. This kind of music should be visceral, emotive, exciting. This album isn't. As a protest album its puerile (ooh, bad language) and it doesn't touch on the climate of modern America, only teenage angst. I think we've all had enough of that kind of thing.

This Candystore Of Ours
This album annoyed a few people.

I have a friend who holds ToD in very high regard. He's a massive fan of all the other albums, and I'd ordered Worlds Apart off the internet and told him gleefully it was over the Atlantic as we spoke at a pub in town. He peered at me over his pint glass, and his eyes filled with a sense of loss as he spoke "Aaargh, it's complete rubbish".

Yet it seemed when I finally got the wrapper off the album and played it I was pretty blown away by the first few tracks. And then the tracks after that. I really really like this album, here's why:

a) It's completely different to anything Conrad et al have done before

b) Which means it's refreshing

And here's why it annoyed some of the other hardcore ToD fans:

a) It's completely different to anything Conrad et al have done before

b) Which means it's alienating and disgusting

The opening tracks are the now complimentary Trail of Dead instrumental "Ode To Isis", which alludes you for a bit before the album starts proper, and "Will You Smile Again?" begins. The immediate effect on you is how different this album is compared to the others. There are trumpets overlaying tribal drums, a lone vocal part with nothing but drums in the background, Conrad's strained voice in perfect harmony with the music. Then after all that it erupts back into the same earthshaking noise it began with. The title track, Worlds Apart, follows. This one shocks for a different reason, children's laughing followed by vulgarities from the band, foul lyrics (but true, foul lyrics) throughout this song alone give the album a dark tone. It's a great song though, a singalong, almost happy tune about death and decay in modern America. Just smile and accept it. I also like the random bird noises played for around thirty seconds at the songs close.

Summer Of '91 is a slow, kindhearted song, which bobs along nicely to a piano. The Rest Will Follow and Caterwaul are in my opinion the best two tracks (besides Smile Again) on the album, Caterwaul especially making an impact as a brilliant rock song. The following two are in my opinion the weakest, Classic Arts Showcase and Let It Dive.

Then the album really diversifies. The following three tracks, To Russia My Homeland, All White and The Best. To Russia My Homeland is a strings-based instrumental, different from their usual instrumentals but I think this time, different is good. It's happy and joyful. All White is a slow moving piano-based, with choral vocals in the background, obviously overlapped by Conrad's vocals. The Best is a great track, starting off with a poppy riff but it swiftly becomes a very dark song, with hopeless, despairing lyrics. I think it's meant to be thought of as Worlds Apart, part two.. as the "candy store" lines are spoken as the end of the song as a woman screams and cries. My friend hated this song, but I love it. This sounds nothing like ToD though.

The last track is the enigmatic The Lost City Of Refuge, which in a similar way to Sigh Your Children on Madonna, closes the album in a soothing manner before opening up a bit near the end.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have definitely tried a different approach this time round, and I think that the change has been interesting and compelling. Hardcore fans of the older material may be put off though. There are choral overlays, tribal drums, children's laughter, birds, gongs, strings and a whole array of other things to prick up your ears here. Nothing they've ever really done before sounds anything like the back half of this album, which I think is why you need to listen to it before you commit to it.