Product Description

'Warnings/Promises' is the fourth full length studio recording from Scottish outfit Idlewild and follows their 2002 release 'The Remote Part'. The album sees the band continue with their more mature indie rock sound, combining delicate acoustic moments with noisier outbreaks, sounding not unlike the earlier recordings of REM. The single 'Love Steals Us FromLoneliness' is also included.

Track Listing

1. Love Steals Us From Loneliness
2. Welcome Home
3. I Want A Warning
4. I Understand It
5. As If I Hadn’t Slept
6. Too Long Awake
7. Not Just Sometimes But Always
8. The Space Between All Things
9. El Capitan
10. Blame It On Obvious Ways
11. Disconnected
12. Goodnight

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22975 in Music
• Released on: 2005-03-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The fourth album from Idlewild, Warnings/Promises sees these Scottish rockers drifting further and further from their genesis as feedback-toying moshpit gremlins; mostly conceived on an acoustic guitar and fleshed out later in the studio, it perhaps makes sense that this is an album that's at its strongest when it catches its creators at their most reflective. Clear stand-outs come with the folksy "I Understand It" and the cello-and-xylophone-accompanied "Not Just Sometimes But Always", restrained moments where frontman Roddy Woomble's vocals - sounding more like R.E.M's Michael Stipe than ever - are granted enough room to spread their wings. However, some of the rockier moments misfire - see the blustering "Too Long Awake", which cuts off abruptly after a few minutes of fairly aimless guitar screech as if suddenly aware it's outstayed its welcome. All in all, there's a feeling here that this is a transitional album for Idlewild, one that catches them in the process of morphing into something else entirely. But who knows? Maybe their Automatic for the People lies just around the corner. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Only 4 stars!
It's not a bad album, to be fair, but it's no where near their best.
I've just read another review which said that most idlewild fans fall into 2 categories, either pre or post "Remote Part". And it's true. I love "Remote Part", it's a great album that seems to span everything this band have done. However, you can't beat "100 Broken Windows" for it's pure beauty or "Hope is Important" and "Captain" (a little obscure but if you like idlewild you'll know) for their pure energy and distortion.
There are some good songs on "Warnings/Promises" but it is a little dissapointing. Not in a totally bad way but it's not quite what I expected from them.
If you like "Remote Part" then I would suggest buying this album, if not then stick to their earlier, heavier stuff!

I just can't quite get behind it.
Let's be honest...99% of Idlewild fans fall into one of two groups: pre 'Remote Part' and post 'Remote Part' (check their frenzied forum for proof). I'll start by saying I love '100 Broken Windows' (still one of my favourite albums ever) but I thought that 'The Remote Part' had some great tunes and still felt distinctly "iDLEWiLD", and I respected the band for stretching their wings a bit. I didn't understand many people's problem with it.

But with this album Idlewild feel like they've had some major trauma and they're not sure where they're going. News that Roddy Woomble is to make a "solo folk" album as well as an Idlewild "rock beast", and the fact that they did not renew their contract with Parlophone suggest to me that maybe that really is the case.

I'll cut to the chase: I've given the album a fair few listens. Taste is personal, of course, but my view is quite simple...

The noisy songs are tuneless and the tuneful songs are dull.

And it cant be that they've "gone folk" cos personally I also love folk music.

Sounding more and more like an REM tribute band doesn't help either. You get the feeling that Bob brought more to the table than just jumping up and down and hitting his bass in time at gigs. There doesn't seem to be a lot of spirit here, boys.

'Love Steals...'is a fair to good opener - you've probably heard it on Hollyoaks when some boys are missing some girls in a montage, but it does it's job and does it very well. 'Welcome Home' takes it down a notch but still has enough about it to keep you interested. Then things go very mediocre indeed. 'I Want A Warning' is dreadful, potentially the band's worst song to me. 'I Understand It' is...well...*shrugs*...ok, y'know. Mediocrity continues til 'The Space Between All Things' begins well on the noise front, but nearly wrecks it all with a pretty bad 6th form poetry type verse, and musically it feels a bit AOR - but it comes back strong for possibly the best chorus on the record and a feeling that there is some life going on after all. 'El Capitan' is "nice" but tries and succeeds to say more than 'I Understand It'. It's got great piano from The Walkmens' Paul Maroon too. 'Blame It On The Obvious Ways' feels like it WANTS to be great but falls some way short, merely managing ok to good. The last two songs (three if you count the hidden extra track) passed me by like the last series of Friends (ie; I watched/listened but by that time I wasn't surprised by a surprise, and knew that it was pointless to hold my breath).

So, a band in transition or a band that's lost it's spark? I dunno. I'd love to be surprised, and maybe now they're acknowledging Roddy's folk interests by throwing him the bone of a solo album it'll all come good. But I just can't help feeling that their best work is behind us.

And the artwork stinks.

Woombling free
My first introduction to Idlewild, immediate impressions are of a band familiar with REM and American college alt-rock, which is fine by me. Diehard fans may regret the poppiness which apparently is a departure for the band but as a new fan of bands such as Death Cab For Cutie and Guided By Voices this had a lot to offer me, and may do the same for you.