Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards

I always find it a bit dodgy when bands reuse popular songs from old EPs in an album. While it may in fact make the album more enjoyable, it always gives me the impression that they struggled to write new material and paints a rather bleak picture for the future. So when Cold War Kids decided to take their two successful EPs, lump them together and call it an album, I wasn't the least bit impressed. I couldn’t help but think that the title, Robbers & Cowards, was a fitting description of their action. It’s no surprise that they made such a decision; these EPs both received quite a bit of positive attention, especially from the blogging community and I guess the band didn't want these songs wasted on the often overlooked EP format. But as it stands, I have absolutely no respect for this ‘album’. I found the EPs enjoyable at times, but they were far perfect. I would have much preferred to wait for a debut album composed of new material; that would have been the true test. Clearly they weren't prepared for this and it leaves me wondering what hope the future holds for this band.

MP3: Passing The Hat

4 comments:

Wayne Massingham said...

I kind of agree with you on the re-recording the EP's aspect. But I think the reason for doing this was to get their songs out to a wider audience. And although this is far from perfect, the highs on this record are amazing. Hospital Beds was easily one of the best songs of 2006.

Peter said...

Yeah the wider audiences is what I was getting at with the 'overlooked EP format' comment. But though I can see the reasoning behind it, I still don't agree with it. As for hospital beds, i found it to be not as good as I remembered. I thought it would be the obvious song to offer but when it came time to choose, it failed to impress.

Anonymous said...

Peter....COMMON GROUND.

I couldn't stand this record either. Boring boring boring. The only 2 songs I enjoyed were as you pointed out, already released. Most overhyped blog band ever.

Anonymous said...

i like the singles ive heard hate the easy/lazy approach taken to first album release