We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
by Modest Mouse

One of the best albums of the 2000's, Modest Mouse puts out their third classic in a row. The most common criticism for this album is that no track really stand out, but I beg to differ. This album contains two of the greatest songs MM ever recorded, The Parting of the Sensory and Missed the Boat. While the lyricism in this album doesn't quite reach The Moon & Antarctica levels, it's still far superior to the songwriting of most artists.

It's a solid album all the way through, and the first six songs really stand out. The second half is weaker, but Education, Little Motel, and Spitting Venom are all very entertaining. Spitting Venom is the longest track on the album, but its good all the way through, but it isn't as great as say The Stars Are Projectors.

Modest Mouse's least memorable full length, as it's finest moments sit alongside the tedious playing-it-safe songs, but there's enough spurts of inspiration here to warrant a listen even if you're not a Modest Mouse fanatic, even with the bushels of missed potential that an Isaac Brock-Johnny Marr songwriting team could've conjured.

Spitting Venom and Parting of the Sensory are absolutely top notch and the album also has some of the catchiest songs the band has put out. There are a few weak tracks, but overall I enjoy this album more than I do Good News (which was still a good album).

It has great songs, but it doesnt all come together into a great album like all their past albums did.
It's unorganized and a bit samey.
I love Isaac's manic vocal delivery on this one though. You can tell he was having alotta fun here.

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/09/2011 19:22 | #32512 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Being a sequel copy to "good news..." makes "we were dead..." a good, but disappointing, listen. Now a couple albums removed from "moon & antarctica", some "we were dead..." songs overextended their welcome a bit and i kind of longed for the conciseness of "good news...". In spite of the disappointment, this is still a solid album. It's like "good news" took all of the elements of "moon & antarctica" except an overriding "concept" (like antarctica's of desolation and loneliness), then "we were dead" tried to recreate "good news", even trying to recreate a hit like "float on" with "dashboard". Anyway, i continue to criticize this album, but it's because i know modest mouse can do better. The album IS good. Their penchant for unusual instrumentation matches Brock's off-kilter vocal deliveries (low-key singing or loud sing-shouting mostly). "dashboard" is a good, near-gaudy tune. "fire it up" is a reserved anthem attempt. The chorus to "missed the boat" (w/ shins front-man on harmonies) is fun to sing along with. "we've got everything" ("down to a science, so i guess we know everything") is pretty catchy in its defiantly celebratory delivery (bringing along the shins guy again to back at the chorus). i like the hurried (w/violin) ending to "parting of the sensory" and the trumpeted ending and "antidote" analogy to "spitting venom". For having 14 songs, the momentum is carried well to the end, with a strong trilogy of "steam engenius", "spitting venom" and "people as places as people" before the engagingly decent "invisible". Of course, i always go back to antarctica and lyrics like "a rickshaw being pulled around by another rickshaw" doesn't hold a cigarette lighter to the lyrics on antarctica. But these are the haunting comparisons that result from releasing a brilliant album once upon a time.