Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (studio album) by The National

Album Rating: 81.00
(972/12)

1.Cardinal Song. 79
2.Slipping Husband. 98
3.90-Mile Water Wall. 74
4.It Never Happened. 69
5.Murder Me Rachael. 76
6.Thirsty. 91
7.Available. 97
8.Sugar Wife. 69
9.Trophy Wife. 78
10.Fashion Coat. 69
11.Patterns Of Fairytales. 72
12.Lucky You. 100

A great opening half that dips to good but recovers with Lucky You - which may be my favourite on this album - competing with Murder Me Rachael

From Brad1770 05/04/2021 02:40

Released in 2003 BEFORE their critically acclaimed masterpiece suit of ‘Aligator’ (2005), ‘Boxer’ (2007), ‘High Violet’ (2010) and ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ (2013) ‘Sad Songs . . . ‘ is in many ways The Nationals forgotten gem. Considering what followed it hardly seems fair

From jhuik 04/22/2016 00:32

A really great sophomore record by any standards. And this is the National. There are a lot of great moments from Berninger and the boys. Trophy Wife, 90 Mile Waterfall, Available, Lucky You are all standout cuts by a great band finding form.

Underrated, especially when compared to its successors. "Cardinal Song", "Murder Me Rachael" and "Available" are among my favourite songs by The National.

Strange that as the first album I bought by a band that have become my favourite I have never fully connected with this album. When I looked at the band's back catalogue after the release of Trouble Will Find Me I came up with a theory that their album's come in pairs but Sad Songs just doesn't seem to fit in. For me the downbeat acoustics of Cherry Tree sits better as the follow up to their country tinged debut. My feeling of Sad Songs is that it was the band trying to realise a vision of a denser more sophisticated sound than their eponymous album that was just beyond them at that point in their development. Cherry Tree then feels like a return to basics and Alligator/Boxer a much more natural progression to High Violet/TWFM where they achieved that complex sound they were after. All of this is not to say that Sad Songs gives me nothing, It's still full of Matt's poetry which can make me laugh and cry whilst still not really knowing what he's talking about. The songs all work fine on their own but seem somehow disparate without that feeling of togetherness that great albums have. I'm trying to condense a lot of thoughts into a nutshell here and really struggling, I could write a book on The National's albums (I'm not saying it would be a good book but it would be a book.) I'm listening to Sad Songs as I write this and I'm just noticing how conventional Bryan's drumming sounds in comparison to what has come since. In short I love this album because without it some of the best albums ever made wouldn't have been made but if they hadn't followed it up with Alligator I guess it would be sat unloved and brooding in the dark recesses of my ipod which I suspect it would perversely enjoy.

Pretty good record. Cardinal Song and Available are outstanding

From HoldenM 10/06/2014 07:01

As much as I love The National (they have a strong claim as my favorite band,) this is probably their weakest album, in my opinion. It's still quite good, and the band is still fleshing themselves out, but the outcome is less than their capabilities.

Good album. Some really beautiful pieces here and there, definitely better than their debut album. Two songs that stand out for me were "Lucky you" and "90 mile water wall".

Very good album though I agree with rating and put Boxer 1st & High Violet 2nd. Have not listened to latest ablum yet relased in 2013