Description:	LP on Bella Union
	Format:	LP (vinyl)
	Genre(s):	Alternative/College Rock
	Label:	Bella Union
	Price:	£15.19
	Availability:	In stock. Dispatched in 1 working day.

4
...according to our Business Lady on 28 January 2010.

Yowza, i wasn't expecting the new Midlake album 'The Courage of Others' to sound anything like this. I'm ware of their group tendency to look back and, to an extent, mimic classic outfits such as Fleetwood Mac or Neil Young but this new record sees the texan quartet embrace the sounds of middle england's prog scene circa 1969. From the opening notes of 'Acts of Man' i'm hearing early Moody Blues and the Greg Lake vocals on the mellow psyche pop of 'I talk to the Wind' by King Crimson (a.k.a Crimmo). It certainly takes courage to pillage from the already well trodden path of the Canterbury folk/prog scene so for that i applaud the band. They do a damn good job of reinvigorating these sounds and present a record that is meant to be heard and and enjoyed in it's entirety....like a proper record. Ballsy stuff for such a whimsical record.

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

Sound clips for The Courage of Others by Midlake: on vinyl at Norman Records UK. LP (vinyl), Bella Union, BELLAV224, £15.19.

What their label says...

TRACKLISTING:
01 Acts of Man 02 Winter Dies 03 Small Mountain 04 Core of Nature 05 Fortune 06 Rulers, Ruling All Things 07 Children of the Grounds 08 Bring Down 09 The Horn 10 The Courage of Others 11 In The Ground
 
Note: LIMITED EDITION VINYL ALBUM
                         
OVERVIEW:  One of Bella Union’s most successful and celebrated acts – MIDLAKE – make their long-awaited return in February 2010 with “THE COURAGE OF OTHERS”, their extraordinary third album…
 
It’s ironic that Midlake’s new album is titled “The Courage Of Others” because, if anything, the courage is all theirs. Namely, the courage to do what feels right and stay true to the spirit of artistic independence whilst ignoring any pressure to conform to expectations. The result is the Texas quintet’s third album, their most complete and beautiful body of work yet, best appreciated as a whole in the old-fashioned sense of an album - which makes perfect sense when you know Midlake linchpin Tim Smith’s fondness for the look and feel of past times.   
 
So what’s changed since The Trials of Van Occupanther, their second, hugely loved breakthrough album? Just as that record was in part inspired by the soft(er) rock of the early-to-mid 1970s – from Neil Young and America to Fleetwood Mac – so Midlake’s new album also looks to a slightly earlier, and definitely British, trad-tainted folk sound. It may share the same gorgeously analogue-warm electro-acoustic template as Van Occupanther but it’s a slower, darker and more carved record, both eerier and dreamier. Perfect, in other words, for its February release date, at the height of winter.
Neither do the new songs feature any hermit-scientists like Van Occupanther, or the mythical Roscoe. The songs that constitute The Courage Of Others, Tim says, are closer to his heart than those of their first two albums because, “I don’t feel I’m looking at the songs through someone else’s eyes. I’ve tried to keep it as true to myself as I could.” Guitarist Eric Pulido adds, “We didn’t want to make the same album as Van Occupanther, so we carried on moving and creating and pushing for a newer sound and emotion.”