Track Listing

1. Blue Diamonds
2. Scared Straight
3. Shapes
4. Cinnamon
5. Bride and Bridle
6. Blanket Hog
7. It'll Be a Breeze
8. Stupid
9. Prom Night at Hater High
10. New Girl
11. The Sound of Coming Down
12. Nora

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66003 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

The Long Winters
The Long Winters have satisfied all of my expectations with this CD. More musically interesting than their excellent "The Worst You Can Do Is Harm", "When I Pretend to Fall" is wildly varied and cd-player-on-repeat addictive. Full-length samples can be found on the Barsuk website. It's hard to say enough about this Seattle label; every CD in their catalog is worthy of your attention.

Indie rock and Seattle's best kept secret
Why aren't they bigger? Sure, they've popped up on a soundtrack or two and found their way onto an O.C. compilation. But why aren't they huge? Modest Mouse made it, Death Cab is well on their way to repeated Rolling Stone covers, but not The Long Winters. This could be blamed on obvious things- Few albums, and big periods inbetween releases for example, but one thing is for sure, it must be only a matter of time.

When I Pretend To Fall, The Long Winter's second album, starts off with the groovy "Blue Diamonds", a piano-organ-synth driven song with often humorous lyrics that seem almost too-serious, such as "You're so good at waiting/ I'm just saying"

"Scared Straight", is a beautfully layered song mixing sax, organ and guitar that builds up into a poweful masterpiece.

"It'll Be a Breeze" is the quiet centerpiece of the album, displaying singer John Roderick's powerful voice over acoustic guitar, with seemingly fruity lyrics such as "Is it your kisses I'm feeling?"

Fans will agree, there is no best song, and if this band had released this album on a major label it would have been a hell of a job trying to pick a single. Which is precisely why fans rarely agree on a favorite song.

Hats off to the Long Winters, and thank you for not only one of the top albums of 2003, but of the last 10 years.

Approaching greatness
Right from the ominous keyboard-driven Blue Diamonds, you know you're in for a thrilling pop ride. Eclectic to a fault, you get Memphis horns, REM jangle, Wayne Coyne cosmic whine, the Blue Nile's atmospherics & the kitchen sink in this work of genius. Up there with Grandaddy and Beulah for the year's best.