Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
The growing trend in post-millennial Brit-pop bands seems to favor embracing the style's inherent disposability. Rather than going for a Damon Albarn-like arc of stylistic exploration, more and more U.K. bands are shooting for that one great three-minute pop single that overshadows everything else they will ever do: the Kaiser Chiefs' "I Predict a Riot," Dogs Die in Hot Cars' "I Love You 'Cause I Have To," the Fratellis' "Flathead," Little Man Tate's "Man, I Hate Your Band," et-bloody-cetera. In the case of the Wombats, the three-minutes pop single in question is "Let's Dance to Joy Division," a genuinely swell bit of tongue in cheek new wave revivalism that's by far the best part of the Liverpool trio's debut album. In the tradition of fellow Scousers the Scaffold or Half Man Half Biscuit, there's a heavy dose of humor to the Wombats, who started out as much an improv comedy/performance art act as they were a pop band. Indeed, the album starts with the nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is doo wop pastiche "Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials" before righting itself with the spunky pop-punk of "Kill the Director." Jokey material like the herky-jerky ode to schoolboy crushes "School Uniforms" and the self-consciously smutty tale of unrequited love "Patricia the Stripper" lowers the overall tone. It's not that there's anything wrong with humor in music -- Madness, one of the Wombats' most obvious touchstones, wrote some hilarious songs -- it's just that the funny songs are neither particularly side-splitting nor particularly tuneful. Songs like "Backfire at the Disco" balance the yuks with catchier melodies and less of a sense that these guys are one step away from putting on moose-antler hats and giant sunglasses. The Wombats may surprise us all and turn out to be a band for the ages (did anyone really think Beck would turn out to be one of the great songwriters of his generation the first time they heard "Loser"?), but the just-for-a-larf vibe of A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation suggests otherwise.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From £10.83/month
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Vocals - Frank Arkwright, MasteringEngineer - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Daniel Haggis, Writer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Vocals, Writer - Dan Haggis, Producer, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Frank Arkwright, MasteringEngineer - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Charlie Stavish, Assistant Mix Engineer - Will Hensley, Assistant Mix Engineer - Claudius Mittendorfer, Assistant Mix Engineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Michael H.Brauer, MixingEngineer - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Kyle McInnis, Assistant Mix Engineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - Charlie Stavish, Assistant Mix Engineer - Will Hensley, Assistant Mix Engineer - Claudius Mittendorfer, Assistant Mix Engineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Kyle McInnis, Assistant Mix Engineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - Claudius Mittendorfer, RecordingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals - Llangattock Primary School, Children's Choir
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Engineer, MixingEngineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Jimmy Robertson, Producer - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals, Harmonica, Melodica
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Roch Costey, MixingEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Howie Weinberg, MasteringEngineer - Chris Athens, MasteringEngineer - Rich Costey, MixingEngineer - The Wombats, MainArtist - Darren Jones, AdditionalEngineer - Stephen Harris, Producer, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - matthew murphy, Producer, Guitar, Vocals - Daniel Eriksen, AdditionalEngineer - Matthew Edward Murphy, Writer - Tord Øverland Knudsen, Producer, Bass Guitar, Vocals - Dan Haggis, Producer, Drums, Vocals
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Album review
The growing trend in post-millennial Brit-pop bands seems to favor embracing the style's inherent disposability. Rather than going for a Damon Albarn-like arc of stylistic exploration, more and more U.K. bands are shooting for that one great three-minute pop single that overshadows everything else they will ever do: the Kaiser Chiefs' "I Predict a Riot," Dogs Die in Hot Cars' "I Love You 'Cause I Have To," the Fratellis' "Flathead," Little Man Tate's "Man, I Hate Your Band," et-bloody-cetera. In the case of the Wombats, the three-minutes pop single in question is "Let's Dance to Joy Division," a genuinely swell bit of tongue in cheek new wave revivalism that's by far the best part of the Liverpool trio's debut album. In the tradition of fellow Scousers the Scaffold or Half Man Half Biscuit, there's a heavy dose of humor to the Wombats, who started out as much an improv comedy/performance art act as they were a pop band. Indeed, the album starts with the nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is doo wop pastiche "Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials" before righting itself with the spunky pop-punk of "Kill the Director." Jokey material like the herky-jerky ode to schoolboy crushes "School Uniforms" and the self-consciously smutty tale of unrequited love "Patricia the Stripper" lowers the overall tone. It's not that there's anything wrong with humor in music -- Madness, one of the Wombats' most obvious touchstones, wrote some hilarious songs -- it's just that the funny songs are neither particularly side-splitting nor particularly tuneful. Songs like "Backfire at the Disco" balance the yuks with catchier melodies and less of a sense that these guys are one step away from putting on moose-antler hats and giant sunglasses. The Wombats may surprise us all and turn out to be a band for the ages (did anyone really think Beck would turn out to be one of the great songwriters of his generation the first time they heard "Loser"?), but the just-for-a-larf vibe of A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation suggests otherwise.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 13 track(s)
- Total length: 00:42:19
- Main artists: The Wombats
- Label: 14th Floor Records
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2007 14th Floor Records ℗ 2007 14th Floor Records
Improve album information
Why buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.