Listening To You... Is Trial and Error!

Maximo Park - Missing Songs



I really really really REALLY wanted to love Maximo Park.

I wanted to throw my arms around them and thank them for not trying to be Interpol or Dance Punk or Talking Heads. I had such high hopes…

and then I saw them live.

Aside from Apply Some Pressure, the band just fell flat. Paul Smith’s hair was crap and he wasn’t a proper popstar ala Jarvis/ Damon. The songs lacked the huge choruses I so desired, and I left the show feeling a bit cheated.

But those were MY expectations… the rest of the world saw/heard differently, and Maximo Park went on to have a big year selling out shows all over the world.

So what do I know?!

That being said, I decided to open my mind to Missing Songs, a collection of B-sides, non LP tracks, and demo’s…

and you know what? I didn’t DISLIKE it!

There were actually some nice moments. My Life In Reverse is Pulpy with Smith sounding Jarvis as he sings “Some things are worth the bruises.”

A Year of Doubt might have a dance floor looking eerily similar to one being entertained by This Charming Man… as in a bunch of kids dancing sorta offbeat to a song that, although upbeat, shouldn’t really be danced to!

A less-produced demo version of Apply Some Pressure doesn’t really sound much different than the original, so that’s a go, and the demo of Graffiti almost delivers on the chorus following the breakdown, but ends just a bit too soon.

There’s also a cover of John Lennon’s Isolation that starts out a bit monotonous but becomes terrifically “Clashy” when it gets out of the verse.

So am I ready to forgive and forget my previous attitudes toward Maximo Park?

No, not really.

But I will say that when I finished listening to this CD, I wasn’t feeling cheated...

So perhaps there’s hope.