Bottled at Source: The Best of the Source Years
By Turin Brakes
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Track listing
- 1.1 Painkiller
- 1.2 Underdog (Save Me)
- 1.3 Emergency 72
- 1.4 Long Distance
- 1.5 The Door
- 1.6 5 Mile (These Are the Days)
- 1.7 Feeling Oblivion
- 1.8 Average Man
- 1.9 Over and Over
- 1.10 Mind Over Money (Extended Radio Edit)
- 1.11 Fishing For a Dream
- 1.12 Dark on Fire
- 1.13 Red Moon
- 1.14 Something in My Eye
- 1.15 Stalker
- 1.16 Last Chance
- 1.17 Ether Song
- 2.1 Underdog (Sally) (Demo)
- 2.2 From Balham to Brooklyn (Live)
- 2.3 Mind Over Money (Demo)
- 2.4 Everybody Knows (7” Version)
- 2.5 Lost and Found (Home Recording)
- 2.6 Where’s My Army (Home Recording)
- 2.7 So Long (LA Demo)
- 2.8 Moonlight Mile
- 2.9 Atlas of the World
- 2.10 Asleep With the Fireflies
- 2.11 Capsule
- 2.12 Love Is All You Deserve
- 2.13 The Seagull
- 2.14 Time Machine
- 2.15 Cumulous Clouds
- 2.16 Rise
- 2.17 Nessun Dorma
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2 Issues
2 Reviews
Ah, the New Acoustic movement. At the start of the millennium it was an earnest folk rock alternative to those shouty nu-metal types in the big shorts who got big about the same time. I never really understood the appeal of the angsty shouty men with the questionable facial hair and bad language, however the New Acoustic mob seemed much more my type of thing, so I gave the likes of Starsailor and Turin Brakes a go. Starsailor had a couple of decent tunes, but I quickly lost interest. Turin Brakes initially seemed to lose my interest in a similar manner, however there was something that did keep drawing me back to their debut album, The Optimist LP. While there were a few songs that grabbed the attention, there was an equal amount that only revealed their charms over time.
On the strength of the Bottled at Source compilation, this appears to be a pattern that continued for the first decade of Turin Brakes’ career. There were great tunes, there were growers, and there was filler. Yep, filler on a compilation. At least that means it’s representative I suppose.
Things is, where it’s good, Bottled at Source is great. “Underdog”, “Last Chance” and “Painkiller” were great tunes when they were released, and they still hold up today, and there’s a clutch of other tracks on this compilation which show promise that they might reveal their greatness in the fullness of time. The trouble is, too much of this compilation just sounds a bit lumpy and not particularly interesting. Granted, if those songs were heard in isolation from each other, they might be a tad more impressive, but listened to en-masse like this, there’s just too many songs that struggle to stand out. Given that the purpose of a compilation like Bottled at Source is to remind you of the act in questions greatness, there’s a bit of a disconnect there.
The second disc of Bottled at Source is made up of alternative versions, demos and other various oddments. There’s certainly some interesting tracks, but there not enough wheat among the chaff, and a lot of it would only really be of interest to established Turin Brakes fans.
Going forward, the Turin Brakes' albums I have heard that were released following Bottled at Source, they have continued to maintain their pattern of their albums being a balance of absolute belters (“Sea Change” from 2010’s Outbursts may be the best tune of the band’s career), less immediate slow burners, as well as a bunch of other stuff that must seem like a good idea at the time. It’s a formula that has served them well enough for two decades now, and there seems to be little sense in changing it now.
On the strength of the Bottled at Source compilation, this appears to be a pattern that continued for the first decade of Turin Brakes’ career. There were great tunes, there were growers, and there was filler. Yep, filler on a compilation. At least that means it’s representative I suppose.
Things is, where it’s good, Bottled at Source is great. “Underdog”, “Last Chance” and “Painkiller” were great tunes when they were released, and they still hold up today, and there’s a clutch of other tracks on this compilation which show promise that they might reveal their greatness in the fullness of time. The trouble is, too much of this compilation just sounds a bit lumpy and not particularly interesting. Granted, if those songs were heard in isolation from each other, they might be a tad more impressive, but listened to en-masse like this, there’s just too many songs that struggle to stand out. Given that the purpose of a compilation like Bottled at Source is to remind you of the act in questions greatness, there’s a bit of a disconnect there.
The second disc of Bottled at Source is made up of alternative versions, demos and other various oddments. There’s certainly some interesting tracks, but there not enough wheat among the chaff, and a lot of it would only really be of interest to established Turin Brakes fans.
Going forward, the Turin Brakes' albums I have heard that were released following Bottled at Source, they have continued to maintain their pattern of their albums being a balance of absolute belters (“Sea Change” from 2010’s Outbursts may be the best tune of the band’s career), less immediate slow burners, as well as a bunch of other stuff that must seem like a good idea at the time. It’s a formula that has served them well enough for two decades now, and there seems to be little sense in changing it now.
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Emerging during the boom of Britain’s new wave of emotionally sensitive bands (re: Coldplay, Travis, Starsailor), the acoustic duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian were offered up as a modern iteration of Simon & Garfunkel. In reality, that was a perfectly silly description bandied by PR men, but Turin Brakes were indeed a valid part of the ‘quiet is the new loud’ movement. Former choir-boys, Knights and Paridjanian weren’t afraid to show off their harmonising skills or acoustic-led grooves and knew their way around a catchy melody.
Indeed, it is the cuts from their debut The Optimist LP that best represents what the band refers to in the liner notes as the “TB sound.” Early singles such as 'Underdog', 'Emergency 72' and 'The Door' are all loaded to the front, while the tracklist opens with 'Painkiller (Summer Rain)'; and it speaks volumes that in their near decade-long career that this, their first single, remains their sole Top 5 in the UK.
It highlights why Turin Brakes were always a middle-weight concern, minor changes to arrangements and production styles aside, they never really developed their core sound. It takes until the tail-end of the disc and the appearance of 'Dark On Fire', the title track from the band’s fourth record, before there’s any real disruption to the hum-and-strum style.
Included in the double-disc version is a bevy of extra demoes, live cuts and rarities lovingly compiled on one disc. A real fan favourite and a perfect collection for a band like Turin Brakes who focused on their albums but often did some interesting B-side work also. Totalling thirty-four tracks, it might seem like a lot more Turin Brakes than anyone would ever need.
It’s a listenable record as far as best-of compilations go to be sure, with enough lost gems to warrant attention, but heaped together it proves why Turin Brakes never really broke out of their image as reliably simplistic folk-rock. It’s all too pleasant, too similar, a band you could never really hate, but not one you could hang your entire musical beliefs on either.
Still as this best-of proves, they’re survivors who made it on their own terms, even if they didn’t set the world ablaze doing it.
Indeed, it is the cuts from their debut The Optimist LP that best represents what the band refers to in the liner notes as the “TB sound.” Early singles such as 'Underdog', 'Emergency 72' and 'The Door' are all loaded to the front, while the tracklist opens with 'Painkiller (Summer Rain)'; and it speaks volumes that in their near decade-long career that this, their first single, remains their sole Top 5 in the UK.
It highlights why Turin Brakes were always a middle-weight concern, minor changes to arrangements and production styles aside, they never really developed their core sound. It takes until the tail-end of the disc and the appearance of 'Dark On Fire', the title track from the band’s fourth record, before there’s any real disruption to the hum-and-strum style.
Included in the double-disc version is a bevy of extra demoes, live cuts and rarities lovingly compiled on one disc. A real fan favourite and a perfect collection for a band like Turin Brakes who focused on their albums but often did some interesting B-side work also. Totalling thirty-four tracks, it might seem like a lot more Turin Brakes than anyone would ever need.
It’s a listenable record as far as best-of compilations go to be sure, with enough lost gems to warrant attention, but heaped together it proves why Turin Brakes never really broke out of their image as reliably simplistic folk-rock. It’s all too pleasant, too similar, a band you could never really hate, but not one you could hang your entire musical beliefs on either.
Still as this best-of proves, they’re survivors who made it on their own terms, even if they didn’t set the world ablaze doing it.
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Catalog
4 Nov 2021
28 Oct 2021
22 Sep 2020
22 Sep 2020
18 Aug 2020
11 Feb 2020
8 Oct 2019
31 Aug 2018
7 Jan 2018
16 Mar 2016
11 Feb 2014
15 Dec 2013
22 Apr 2012
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