Heroes to Zeros

Not sure why this is on the list

A proper early 2000s Brit-Pop classic! Or maybe I should say, a classic Brit-Pop album... I can confidently say I don't remember a single song from the album, but a memory of how I felt when I listened to it. I never know if I like Brit-Pop or hate it, but I think the world is better for it being a thing.

This is the most embarrassing album cover on this list.

Very generic, very like 90s indie, but in the 00s. Nothing really enjoyable. I'll give it a 2 just because I didn't hate it.

lyder ikke dårligt, bare heller ikke memorable overhovedet. Jeg manglede lidt en rød tråd, det var ret rodet

Lidt langt.. Lidt ligegyldigt.. Lød fint, men sagde mig virkelig ikke noget, så er lettere uforstående for hvorfor den er på listen.

It’s British

british 4/10

Heroes To Zeros is interminable twaddle. It's just boring, not bad, nothing for me, a low 2.

Going nowhere fast

I'm not sure what to make of this - it's all over the place, stylistically, veering from spacey futuristic sounds, through to folky-type sparse arrangements. Overall, I think 'interesting' is the best description. But not something I'd choose to listen to again.

Cool sounds but I wouldn't really listen to it

Unremarkable and uninteresting.

I like the comic book-style album cover. Without knowing anything about this group, makes me think I'm in for some geek rock. Hmm, not totally what I was expecting. This album jumps around quite a bit; between folk/indie rock, electronica and even funk at one point. I guess I was expecting something more high-octane, but this landed more on the Coldplay side of things when it comes to the "rock energy" scale. Not awful, but a bit forgettable at the end of the day. Teetering between a 2 and a 3. In an effort to be more critical, I'll go 2.

British Beta electronic Rock.

Bland. In fact blander than that,

I like Steve Mason, but this album is forgettable

Boring and forgettable. I will probably never think of this album again, much less listen to it. On to the next

resident sleeper

Laulaja hiuksista vittuun. Menee muutenkin ehkä turhankin kokeilevaksi ja poukkoilevaksi, tai no, kuka mistäkin tykkää. Kerran jaksoi kuunnella ja seuraavana päivänä skippaillen pikakelaus ja oli edelleen paskaa.

Lame, mut kuunneltava

Oh lordy, where do you go with this one? It's hard to understate the influence of The Beta Band, and even harder to understand it. They try new things, sure, but many of them don't really work and certainly don't fit together as music you'd want to sit and listen to. It is very much the early 2000s MelodyMaker / NME curse, where a load of posh boys who worked as music journos fanwanked certain artists until all that was left was a bloodied stump. There wasn't really any merit to them, they just got caught up in the jerking off, terrified to be the one to point out that the emperor wasn't wearing owt. This album is slightly worse than middle of the road.

I do appreciate the modern sound and vibe, but most of the tracks are so smooth that there is nothing for the mind to catch on. There is no warmth to them.

Spectacularly mediocre.

just a bit too experimental for me. Some really interesting bits followed by Space Beatle...

2004 häpäisy vuosi jee ja unohdettavampia liikkeitä hankalampaa ai:llakaan tuottaa...

It drags

The cover is the most interesting thing about this album. I’d rather stare at it for 42 minutes than listen to this again.

This album was about as interesting as the 11th of April 1954. Shame as well, the album cover had me super hyped.

1.92

Little bit too weird for me

Rock electrónico. Tostón. Un 2.

A whole load of nothing

No, Just boring, no...

boring

Forgettable, bland music, like a lot of the albums on this list now that I think about it

Why on earth is this here? Boring boring boring. Not 1 star bad but it's placement on this list is one of unfortunately many question marks as to how I've gotten 900+ albums deep in this mess.

Very light psychedelic rock. Sounds like early 2000's.

Only had the time to listen once. Didn’t get it, nor what the band was trying to do. The songs passed by uneventfully

The album cover made me expect cringecore electronic pop but instead I got middling alt rock 😔

It was ok. Very typical mid 2000's alt sound.

Meh.

The first few tracks had me a little curious and then it went downhill from there. There was such great music from the mid naughties and this is not it (Blue Notebook by Mac Richter or The Milk-eyed mender by Joanna Newsom are both the same year as this album for example but not on the list from what I can see) who is choosing these albums?

Yawn

this wasn't really anything at all

This was okay. I listened to it yesterday and can't really even remember what I thought about it.

Fine. But why did I need to hear it before I die?

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great British music, but this list definitely has a bias

Meh, there wasn't much interesting here, but it wasn't bad either

The only reason anyone gives a shit about The Beta Band is because their only good song was used during a memorable scene in the movie High Fidelity. After that movie resonated with audiences, suddenly everyone believed the Beta Band was important. Guess what. They're not important. Anything outside of "Dry The Rain" is filler. Yet we almost feel like any slight towards the Beta Band is a slight towards High Fidelity. No one wants to diss High Fidelity. Although if John Cusack continues to lose his mind, he'll become about as meaningful as The Beta Band.

The music does not match the album art. The music is pretty interesting and decent but the album cover is where this album shines.

Godrich clearly had fun with the spacey production and it’s by far the best thing about this otherwise quite bland record

I love that The Beta Band has more than one entry on this list. Who the hell even are these guys and what are they doing here? It's not even that the music is bad, it's just painfully mediocre and boring. The last song has the repeated lyric of "I'm so glad you found me." Well let me tell you Beta Band, I'm personally not very glad I found you

I mean, there was nothing terrible about it. I was just bored.

I made it about halfway through. Can't figure out how this made the list.

I’m unsure as to what this is supposed to be. Each song on its own has merits, but as an album, it feels disjointed and unfocused.

Generic and british. Therefore a must, apparently for this list.

I’ve never heard of this band and now I know why. Not very interesting to me.

Another album that I don’t think has any place on this list. Generic and uninspiring.

Not for me, found it a bit boring.

boring and generic and the album cover is shit

Boring. En voyant la pochette, j'espérais qqch de plus spacial, épique et dynamique.

Aivan vieras tuttavuus mulle. Tällaista takakenoista musaa. No härskimmät ja enemmän rokit biisit toimii mutta kyllä tää kokonaisuutenaa jää mulla aika vaisuksi. 2/5

Oon näiden pari aiempaa levyä joskus kauan sitten tallentanut spotifyssa, mutta tää ei kyllä oikein iskenyt.

ok britit

Oh great, The Beta Band... Again. Clearly the author of 1001 bought into their hype and wasn't saying no to any editorial comments. Below average at best, God awful at worst.

"INDIE!!! WE NEED MORE INDIE IN THIS BOOK!" This is how I imagine the averange meeting of the editor with his contributors must have gone. But really, this album is the definition of unexciting. As in: not bad, inoffensive, nicely produced and played but devoid of anything that lets me take pause and want to listen to the music. Why is this on the list? Oh, yeah, I forgot.... INDIE!!!! - 2/5

I like this band, but did not feel this album.

There’s nothing special about this album, pretty sure I’ve heard the same songs in another album. Don’t know why it’s on this list and the vocalist sounds so bored by the end of it.

Very average indie rock album, not sure why it’s on the list.

casi me pego un tiro escuchando esto

almost hypnotic.

Wow. Some of these songs are fantastic and others are so boring. I don’t know how to rate.

Didn't really understand the point of this, but it was British so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see it on this list.

I saw on Wikipedia that this band got to open for Radiohead and I can totally understand why. They're just as boring. Sorry.

This was ok, nothing super exciting, but not terrible. 2.5/5

A band releasing a song called Rhododendron. Hmmm difficult to take it seriously. Some melodic tunes but that is it. Sorry

Terrible album cover and band name. The music itself, hard to define and interesting. They found this pocket of unique sound, however don’t know if it’s being used to it’s full potential. 2.5/5

This didn’t stand out for me Too much 2.5

Didn't know what to expect. After finishing it still really don't know what to think of it. The songs seem unpolished and unfinished. Overall very bland.

Beige! At first I thought this had promised then it just was so blamange meh I couldn't handle it. Vapid lyrics. There was one set of lyrics so silly about "going it alone" it made me lol/groan

Ermm guess it wasn't bad but it was very forgettable. Just a bit bland.

There was nothing actually bad about it but the longer I listened the more I found it hard to care about Some of the British albums on this list from the 90s and 00s seem like they don’t need to be on the list. But I definitely dig most of the 60s and 70s British albums

Anything is better than nico

Rather listless and slippery, as if the entire auditory experience passed through my memory banks without any consideration of taking root.

Willing to concede that maybe I just don't have the proper context for The Beta Band, and that diving headlong into a band's final album, one released shortly before disbanding is far from the proper introduction to a group's sound, ethos, and general schtick. But even given all that, it is pretty hard for this album to scan as anything other than dull, flat, and boring to me. I'm very open to a blending of somewhat disparate elements, acoustic & electronic elements intermingling, psychedelia-lite, its just that everything feels subdued and light here. Hoping to be surprised if & when I make it to the rest of their catalogue.

Shrug, it was okay. Feels a little bit like going back to high school.

Meh

Rock electrónico. Tostón. Un 2.

Meh mid

Interesting mix of genre. I get a big Beck vibe off of it. I liked it but wished for more.

I'd never heard of this band, and never intentionally listened to this sub-genre of rock. I am fine not listening to it again, but it was less annoying that I initially expected. I was surprised that after the album was over, and Spotify continued with this sub-genre, I actually enjoyed some of the music.

2/5 didn't catch the point

De artwork is gaaf

Meh, I'll stick with their Three EPs set, which is phenomenal. This didn't do it for me.

It's definitely music. For brief moments it even sounds original. Does said music merit inclusion in what's alleged to be a prestigious list of albums? Nahhhhhhhhh

2/5. An interesting series of electronic folk? but not for me I think. If I was older when this originally released this might have been my jam but feel like its aged a little. Not very memorable but not bad, just experimental but not super landing perfectly. Maybe another listen might do it for me, but don't feel like doing that right now.

I usually really like this kind of music, but this one I just haven't been able to get into. It's the first time I've heard it, so I'll probably give it more time. 2.5 for now.

Not my personal taste, but I kinda liked two songs: “Lion Thief” “Easy” The rest put me to sleep.

Meh…

Middle of the road album for me, most of it was fairly forgettable. Out-Side was a stand out track to me though.

There were a couple of decent songs but I can’t imagine ever listening to this again.

Sounds like the Gorrillaz cloned with some Madchester acid house. Nothing very offensive here, but nothing very exciting either.

Feels like a real shot in the dark by the editors tbh. Somehow a combination of creative and boring at the same time. 4/10

Flaccid and disappointing. Sure, you guys are betas, you're losers and zeroes... but we would've never known if you hadn't told us. Oh, and that cover art is lame too. It makes me think of the dumbest live show I've ever experienced, Weezer, what a waste of money. --- Aw F, I'm sorry. I'm just in a shitty mood and this music is just super sucky for my mental state right now.

As an avid listener of alternative music growing up, I always get nervous when I've never even heard of a band. Some times its because of my ignorance, but I'd like to consider myself well versed in the alternative world. This album was completely unremarkable in every way. I cannot figure out what is influential about it, but maybe it will take a few listens.

It’s ok

Some examples: Elvis Presley, Bill Cosby, and Michael Jackson.

We now need negative stars. Ugh.

Me pareció realmente mediocre. Nada especial, menos para el 2004. No entiendo qué hace acá este álbum. 2/10

Mitä

Not as good on a re-listen. The first time around I forgave it for being boring as hell, but I can't forgive it the second time around.

boring

This was fine. Nothing particularly offensive or noteworthy. I’d consider that more of a zero than a hero so I guess I’m going to round down.

Boaring

1. azzezment - 0 2. zpace - 0 3. lion - 1 4. eazy - 0 5. uuonderful - 2 6. troublez - 0 7. outzide - 0 8. beatle -1 9. rodendron - 0 10. bird - 1 11. zimple - 0 12. pure - 1

Not in my edition of the book! 2004. 1 star. Average band with no song writing talent produce album of instantly forgettable bland mush. Seriously, WTF thought this was an essential album to listen to?

next.

😶 I mean…

Literally forgot the whole album after listening to it

1/5

Whole Lotta British nothing

Pretty sleepy. Why is there two instances of this band on this list?

Dude, I literally just had a British album nobody cares about yesterday! Do I really need another one today? And guess what, they're called the Beta Band! As if they KNOW they're hot garbage already! Now, for the actual album review; the album is exactly what you'd expect from a band called the Beta Band. It's vapid indie pop with very stupid lyrics and no real substance whatsoever. The vocals just kind of float along like the guy doesn't care, and the music doesn't move me. Even worse, lyrics are rapidly approaching Deep Purple territory with their stupidity- and if you've ever heard Deep Purple, you know that's saying a lot. So, boring garbage with bad lyrics and no involvement. Sounds like a shit sandwich to me. Or, more accurately, a Beta Band!

Kinda reminded me of Beck but more boring

Я все розумію, тяглість психоделії, упорядники люблять цей жанр. Сам альбом просто ніякий, нецікавий, погано постарішав. Чергова загадка із серії "чому це тут?"

the idea that the Beta Band somehow produced two albums you Must Listen To Before You Die is just laughable. i certainly didn't like Hot Shots II, but it had a lot more merit than this generic, homogeneous pile of slop. yawn, next

What the hell was this? Why is it on the list? I try to keep an open mind but like when you get to the track with the dogs barking on beat it becomes impossible to take this seriously.

Boring and mediocre.

Don't really want to rate it one star but I would never listen to this one again.

I remember really liking the 1998 3 EP's album It even featured in the movie High Fidelity! Honestly, I thought they broke up after that Listening to Heroes, it does not live up to the potential of that earlier collection Pass

Incredibly dull... 1.5/5

yawn.

Yeah this sucked.

Meh. Nothing to write home about, one or two songs that stood out but the majority merged into one amalgamation of meh. Most songs follow the same slow, drony style. Meh. 1.5/5

Unfocused mess. Production and sound fluctuates so much between okay at best and muddled and confused at worst. Songs that go nowhere and a vocals that are sometimes drowning in reverb or other effects to muddle it to the point of mumbling.

Tuneless and dreary

I did not like this album at all. Bright spots: the groove in 'Easy' and the occasional harmonica. Maybe if I was on acid this album would grow on me. The scene I pictured throughout my listening was of a black and white episode of MST3k where this band is playing in the background of a beatnik bar while bikers talk about their feelings and an actress turned down for the role of Catwoman dances awkwardly.

Bargain bin bad Britpop

More landfill indie.

Meh....

What if plain yogurt was an album? Look no further.

This album was very strange for me. I don't have a ton of knowledge on the subject of music theory, but if there is a concept of musical edging, this album edged the shit out of me. My lizard brain would activate at least once per song and say "oh here it is, this is the stuff you like," only to divert into a sound that I did not enjoy. Naturally, this made for an unpleasant listening experience. On a related note, I listened to this album via a Youtube playlist from an account with dozens of other full album playlists. About halfway through listening, I discovered that this account had inserted some sort of AI sleeper cell activation video from an Indonesian rock band in the middle of every single one of their album playlists. The video has millions of views and hundreds of comments from bots talking about crypto and stock tips, and it does not contain any information that is comprehensible for the human mind. After listening to some of it, I went back to the album, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had taken the Blue Pill but hadn't been mind-wiped about the existence of the Matrix, which feels like a clear violation of the canon. All of these factors combined lead me to believe that I experienced some sort of psychotic break as a result of watching that video, and as such I have no choice but to give this album 1.5 stars.

This album is so poorly produced?? Just sounds wet

It's possible that my stereo system has malfunctioned but it's much more likely that this album is just terrible.

boring

#631 Also nur noch 370 Post-Punk-Alternative-Grunge-Britpop-Rock-Alben vor mir. Na das ist ja nur noch ein ein Jahr *seufz

Kjedelig.

Not for me.

I think the title says it best.

I've gotten two albums from this band in the course of a week. They are no bueno.

No.

I listened through this album three times and couldn’t tell you a single lyric or sonically interesting thing that happened. Absolute snoozer. I’m sick to death of these 90s UK bands.

Fucking boring and terrible

Welkom bij het zoveelste indiepoprockkutbandje. Want waarom dit op de lijst staat? God mag het weten. Het is weer de typische fluisterzingindiestem die elke band lijkt te hebben en dat in 2004? Mijn favoriete moment is de bass bij Pure For, en inderdaad dat is het LAATSTE NUMMER... Verder valt hier verdomd weinig over te zeggen, behalve dan dat mijn thoughts and prayers uitgaan naar alle artiesten die daadwerkelijk iets vernieuwends doen en die niet op deze lijst staan omdat ze niet Brits zijn. MGMT begon meteen na deze en het feit dat ik rechtop ging zitten en me afvroeg of ik misschien niet toch te hard was geweest? Nope, album dat nog geen 3 jaar later uitkwam maar qua innovatie op een andere planeet is. Man, wat word ik chagerijnig van dit soort muziek.

This is the second unimpressive album by this band I’ve gotten. Both rated poorly.

Nope. Not for me. Instantly forgettable. Next!

Why did I need to hear this?

There is some parts that I find interesting, but they don't often fit together for me. The vocals also feel safe and with not enough identity.

I think I'm pretty tolerant of sonic exploration and mixing up different ideas, but this just seemed like the band had said yes to every idea regardless of quality. A series of bland non-sequiturs. 1

Songs not strong enough to carry ambitions.

I’m not sure anyone, including the band, knew exactly what they were going for here. The album treads water, aimlessly wandering from one mid tempo tepid track to another. I had a particularly hard time with Wonderful, which took forever to end. I agree with the band’s assessment that they should not have produced the record themselves. I dread to think of what the original mixes sounded like before Nigel Goodrich stepped in. I could imagine a much more listenable album if they had teamed up with a producer from the start.

I've never heard of these guys, and I'm English! When the blurb has more to say about the album cover than the music it says a lot. Very bland.

I don't really like The Beta Band. Found some info online about why they have TWO albums on the list My findings: their main influencial stuff is a compilation album, and thus uneligible for the list. And they aren't in the newer versions of the 1001 albums list anyways. See the following found online: "I looked up the band after getting Hot Shots II to see what was so special about them to merit an inclusion, and apparently they were pretty influential in their approach of blending electronic with rock and were an influence on Radiohead's more experimental stuff in the 00s. The problem is that their influential stuff appears to be a series of EPs they made at the end of the 90s and was later compiled into a compilation album, which means that album probably would have been both a better representation as to why this band was special, and would have used one less slot in the book. Or maybe I'm wrong and you just had to be there, I don't know." And: "Both albums did feature in the 2005 edition, then Hot Shots II was removed for the 2008 edition, and by the 2011 edition both albums were gone. So it went from two to one to zero. "

I found this extremely bland and forgettable. Sounds a bit like various other bands.. Elbow and Flaming Lips spring to mind, maybe Super Furry Animals. Other better bands who i wished I was listening to, in fact

How is it possible for this band to merit two albums on this list?

Was excited for a more recent band but this is psychedelic drear. Easy is the only listenable track on the album.

No

Dacht dat dit een Youtube project was. Een nummertje stal de show zei Jonaas Timmerhout. Wonderful. Ben streng maar ‘t deed me niks.

Assessment - 8/10 Space - 4/10 Lion Thief 2/10 Easy - 7/10 Wonderful - 2/10 Troubles 5/10 Out-Side 3/10

Kevyen progeilevaa indietä. Höystetty vokaalityylillä, josta käyttäisin termiä "hupiukkomainen". Kädessä rautaiset Danit. Get the reference?

Absolutely boring. The end. 1001 album worthy: NOPE - 71/133

Budget Beach Boys meets half off Radiohead while Interpol is on sale. Meh.

Utterly forgettable.

Whereas the Hot Shots album hit the sweet spot, this anaemic album hit the zero spot. I don’t understand its inclusion.

This makes supermarket music seem dynamic and exciting by comparison. Depressingly unimaginative in the extreme. Who told them it was worth making an album of this tedious bile?

This was dull as dishwater

In a nutshell: sleepy time. A bit synth rock, a bit psychedelic, a bit indie rock. You know, the kind of music you heard overly keen musicians in the 20s rehearse for an upcoming Battle of the Bands heat. It was so drony I dozed off a few times and had to restart some tracks. Overall: 1/10

Fav: Liquid Bird Least Fav: Space In the running for most boring album on this list, and not harmless boring that’s atleast easy listening - this is the sorta stuff that makes you think it’s nearly finished only to find out you’ve got another 25 minutes left

The Good: Self-Depreciation is a lovely thing! The Bad: When this turns out to be true… The Ugly: Were the Beta’s ever Heroes? Another one of those bands who’ve slipped my radar in the “naughties” because, let’s face it, most music that was published in that decade was not really worth much of our attention… So why is this album on the list? What am I missing here? There was 1 tune that made me look up and go “that sounds interesting”… 1 out of 12… that’s a massive Fail as far as I'm concerned. Now, I understand that there will be fanboys/girls of this band, with tattoos on their bodies to show off how cool they are… and I’d like to know what makes the Beta Band so special? Or why Heroes to Zeros needs to be included on this here 1001 list? Back in 2000 a band called 3 Doors Down released their freshman album The Better Life. These guys are NOT included in this list… and their album is lovely, and worth 4* easy… So why do I have to sit through another generic band that used this ridiculous sound as if we’re all standing in a valley—best analogy I can give for this reverbed distant singing style that was prevalent in the ‘00s—instead of some of the, if only few, albums that did come out in that period? 1*

zzzzzz

Astoundingly shitty

I forgot this album as it was playing

Sounds like the cover... Cartoon superhero show music. Not the good kind though... Very boring not gonna lie. Like is it trying to put me into a psychedelic type sleep. Swear the last song "Pure For" is off either Jeffrey Dahmer or The Menendez Brother...

Very electric!

I hated this. Indescribably annoying with almost zero redeeming features. Garbage of the highest order.

1.75

Sounds over mixed and produced. So much so the lyrics sound like they are drowned out at times. Absolutely nothing stands out about this album or band.

What an aggressively mid record. It truly doesn't know what it wants to be, and I don't mean that in an "every song has it's own sound" kinda way. Every track is a mishmash of half baked ideas that never quite land. Seventies singer/songwriter esc at it's core with overwhelming drum loops, disconnected sound effects, ambient repetitive vocals. And that cover?! Some 14 year old boy probably saw this in the shop and thought it was going to be the coolest album ever, and then he listened to it...

Meh. Catchy at first, but then forgettable.

Ganska tråkigt, inget jätte speciellt. Vissa någo helt kivoga idéer

Uma mistura que irritação e sensação de descartável que gerou momentos que confirma mais uma vez que mil é muita coisa.

More British indie garbage. Very forgettable. Favourite songs: Assessment Least favourite songs: most of the album 1/5

I saw these guys open for Radiohead back in the day. They were forgettable but that was the right spot for them. Being on this list is not. I can’t imagine how boring this record was without Godrich’s production.

Not sure what you’d call this band, experimental, alternative. Not crazy about their sound.

So boring I did not pay attention at all. Not really something that interested and I have no interest in

I disagree. Did not have to listen to this caca. 0/5

Generic British rock.

I actually really enjoyed this. But it was not special in any way. Very forgettable.

It has great cover art and awful music.

1/10

You pick the mercury winner not this one

great band name for what they are

Really, desperately boring, feels like on purpose most of the time. I was 14 and into indie music in 2004 and had no awareness of this band, so they didn’t have a cultural impact either. Should have done ‘beta’.

Like some of the other albums in this collection, this just feels very indulgent. I don’t know that it contributes anything particularly special or leaves much impression. Surely there are better albums that could’ve been included.

So much UK trash on this

Gud va dehä suger... lame. Tråkigt. Brittiskt. Noll swag

Trahs

Nicht meins: Schaffe es nicht mir das Album in Gänze anzuhören.

I really like a lot of The Beta Band's other albums & EP;s, but this one has never done it for me. It's slightly too long, not very memorable, and just not as good as their other really impressive stuff.

It doesn't look like anything to me.

Not my jam!

Na, not for me. It's all over the show.

Noise