Heroes to Zeros

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