The Last Broadcast

actually forgot to listen to this, but its currently in the cd changer in the car. yeah you heard me right, its a 6cd changer. don't all get too jealous.

701 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die...Plus 300 Assorted British Albums

This album sounds like just about everything that XFM was playing in 2002 (You're an idiot, play a record!). Peppy Brit Pop. This also sounds a lot like early Coldplay. You could probably toss a coin in 100 realities and find that in 50 of them Coldplay became the huge megaband and in 50 of them Doves became the megaband. Kind of generic. A solid 3 across the album. I wouldn't turn it off, but none of the tracks have a particular hook.

A better version of Coldplay. Still shitty, but better than Coldplay

Imagine if the apocalypse came and this carnival of janglewhine actually _was_ the last broadcast. Sheesh.

Its always darkest before the dawn. Behind every dark cloud there’s a silver lining. This little light of mine, I’m a gonna let it shine. Doves. Never heard of ‘em. Wished I had before now. I think I love ‘em. NME called 'The Last Broadcast' ‘the most uplifting miserable album you’ll hear all year.’ I’m not typically a fan of Brit-pop, precisely because of the inordinate time the genre spends celebrating misery. That, and the music often sucks. But Doves have stopped me in my tracks. I found the music bright and joyful, almost effortless. And the lyrics, while a far piece from puppy-producing joy, were definitely more optimistic than the soul crushing bleakness of, for example, Pulp. Even on ‘Sulphur Man,’ who is described as ‘A soul in tatters, as black as coal,’ the lyricist still hopes ‘… you can find what matters.’ The other Brit-pops would advise suicide, right now, before the rest of this day ends up surely sucking even worse than yesterday. But even that doesn’t really matter, they say. Live, die, whatever. Who gives a shit? That’s not Doves, though. Things do matter. Even negative things. Maybe especially negative things. Or maybe more accurately, you matter. Negative things do not have the final word, they are not an end to themselves. On ‘Satellites’ you can actually hear the emergence from bad times into better times. Even the expression, ‘Sweet Lord,’ is sang with what sounds like a choir. There’s a lot of those kind of moments, cool little surprising sounds- tinkling chimes, pounding hammers- sprinkled liberally all over this album like jimmies on a donut, never detracting, but always enhancing the song. In fact, I felt as if I was back in college (late 70s) listening to this LP at the local video arcade, every song on 'The Last Broadcast' accompanied by the whirs and whistles and beeps and such emanating from Pac Man and Asteroids and Donkey Kong. (Have I completely lost the millennial readers?) I watched a recent series of conversations between the producer extraordinaire, Rick Rubin, and a musician named Paul McCartney (whom you might remember from Wings, not to mention a little band he was in before.) They spent the time in front of a mixing board console, Rubin manipulating the various tracks, highlighting the bass parts and asking questions about composition and historical context, etc. Well, he’d have his hands full with 'The Last Broadcast.' I mean, when’s the last time you heard a clarinet on a rock n’ roll record (‘Friday’s Dust’)? Then again, now that I think of it, McCartney used one on ‘When I Get Older,’ a track off of one of those LPs he did with the fellas before Wings (and you might of heard of this one too), 'Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.' But I digress. Dove takes their time with the intros and exits. I like that. Lots of echo in the vocals, giving the overall mix a dreamy sound, reminiscent of Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd (‘The Nile Song,’ i.e.) I like that too. There wasn’t one bad, even mediocre, song in the bunch, including the two droning instrumentals serving as intros for the next songs. Oh, and check out their adaptation of King Crimson’s ‘Moonchild’ on the fourth track, ‘M62 Song.’ It took me until the very end before I finally consciously realized what my subconscious knew from the beginning. The fact that they even know who King Crimson are rates them a bonus star, don’t you think? There’s an oldies radio station here in Denver that advertises, ‘Remember when music was good?’ I don’t ever want to turn into one of those guys, yelling at the kids to get off my lawn, and grousing about how today’s music ain’t got the same soul, so start playing old time rock n’ roll. 'The Last Broadcast' is proof enough that good rock did not end with the turning of the century. Now if I can just figure out the significance of the album cover?

I wonder what ever happened to SubSub, the guys who did Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use)…

I can probably think of plenty of UK albums that deserving of making this list that probably aren't be the time it ends. Maybe not quite landfill indie but on the road to the tip.

Less gay Coldplay

Very much my kind of thing. Two notes: each song feels slightly longer than it needed to be, and the vocals are just on the edge of annoying to me. That said, I dig the music and the lyrics, so it balances out.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but this album was truly great. Elements of Britpop meet influences such as the Beatles, Radiohead etc. to form a lush textured album that is familiar and new at the same time. I find rock albums from this time tend to sound a lot like each other but this album stands out. I loved the instrumentation as well

This was a brilliant album. Having never heard of Doves, I didn’t know what to expect. This is a really chill album with brilliant music. It’s upbeat, catchy and skilful. I really enjoyed this album and it will be one I return to many times

These guys are so frustrating, it's like they want to do something interesting but they can't quite bring themselves to do it. There's a bunch of variety to the instruments on here, but all the songs still end up being the same decent mid-paced track. Solid songwriting only gets you so far, I don't see any spark that makes me want to go back the album or any track in particular.

Unremarkable. Similar to many pop rock bands around that time, mainly Coldplay, but not as catchy. Bland, inoffensive roadtrippy. 2 stars may be a bit harsh but this is not a 3-star album.

It was a pretty generic, but some songs were really good. N.Y. was my favorite 2.5 /5

Distinctly average album. I wonder at the criteria used to decide that an album is worth hearing before you die. I mean, surely they have to be more interesting than this offering?

Music so average you might aswell listen to silence.

So very, very boring. I couldn't wait for it to end. It was like Coldplay on valium.

One of my favourite bands, I love them perhaps more than strictly their music warrants (ie inordinately). But I listen to this again and think who else can blend the anthemic, the melancholy, power and reflection quite as well as they do. Yes the two singles (Pounding and Fear) are peerless, but Sulfur Man, Caught By The River and Words reveal themselves this time as their equal.

Solid album, didn't like really stand out for my tastes but perfectly neutral music, I feel like it would be hard for anyone to dislike this.

L'album que Coldplay aurait rêvé de réaliser, mais ils préfèrent répéter "Para para paradise" dans la moitié de leurs sons

Oddly I was only familiar with the Doves' first album Lost Souls which I love. This one on first pass didn't do as much for me. But. Almost immediately upon second play i am hearing the differences...in a good way. The strong sense of melody I was waiting for is everywhere but I think more varied this time around. I almost wish I had multiple days per album to properly digest some of them, this is a good example. I'm thinking I'm going to like this more and more as I get to know it. If you like melodic dreamy melodies, this is for you. 7/10 4 stars.

Un excellent album de Coldplay emmené par un Chris Martin très inspiré. Celui-ci répète d'ailleurs à longueur d'interviews que l'album Last Broadcast était sa plus belle fierté personnelle : "- L'album Last Broadcast est ma plus belle fierté personnelle. - Pouvez-vous répéter, Chris ? Vous avez parlé trop loin du micro. - Bien sûr. L'album Last Broadcast est ma plus belle fierté personnelle. -Merci, Chris." A contrario, on entend souvent que le batteur du groupe a une aversion toute particulière pour cet album qu'il aurait à de multiples reprises qualifié de mauvais : "- Vous entendez ? - Non, qu'y a-t-il ? - Il me semble que le batteur de Coldplay a une aversion toute particulière pour l'album Last Broadcast... - Cesse de dire des bêtises, tu veux ? - Tu as raison..."

They weren’t the first to do, they weren’t the best to do it, but they did it anyway. Couple of half decent singles on a mostly indifferent album.

I had a friend who was into bands like this. If it was British and sounded like Radiohead or Coldplay and was even the slightest bit “experimental” (read: used synths), he fucking loved it. All that early-2000s, maudlin electro-sadsack rock…every single band, he would go on about how they’re the future of music and the greatest, most important bands of all time. Then a few years later, it was The National. He got visibly upset with me when I told him that I found their live show “a little boring” after seeing them at a festival. They followed Broken Social Scene, who, frankly, blew them out of the water and should have headlined that show. Anyway, Doves were British music-rag darlings in the early aughts: if you read the NME or Mojo, there were probably multiple articles that said the same kind of things about them that my friend did. The truth is, they don’t really sound all that different from most of the bands that received similar hype in the British press those days…bands that are littered across this list like The Beta Band or Badly Drawn Boy or Elbow or the fucking Zutons. You don’t need to hear this before you die, because you’ve already heard the same thing wrapped up in several different packages thanks to this list. In fact, this record has been removed from subsequent editions of the 1001 Albums book, which is further proof of how inconsequential “The Last Broadcast” is.

My god, all this Brit pop is killing me.

The production fucking sucks

A truly great live band, but on record, you need to give these songs time to sink in. As others have said, possibly not as good as their debut, Lost Souls, but it has some excellent singles and the intensity never drops. Brilliant!

jinudge ko sila by album cover but they turned out goooooood! WHY DO I KNOW THERE GOES THE FEAR! ohhhh 500 days!

Early 00's mellow Grunge

9,3 Discazo

Brilliant.

"Pounding" was a great track, and "Last Broadcast" reminded me of a Gorillaz track. Moody British indie tunes, what's not to love?

Best album from a fantastic band

I didn't know who this band was, but I'm glad to have found them. This album is remarkable.

Words: very good There goes the fear: excellent M62 Song: good N.Y.: very good Satellites: amazing Friday’s Dust: very good Pounding: amazing Last broadcast: very good The sulphur man: excellent Caught by the River: excellent 9.5/10

Have never heard this before. Easily one of the best albums ive heard in 10 years

Great indie-brit album. 'Words' is an all-time great song. Similar to Interpol, Elbow, British Seapower.

Grata Sorpresa

Wonderful piece of work

I was really impressed by this album, I love the instrumentation, the I love the mixing, I LOVE THE MUSIC. The voice is great, and it's just all around always great sounding to my ears. I loved this album, lots

This rips

I really loved this. I don't think I fully absorbed it, but I'm going to give it a 5 because there's nothing i DIDN'T like about it, and I think I'll continue to like it more and more as I re-listen.

Bueno!

me surpreendeu bastante até agora! tem até um brasileirinho em there goes The fear auhsua AMEI

Classic album. excellent guitar led rock. Pounding on of my top 10 songs. Cover art 3/5

I listened to their first album before this one and it blew me away, 10/10 post rock I think the first song I noticed that I found really phenomenal was Sea Song, the three songs before that were amazing but it was that fourth song that really made me love the album, and everything after that was incredible too but then I listened to the second album, and I think I liked it even more, it had so many cool songs, that is easily worth a 10/10 for me but then I noticed they did something really special, THEY DID A COVER OF A FUCKING KING CRIMSON SONG Moonchild is one of my favorite songs in general, the fact they made a bluesy, post-rock cover of one of my favorite prog rock songs is so fucking cool idk I’ve always had a soft spot for any media that uses King Crimson, especially in movies like Mandy, Children of Men, and Buffalo ‘66 (although there are MANY other reasons I love that last one) anyways this a really incredible album for me, if you like post-rock this is definitely worth a listen

This is one of the best British albums of all time. There isn’t a bad track on it.

Yeah this really impressed me different in areas but worthy of a re-listen. Kinds felt a bit like Coldplay meets gorillaz but was also its own animal

Very dramatic episode of a 2000s TV show vibe going on. Really enjoyed it.

Hooked from the first song. I almost skipped this one due to lack of time, but I'm glad I made time for it. There Goes the Fear is super catchy. Satellites is lovely. Friday's Dust feels haunting.

A fantastic album. I am a big fan of their music

Merci messieurs

Got a good Coldplay sound to it. I really like this. VERY underrated album how have I never heard of this album, any of the songs, or even the band?!

Didn’t know this band at all, and I’m impressed! Rich orchestration, interesting arrangements, nice variety. All in all, a really great album. Adding this to my list of favourites from project!

Forgot how much I love the doves! Great album!

Surpriseingly Nice album!

Really liked this album, never heard of this band before either. Such an eclectic mix of songs, chill album, will definitely listen again! Saved tracks: There Goes The Fear, M62 Song, N.Y., Friday's Dust

One of the very very best

Underrated band that weirdly didn’t have the staying power of Elbow. As good? Yeah probably.

Ett jävla bra album

I have a lot of pre-existing love for Doves (Although slightly prefer their previous album to this one) and, I'm not gonna lie, seeing all the reviews comparing them to Coldplay stings. In my head they're filed in a totally different box to Coldplay, but I guess I can hear what people are talking about. 😒 Goes to show how much having stuff forced on me by the TV and radio really coloured my perceptions. If Coldplay had got less airplay and Doves had been plastered over the airwaves, maybe my sympathies would be reversed? On the other hand, listening through again, maybe Doves are just objectively better than Coldplay and I was right the whole time - yeah, let's go with that! 😈 Fave track - "Words", "Satellites", "Caught By The River" are all solid. The bonus disc has a cover of something from the Wicker Man soundtrack too! 😍

I am speechless. Unsure what to say here. Literally could not miss. I have never heard of this band or any of their songs until now, but it was worth the wait. Some call it brit-pop, others call it indie rock, I call it perfection. The first listen through made me think 4 instantly, but for days afterwards I was singing the songs in my head. I had been saying that I regret not giving Oasis a 5, but this album felt exponentially better. Albums like these are the reason I joined this group. I just feel pure bliss.

Will definitely replay this again

One of my favourite bands. I know no one who knows them though. I discovered Doves when I was on Oasis forums in the early/mid 2000s. What can I say I was a popular person in university. I had downloaded Some Cities off a torrent and it sat on my iPod for a few months until I remember I was in bed one night listening to music and a song from them came on and I was immediately hooked. I had heard The Last Broadcast and the rest of Doves a ton in the 2000s (I actually saw them live in 2009 when I went to Scotland at T in the Park. Excellent show). This is their best album, although I still have a soft spot for the melancholy vibes of Some Cities. I haven’t heard this one in probably 10 years though. I forgot how much Doves are a vibes and groove band. Very much like The Verve. The songs all do go on for too long, the vocals are really not great. Now that I have good speakers to listen on and not iPod earbuds I can hear the production on this really is not good. But I have enough nostalgia to carry me through.

This was a very good album. I'm really fond of this early-to-mid noughties post-britpop kind of thing, so I knew I'd enjoy this. I'd heard one or two of these tracks before, though I couldn't say I was familiar with Doves as a band. This was a generally chill record, pretty upbeat, though it slows, darkens, takes weird turns, and never really gets boring. It felt quite psychedelic and spaced out at times, and I'm all for that kind of thing. Definite Radiohead vibes, but maybe a little more generic in the lyrics. Still a very good album though! Favourite: The Goes The Fear

A really fun album! Somehow I missed everything about it for the last 20 years - how come I have never heard of it, is it not as catchy as Blur and Oasis? Well, probably it's not, not even close. Also, I'm not a fan of Man City, so how could I know about their great song "Words"? This album is genuinely great piece of interesting indie rock, with no extravagant motifs, but very entertaining from the top to the bottom. I was not bored during any of their songs, very solid record overall. I would like to come back to this album later, so to catch my attention I will give it a 5 stars, but to think of it, I would give it the highest note anyway. Doves will now regularly fly in my playlist.

Apparently I was raised on this album. Who knew.

I vibed to this one so hard

Never heard of them before. Awesome stuff.

Reminded me of Telescreen

If Coldplay were better

I liked this album. They sound a little like Coldplay. A few duds mixed in but I’m excited to keep listening to the good ones!

very cool

Good album. Enjoyed listening!

I wasn’t familiar with this band or album, but I thought this album was fantastic. “Words” hooked me right from the start, and there until the last track, this album was full of beautiful melodies. There were so many great sounds to take in on every song: great guitar playing, light and airy percussion, beautiful synthesizers, and hypnotic string arrangements. This album reminded me of The Bends, with a dashes of Beach House, My Bloody Valentine, and The Charlatans sprinkled throughout. One of my favorite things about Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain is that the album feels both massive and intimate at the same time, and this album’s vocals really achieved that affect too, through some clever echo effects. Even though this album reminded me of work by other musicians, I thought the overall sound was incredibly unique, and it never felt like it was just trying to copy and paste someone else’s sound. This was beautiful from start to finish, and I’m excited to review the other Doves album on this list.

Soaring, sprawling anthems interspersed with gentle, dreamy acoustic led numbers. Reflective and melancholy but optimistic, this is Doves creative and commercial peak and a great way to bring up the 1001. Particularly shout out to 'Satellites'. I love that song. Rating: 4.5/5 Playlist track: There Goes The Fear Date listened: 15/04/24

Boundless joy. One of my favourite albums of all time.

Been a huge fan of Doves since I was a teen. One of the first gigs I ever went to was Doves in Colston Hall, Bristol. Every track is brilliant on this in my book.

Very nice!

Wow - never heard of this band before but really liked this record. Like an early 2000s version of Echo & the Bunnymen

The word I keep coming up with is "almost." This album wants so desperately to be an epic, atmospheric magnum opus, but it's...not quite that. Hell of a try, though. Best track: Satellites

Doves best album. Only prevented from getting 5 stars by the absence of The Cedar Room, their best song (on previous album, Lost Souls). Contains some total classics like Words, Pounding and Caught by the River.

Very interesting. Some instrument, far our tracks and some a little more broad.

Interesting sound.

Really great Britpop. These guys should've been bigger in the States.

Also really nice, kind of Radioheady. 4.5

I need to listen a couple more times to review the lyrics, etc... but it definitely sounds like something I would have been into in 2002. Still nice now, though!

Wow I wish I had found this band earlier

Naja

There Goes The Fear is one of my favorite songs ever

Really enjoyed this album. Wasn’t a massive fan of their when they were ‘popular’ back around 15 years ago but can really appreciate the music now. Caught by the River is great.

Production: 17/20 Songwriting: 15/20 Innovation: 15/20 Bangers: 15/20 Emotional response: 16/20 =78 What a lovely album chaps.

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The type of dreamy indie rock that is right up my alley. Definitely enjoyed this one, and I’m gonna seek out more of their stuff in the future!

I had not heard of this band or album, and I don't recognize any of the songs, but it's really solid. I like their style. It's a nice blend of rock and pop, but has its own sound -- maybe "indie rock"? -- and I like how that edgy sound is balanced with vocals and vocal harmonies, plus catchy rhythms, that all make for a rather infectious mix. Very glad I've been introduced to them.

I love this album from front to back period

Oh man I haven’t listened to these songs in sooooo long. Great stuff. Holds well.

Great post-Brit pop. Will listen to more of their work.

Solid, reminded me of Elbows a little. Will listen to some more of their stuff