Hot Shots II

I had mixed feelings about this one throughout the listening experience. At times I was absolutely absorbed by the beautifully balanced complexity in the way that the songs are built. At other times, I was annoyed by what seems like willful weirdness designed to disrupt the listener's flow. In the end, I think I fall on the side of enjoying and appreciating the work that was put into this album. It was clearly a labor of love and I think that labor paid off. It's a really interesting and compelling album even if it's not something I'd turn to as a day-to-day jam.

Crap band name. Shit cover. But, credit to the recording engineer; it's difficult to get a good quality of sound when the vocalist's head is so far up his own arse. Good job.

More like Hot Shits, am I right? [rimshot] (Sigh)

I hated, _hated_, that bit in the film of "High Fidelity" when John Cusack smugly announces that he will now sell 5 copies of The 3 EPs by the Beta Band, pops it on the turntable, to instant grooving and interest from the shoppers. I worked for years in a store almost exactly like the fictional Championship Vinyl and I never, _never_, played a record to try to intentionally sell a single copy to unsuspecting shoppers, let alone five! While sometimes shoppers would ask about what was playing, you can't force people to like something just like this. Musical taste is so personal, and works on so many levels, you can't just spin a record you think is good to instant acclaim. This scenario is the wet dream of every white boy, collector scum, record nerd that ever lived. "I will play this secret undiscovered gem that only I, ultimate arbiter of taste and refinement, know, and the ignorant throngs will instantly recognize my genius and bow before me, thrusting their dollars at me as fitting tribute for me imparting this gift of knowledge to them". ("I know" smirks Cusack). So, the Beta Band is reputationally besmirched in popular culture before I ever really gave them a listen. I am predisposed to hate them already, not even at their own fault. In fairness, Dry The Rain (which is the song he plays in the store) is a pretty good song. So I gave Hot Shots II a fair listen. And they are a fair band. They can craft a pleasant tune, with some nice harmonies, with a charmingly sloppy, lo-fi, laid back production aesthetic that I kind of dig. But it's all a bit the same-same (like a series of fading carbon copies off Dry The Rain, really), and I wish they would break out a bit and try and catch my attention with something different. I note that this album no longer appears in the latest edition of 1001 Albums. But I might consider buying a copy of The 3 EPs. Curse you, Cusack, you got me in the end! 2.5 stars, rounding up.

This is my introduction to the Beta Band and the first listen made me straight want to go to a second. And third. So this album has been on at any opportunity I could find. With headphones, in the car, or just my home stereo. And with every listen another layer in a different song makes itself known, which was even more surprising since it seemed like a bit toned down indie electro at the start with some trip-hop influences. But there's so much more to it than I thought. I will be playing this a lot on the coming months and it might slowly make its way into my favourite albums. What a discovery! 4,5*

Yet another band that I've never heard of. Not sure their music ever crossed the Atlantic. I thought this was fine but nothing special. Too many like this are on the list.

Occasionally great, occasional meh. Straight down the middle for me.

I’ve never heard of The Beta Band before. The band name is a little funny, it makes me giggle that they chose Beta. Yet again, Apple Music lists them as alternative which doesn’t really tell me anything. I’m hopeful for a good listen today. It’s been a really odd week for me and I need something nice. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Squares This was pretty decent. The music was generally chilled and easy to listen to. I did find the vocals a bit boring and droning at times, but it wasn’t TOO bad. I’m unsurprised to read the band are Scottish, or that this album was released in the early noughties - you can definitely hear the influence that Britpop had here, despite not sounding fully Britpop themselves. Overall, this was an ok album. I can’t really give it any better praise than that, but it also certainly wasn’t bad.

My first impression is that this reminds me a lot of Beck or early Gorillaz. Some spacey hip-hop/electronic sounds, so I guess this would technically be in the genre of trip-hop? idk. I couldn't really get into the vocals. Very melodramatic and pretentious. And that album cover is horrid.

Wimpy is how I would describe it. Like it felt like it never left first gear.

I’d never listened to this album before. Never heard of the band. Very pleasantly surprised.

Not bad, I like this genre, but I quickly get fed up if it sounds too introverted and serious. Despite quirky lyrics, this often did seem a bit earnest. It was too artsy and (not literally) one-note for me: my favourite moments were the sudden, speedier outros in Human Being and Quiet. Lovely chords and harmonies, sometimes some good beats, but I don't think I'll come back to it. Reminded me of Alt-J? I think. Controversial comment: they need a better singer. I did snort when I read the review complimenting the recording engineer, despite the singer's head being up his own arse. Yup.

I enjoyed this. The Beta band kind of passed me by and my impression was kinda of flaming lips/lemonheads/early beck style music. Turns out there were a lot of tracks i knew and enjoyed, the album hung together really well and i feel bad for missing it first time around. I felt it dropped off towards the end so i'm not going nuts but it was a good listen.

I remember liking this album more 20 years ago. I still like the music but something about the singer gets on my nerves now it’s too bad because I used to really like it.

Pretty OK. Kind of a mellow rock type of deal. I'm curious why this is one made the list, but it wasn't unpleasant. Pretty unique. Solid 3 stars.

Hot Shots II has crystallised impressions I had about turn of the century indie rock trends into notions. Rock-electronica-hip-hop fusion mostly pasted generic sounds over mediocre songs, bands reaching for ‘Revolver’ and making ‘The Birdie Song’. This is somewhere in the middle of the pack. The underlying songs are decent and distinct, the production is mildly distracting novelty. Turn-of-the-century ethereal wistfulness is here, a trend I never noticed and now feel nostalgia for on return: the post-9/11 horror show slapped away this strand of dreamy, sad pop. Mercury Rev’s Deserters Songs is a highlight that Simon and I shared, and a similar sort of sonically expansive, lyrically contemplative music here comes through squinted ears. The song’s themselves are well-crafted with stick and structures that caught me off-guard without losing me. The title’s clever-stupid humour displays a then-modish, self-deprecating-but-fuck-you-not-really attitude that I don’t miss. I like this more than I expected to, a piece of a period that I don’t mind revisiting.

I've already forgotten this, yawn.

What an annoying album - literally every song sounded the same. Soooo glad I listened to this one before dying. /s 4/10

I find this album rather ordinary. Not the worst thing ever, but nothing I'd want to go back to, either. Which leaves me with yet another “seriously?” thrown at the curators here for picking a second album from this band. Where I come from, this is called laziness.

I'm surprised that we would get two albums from the relatively unknown Beta Band in the same week. I found their Heroes to Zeroes from 2004 to be uninspired. This album features their best song IMO, Squares, but after that the rest of the album was similarly uninspired, mainly due to (as one of my colleagues commented) the lead vocalist's low key and boring delivery. We only have a few more albums before we've completed 1,001 and I think we're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel now.

A real snooze-fest. Like many aspiring hipsters I grabbed a copy of The 3 EPs on the back of music paper hype, and was sorely disappointed apart from about 3 tracks. Looks like their later career followed a similar pattern. Steve Mason's voice gets pretty annoying with so little going on behind it. Nevertheless, I am glad we got this as it clears up a Mandela Effect for me: I remember a decent tune that sampled "Daydream" around 2001, much better than "Squares" on here but I've never cared enough to dig further. Turns out it was I Monster's "Daydream In Blue", and is far superior! Furthermore, the ubiquitous "Ike's Rap II" sample underpinning seemingly half of contemporary music was originally inspired by the Wallace Collection original. Fun fact: the actual Wallace Collection is in Manchester Square, London - opposite the EMI building that framed the famous Beatles Red/Blue photos and hosted the stockroom from whence my 3 EPs copy was swiped. Time is a flat circle, dude

Never heard of this. Who knows, maybe it was slightly ahead of it's time in 2001 but it sounds unremarkable and very un-listworthy today. I mean, it’s not bad. A bit quirky and a bit experimental, but not in ways that really do it for me. 2.5

Really not sure why this one is one here. I actually didn't mind it, and at times enjoyed it, but I just kept asking that question throughout. This list needs such an overhaul. And this album cover looks like someone made it in MS Paint.

#1 - Can't say that I hate it. It's pretty decent for an intro track. #2 - Okay. I think the running theme for me here is that there are some okayish tracks but nothing super stands out. Picked up for me toward the end of the song. #3 - Doesn't stand out/not anything special compared to the first two. #4 - Eh. Too downtempo for me. Didn't vibe with it. #5 - The vocals don't work well for parts. Instrumentals are good though and they're a welcome change from the last two songs. #6 - Another eh. #7 - Interesting parts, but.. yet another eh. #8 - A bit better, but not by much. #9 - The sum of this song is good. Weird. The repetitious lyrics toward the end works for them. #10 - No, not a fan. Despite some of the positives of the album, this is a straight 2. I can't give it a one because I enjoyed parts of it. This is a weird album to have on the list; I don't believe it should be. The curious thing about it is I would be okay with trying another album of theirs and giving them another fair shot, but this album really didn't do it for me.

Classic album.

Dang, this is still so good. I listened to this album A LOT when it was first released in 2001. At the time I was living in a nice apartment complex with a pretty good pool, and when I’d go swimming sometimes I would play this album on a little CD boombox I’d bring with me. For me this album does an amazing job of balancing all the different genres it draws inspiration from. If you like this album then I recommend you check out Lone Pigeon or The Aliens (and their album with the excellent title Astronomy For Dogs) which are offshoots of The Beta Band.

Fantastic. Mellow, rich, full, timeless. The cover art completely mislead me into thinking this was more trendy, something that wasn't going to hold up. It's pretty awesome.

Hot Shots II is one of those rare albums that sounds completely effortless while being quietly brilliant from start to finish. The Beta Band take their oddball experimentalism from earlier releases and rein it in just enough to deliver something far more focused, but still totally unique. It’s mellow, strange, soulful, and groovy in all the right ways—like Beck, if he’d grown up in Fife and spent more time inside his own head. Tracks like Squares, Human Being, and Gone blend woozy electronics, off-kilter beats, and warm, understated melodies into a sound that feels both handmade and futuristic. The pacing is spot on, drifting between hypnotic chill and low-key funk without ever losing its sense of cohesion. It’s rich in texture but never cluttered, with just the right amount of weirdness to keep things interesting without derailing the vibe. This is an album you fall into—an odd, soft-edged world that makes total sense once you’re inside it. There’s nothing quite like it, and few records from the early 2000s have aged so gracefully. Hot Shots II is not just the Beta Band’s best work—it’s a quietly perfect gem.

I totally love The Beta Band and think they have a timeless sound that blends trip hop and art rock. I think I'd probably more rate this more like a 4.5, but I'm gonna go 5 because I still frequently throw this album on, along with The Three E.P.s.

This is exactly my kind of thing somehow, I've listened to it 5 times today. And I've never heard of this band before. What a good discovery!

So glad I came across this. I loved it!

First time ever hearing this band and by extension album. The chill out music and vibe is cut with enough selections of samples, vocals and more to keep it from getting too sleepy and boring. Two songs were immediately put on my regular playlist. Glad for this recommendation.

I’ve had some many albums that are just shruggs on this list. 2 or 3 star unremarkable stuff. This was an absolute lock for this list.

Super cool grooves.

Grunge balladry is a new favourite

Gorgeous!

Discovering gems like this is my reason for participating in the 1001 albums project. Thank you once again for introducing me to an album I missed from a band I probably never would have heard otherwise. Great mellow indie psych rock. Beautiful harmonies, great instrumentation and just wonderful.

stellar scottish popping gold

The album cover is nothing like what I thought this was going to sound like. I love the beta band!

Really pleasant to listen to. Creative mix of genres and very melodic. Sometimes sounds close to My Morning Jacket mixed with electronic dance style.

10/10 wtf this is so good, how have I never heard of this before

This is a good vibe, not something I've heard before. I dig it.

I didn't expect to like this but it's really great!

LOVED this album. Very novel listening experience and even when the artistic choices were odd it was a lot of fun. The harmonies on Al Sharp slapped.

Wow wow wow! An album and group I'd never heard of, but it was simply music that I loved listening to today! No having to think about it or look for the artistry or look for the message or the relevance or whatever, but just really lovely stuff all around!

Something new and appealing to my ears! For about half the album I was enjoying it, but I wasn’t sure if it was a 5 or just a nice 4. Then it broke through.

Hooray! After a week of 2s and 3s, finally something that sings to me again! I guess I know the song Squares because of Six Feet Under? The rest was unfamiliar but I really dig this folktronica business. Listened twice and am tempted to start it once more. Really really good.

The Beta Band is new to me. The first time through I enjoyed a lot of this, but on the second listen its unique properties really started to blossom and I discovered many interesting moments that cohere well into very enjoyable music. Very good!

I don't know how I missed The Beta Band, but this is impressive. This is the first time I've wanted to dive into an artist further!

LOVED this one. Listened to it twice while I was in the kitchen. The vibe is very good, relaxed, but still interesting.

Is squares the origins of I fell asleep among the flowers for a couple of hours, or was that a sample here too? Regardless, smooth, fun, groovy, dancable, very cool.

I was thoroughly impressed with this, as I expected a very different sound, but the laid-back energy and downtempo drones here actually compliment each other quite well.

Maybe this is my NEW FORMS?

Excellent trippy sound. Definitely listen more and more

Hot Shots II has always been a favorite of mine. It's like a perfectly smooth surface with small intereting kinks and imperfections that become obvious the more you zoom in. I can easily listen to this one on repeat. Does it deserve a place on the list? It's a tough call but I do think there's something unique here, even compared to their contemporaries, like Beck, Four Tet, or Caribou.

One of the best live bands i've ever seen. at one point they had two drum kits being played by 4 people and it somehow sounded brilliant and nowhere near as ridiculous as the concept of 4 drummers on two kits sounds. i also saw the aliens headline the park stage at glasonbury and that was up there as one of my best festival gigs ever too. can't help but think they were in the wrong era, bands that do similar things to them these days appear to be much bigger than the beta band ever got to.

If anal fingering was a sport, this record would be the world champion.

I’d only really heard Dry the Rain, which is great of course, and I really enjoyed this one as well. More like Alpha Band, bruh!

I wasn’t familiar with this band and wasn’t particularly excited to listen to it. I’m glad I did. It was a really nice listen! I’d listen to more.

“I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band.”

Love this. Interesting sounds, great vocals, mad lyrics. We all love pizza.

very soothing! a little derivative for my tastes

Pretty good, pretty groovy. Didn't quite blow me away.

Off to a fine start with Squares, which samples/interpolates Daydream effectively into a breezy downtempo stomp. Really enjoy Broke. Bells and pulsing bass are very satisfying. Life is a late album standout -- really enjoyed the instrumental on its own with the warm luscious bass and tasteful use of that click sound (not sure what it is tbh). I'd say that this is one of those albums that I appreciate as a whole more than I do for its individual parts. I enjoyed the spacey atmosphere of this album and found it to make a very pleasant listen this morning. Vocals are solid and the instrumentals are all nicely produced. For me this is a solid enough 4.

Nice I remember liking the last Beta Band album. Need to go back and listen to that. This album again is sonically great. All over the place but feels cohesive as well. Weird music but good weird. These guys make way better music than album covers.

Like The Beach Boys but they're just too sunny? Try Beta Band! Like Beck but he's too much of a Scientologist? Try Beta Band! Like Alt-J but wish they were around 15 years earlier? Try Beta Band!

Different alternative, but chill.

Very cool album and band Id never heard of. Added to a playlist with Beck, LCD Soundsystem, etc.

the other album i heard from them Heroes to Zeros was probably the most boring album i've ever heard this is slightly less boring. i actually liked it. love the trip-hop influences that stuff always appeals to me

Two of the three songs I know from The Beta Band open this album, but I never thought to check out the rest. Really solid album. The tone is very mellow and intriguing, and the feel is almost psychedelic. Some parts of the album are a bit too repetitive and monotonous, but that just adds to the droning nature of it.

The Beta Band remind me of my days of skipping lectures to tour the second hand CD stores in search of a mental list of albums (a mixture of albums from bands I knew and liked, classic albums I hadn't heard but knew I "needed" in my collection, and hot albums I'd read about in NME). The Beta Band's 3 EPs was one that I searched for at length. I eventually found it for more than I wanted to pay, and with a damaged cover, but I was excited to add it to my collection. I couldn't tell you what it sounded like - that one was definitely more about the chase than the prize, and it never made it into regular rotation. I thought about it for the first time in years recently when I saw a question about EPs worthy of the list. This album reminds me of those simpler times. It's very "of it's time", but that's not a bad thing and it made me happy.

I don’t remember thinking this about them back in the day, but The Beta Band has some really pretty songs, like "Gone" and "Quiet." Maybe it has to do with frontman Steve Mason’s soothing and calming vocal style, like a quietly confident man in no hurry to convince you of anything and content to let his songs speak for him. But there's actually a lot to the music: slammin’ trip-hop beats, motorik rhythms, tasty basslines, cool electronic flourishes, nice harmonies and earworm refrains, all contained within engaging songs. It all adds up to a highly pleasant and enjoyable listening experience. FYI Allmusic calls this band “post-Britpop.”

This should have been a bigger part of my early-mid aughts experience when I had bands like Hot Chip in heavier rotation. I don't know how I missed it then, but I'm glad I heard it now. Good stuff!

I like this record. Not essential but a nice cross between trip hop and pop.

Such a uniquely and wonderfully weird band. Looking forward to see them on their current tour this fall.

This was my first time listening to The Beta Band, and after just one playthrough, I knew I had to download it and give it another spin. I was already familiar with Squares, which is a fantastic track, and I’m happy to say the rest of the album holds up well. It’s an easy, enjoyable listen with a laid-back vibe reminiscent of Gorillaz and MGMT — perfect for background listening. While it lacks a few standout moments, it’s consistently solid throughout. Favorite song: Squares — a great track. Least favorite: Honestly, every track earned its place on the album, but I wouldn’t have minded a couple more big hitters like Squares. Album artwork: Cool cover — though I’m still not sure what’s going on in the middle!

another one of those albums that ive never listened to in full but i recognize so many of these songs from tv shows, movies and car commercials

Like Gorillaz before Gorillaz existed. Solid album.

First discovered the Beta Band awhile ago with 'Dry the Rain' and 'Dog's Got a Bone', two great songs from their first album, but hadn't explored much beyond that. These songs are very much in the same vein - most are subdued and hypnotic at first but rising naturally over the course of the song to a satisfying crescendo. Mix that pattern with some pretty good hooks, creative sampling and just enough rhythmic variation and dynamic vocal layering and it adds up to a pretty unique sound. One of my favorite parts of this daily album review thing is it makes me more aware of my own biases, blind spots, hypocrisy etc. For example, I'm realizing now my stance on sampling is completely incoherent. Sometimes I say its lazy, sometimes I say it's derivative - but here I like the way songs sound so I'm saying it's totally fine, even innovative. Usually, I'm just making up intellectual, occasionally moral, justifications for whatever my ear happens to already like.

I first encountered The Beta Band back in like 2019 from a very strange documentary (the song was Its Not Too Beautiful from their first album IIRC -- apparently the band is famous for publicly hating their first album lol). Fast forward to 2025 and im hearing this... I felt like I was connecting a lot of dots on the first run. Im going to avoid talking about Squares (and yeah, that song is awesome, but its 100x more popular than the rest of the tracks). Al Sharp, Human Being are fantastic songs that sort of reset the mood after Squares. Really cool to see that Carole Fucking King was on Human being. Dragon picked up the slack from Gone. Loved the electronica sounds here. Things peak for me on Quiet. I don't know about y'all, but Im hearing this weird vocal harmony all over the place on this album -- stuff that I know Alt J does/did about 10 years ago where vocals stack on top of each other in weird cadences Also, apparently the Japanese version of this album featured a track that they wrote with Harry Nilsson. So cool 4 stars. Will definitely want a 3rd or 4th listen on this one. My one critique is that Gone sucked and that some songs were a tish too long.

I feel like my palate has been totally shot on Brit pop, so came into this with alot of anger toward the Verve. This ended up having so much more depth. Not quite tight enough to draw comparisons to Radiohead, but definitely Sounds of Alt-J, Django Django, or Thom Yorke solo stuff - dark blend of electronic and acoustic. The lyrics weren't great - Eclipse is kind of terrible or trying to be funny, such a weird ending? - and felt like some of the songs kind of flat-lined on a single idea, but the ideas were at least worth dwelling on for a bit. AI Sharp, Human Being, Gone, Broke - this whole thing really rewarded a repeat listen. I feel like every song had a section where I was like "this band kind of sucks", followed immediately a section where I needed to stop working and listen more closely. Kind of disorienting but pretty cool at the same time. Haven't really listened to Alt-J or Django Django in a long time - might dial them up today.

If you like accordion over drum machines then you'll probably like this. Definitely held my interest, kinda like a better Beck without the rapping lol

Very nice!

A pleasant surprise. Didn’t know the band by name but starting listening and went “oh, this song!” Broke was my favorite track.

Dreamy, experimental alt-pop. Lyrics are as silly as the cover art, but a great listening experience all the same.

I enjoyed bits of this but I do feel like this another band with solid musicianship trapped in the apparent need to have mediocre vocals smashing through everything. This about the time when some instrumental works became commercially successful so I'd have been keen for them to try that on for a track or two. My last rating was a "4 nearly a 5", this is definitely a "4 nearly a 3". What's this about not wanting to be on your own with a book?!

Mellow as.

Interesting

Doesn't contain any of the big hits, but still has some good moments, like the opening of 'Life' which is menacing and lyrically original.

Had absolutely no idea what to expect and am glad to say that I really enjoyed it. Varied but focused and fantastically produced. Another one I never would've checked out and plan on revisiting.

Okay, I love this. Why have I not ever listened to them?

Album 1035 for me, which also means album art 1035. This has to be the biggest mismatch on the list. You can't really argue this is spacy and for sure nothing explodes, or is bedazzled for that matter. Anyway, good album, never heard of them before, would listen again. Deserves to be on the list more than some other albums I've listened to, and I'm glad to have been exposed to it, but not making the revised list is also not unreasonable.

One digs records that mix an off-kilter, even outre, vibe with supreme listening ease and imminent diggability. This is such a record. All the cuts work well enough, but "Squares" and "Alleged" and "Eclipse" are one's faves.

Hot Shots II is a well crafted album and a fun, interesting listen. Had to listen to this one twice, and it was even better the second time through. A lot going on musically, especially in the background. Beta Band is hands down the best unheard of act on the 1001 List to date. Beckish! (4.7*s)

I don't love the band name (and let's not talk about the album name or the cover art) but this was a surprisingly good listen. I dig the groove sound, it's a unique blend of folk and electronica which I think is hard to do. A lot of the tracks were really catchy, I actually knew the first song "Squares" but not sure where from. I liked this enough to listen through a few times and check out some of their other work. The list provides again. I'm very into atmospheric, ambient rock so this was def up my alley. A few tracks left me wishing they pushed it to third gear but still very satisfied with the album (and more-so with the discovery). Of course there are people who won't like this "so no pizza for them." 3.5 for the grungy acid house Scots.

Looked up my rating of the other Beta Band album we've had and was surprised I went with '2 stars - the boring band' because i really liked this one

I agree with everything Sean said (getting lazy in my reviews).

Dare I say that after three listens yesterday, I really enjoyed this. McCartney style vocals, experimental millennium sounds, spacy guitar layers. The recipe for this cup of tea worked for me.

Fav song: Eclipse Reminds me SO much of Hot Chip who are one of my favourite bands so naturally I loved this album. Fantastic from start to finish - but sometimes gets lost in the sauce.

Repetitive but in all the right ways. Mumble rock for the win.