So Much For The City

Well. This is indie but not very remarkable. I liked the music OK and thought it was creative. But the lead vocals had a whine-y quality to them that didn't endear me to The Thrills. And there was a little bit too much harmonica (read: I think it was only in one song). As a side note, how many songs can you have about specific locations on your album? Overkill, and unimpressed.

A very sleepy album. There wasn't really anything downright bad about it, but it wasn't remarkable, either. This slow folky indie music is okay for background music at best.

Pleasant enough songs, but not a lot to go back for.

Cheesy noughties indie pop. Country/Americana knock off. The singers voice irks me. I wish this album was that far.

Pleasant to a fault. It just seems so trite and inconsequential. After a long day I just wanted to listen to something good and this just somehow made it worse.

A band explicitly identified as paying homage to another era better be fucking good to be on this list. Otherwise why not just take an album from the era worth homage? There are some kind of proto hypnagogic pop but these are buried under contemporary pop sensibilities and don't result in any good hauntological vibes. Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far) starts with a kind of Beatlesy pop number with uninspired lyrics. Big Sur continues the Calinfornia themin' and banjo parts as well as generic lyrics. There's a kind of fun doo-wop link between verses but that's all they have. Don't Steal Our Sun has a nice steel guitar bit against a kind of Franz Ferdinand rythym track. Probably one of the better tracks. Deckchairs and Cigarettes is a lament rendered meaningless by all-too-smooth vocals. One Horse Town is again a surf-country number with a fun rythym let down by boring lyrics. There really isn't much more to say about the album, it continues down the line of mediocre slow songs and fun up-beat songs let down by tepid songwriting. The only song worth calling out is Say It Ain't So for being a favourite of George W. Bush. The only redeeming quality of this album is the beautiful production, mixing and arrangement which give the album the feeling of a Beach Boys HD remaster. If the authors were really intent on something 60s inspired for this decade they could have chosen an Ariel Pink's Huanted Graffiti album, at least then there would have been some good lyrics.

2.5 didn’t like it but wasn’t as bad as I first thought

Vaguely recognised the cover … checked my collection and found that I own it. Have no recollection of buying it. It was OK but not very inspiring.

Wilco on the sunny side of life. It’s palatable enough, but nothing really groundbreaking here for me. The whole album kind of washed over me. It did make me want to go to California though.

4/10

Unfortunately I really was irritated by the voice. It didn’t blend with any of the music in my opinion and it made it really hard to listen positively. The voice was mellow, boring, and monotone and the music couldn’t make up for its lack of interesting aspects.

Nice little early 2000s indie pop music - in general I like indie but on this album, after a few songs all the others sounded the same, the last few ones even more boring than the first ones. I'm certain this album was only included in the first edition of the 1001 Albums book in the mid-2000s, and then it was dropped afterwards. 5/10, or 2.5 stars.

County Leitrim (You’re Not That Far). An album of chemically pure mediocrity.

Kind of went in one hear and out the other honestly

First song i thing: uah its a very happy cool indie band. Second sound: WTF annoying is this?

Don’t Steal Our Sun is an ok track. The rest of the songs are boring. The band is decent but the album is bland and unoriginal. They tried way too hard to be commercial.

Its not BAD music , but it sort of pissed me off.

++: Don't Steal Our Sun, 'Til the Tide Creeps In / Plans +: Deckchairs and Cigarettes, One Horse Town, Say It Ain't So +-: Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far), Old Friends, New Lovers, Hollywood Kids, Just Travelling Through, Your Love Is Like Las Vegas -: Big Sur 5,0/10

Seems like it would be an album I enjoy but just didn’t really. It’s like it was trying to be something it wasn’t. Pee also poo

This is fine. It's very 2003 indie. I did vaguely enjoy it, but once you've heard 3 or 4 songs you've heard them all. The guy's voice kinda reminds me of Ben Gibbard at times. Lots of talk about California which is neither here nor there. 5/10

We get it you live in California

Not bad just not my type of music

32/1001 So Much For The City seems like a fine indierock/pop record, but without much character or charm to it. Honestly, just a bit too lo-fi and underbaked. The best track was ‘Til The Tide Creeps In, giving of a bit of the same vibe as Izzy Stradlin’s Shuffle It All, just wildly inferior. Sadly, there really isn’t much else going on here. 2,5/5

Generic and forgettable

Did not "thrill" me.

so much for this album. indie music has always been my thing and i was excited for this and then realised i’ve heard a couple songs before but it’s so insignificant. the actual music is quite nice, but this was so boring.

Este disco lo habría disfrutado hace 20 años cuando salió, pero me ha parecido un peñazo incluso su hit: Big Sur.

The Good: Finally an album which is all about camping… The Bad: Oh, wait, it’s not about camping… The Ugly: So why are they sitting outside, with an RV? Guilty pleasure… that’s what comes to mind. Never really heard of The Thrills before, and when the first tune started playing I was wondering what all the real cowboys would think about their musical style being redone in falsetto… I mean, seriously? Then you read about the band, and find out that they are Irish, which explains a ton, because I seriously doubt an American group would have the balls to do what The Thrills have done, which is to gentrify the country… All of a sudden you find yourself starting to hum “Everybody’s Got To Have Plans…” and you curse those thrill-seeking bastards, sitting all glum outside of their RV, hiding songs in a 10-minute track which we’ll never listen to again... On my second listen, I realized that if the singer would have been Jakob Dylan, this would have been an awesome album, easily 4*... So, hitting this straight down the middle of a guilty-pleasure that I don’t want to admit to… 3* - 1* for the annoyance factor...

what is even going on here i hate the singer and i'm just confused

Not very thrilling. Not my cup of tea - the guys singing style is pretty irritating.

Second rate Americana and surf rock from some lads who’ve only lived it second hand.

Am I disappointed in this album or in this site?

Irish band whose music was described as 'sunny' - because they moved to San Diego in the early 2000s and made this album there :) I didn't really know this band before - they sound tight, solid. This guy's voice immediately reminded me of the Flaming Lips and J.Mascis / Dinosaur Jr., who were both incidentally significant and influential bands at the time (funny that!) at times too pop and too whispery for me but not a bad listen - just not something I will go back to

I mean. Lots of good influences are apparent. Nicely played arrangements, tasteful arrangements. A little bit of fun. Decent enough. There's nothing inherently wrong. But what heck is it doing on this list. Seriously?

This guy has a terrible voice and the lyrics are all a bit trite. The ideas are not there to sustain songs longer than like three minutes.

Starts off with two great tracks but then sadly dwindles out from there

I was not thrilled. Couldn't even pick a best song cause the guys vocals were so boring. I guess it's competently made and inoffensive so I'll give it a 2. Disappointed because they're Irish.

Not so much thrills

Never heard this before, wrote a review when I was pissed. Apart from the typos my sober review concurs; jingly-jangly nonsense

Instantly forgettable. Modern sop in 4-4.

This is, ironically, some of the least thrilling music I've ever heard. It doesn't sound awful, but it's far from good.

A vibrant guitar And a little twang tries to But can’t save this band

Didn't do much for me. Kind of reminded me of a much less interesting version of Grandaddy. Nothing on here I'd really want to revisit.

There's parts of this I like that sorta remind me of Flaming Lips or something. But overall it feels like it's trying to ply on nostalgia and I'm not a big fan of that. Ultimately forgettable. 2.49/5

I didn't enjoy this

we have had to listen to a lot of forgettable music on this list but this 1 might take the cake

forgettable

Annoying over the top fake American accents in songs that sound like theme tunes for twee US teen sitcoms. No thanks

Good for a bit, but ultimately boring. Why does he sing like that?

Whoa, these Flaming Lips-adjacent vocals are like nails on a chalkboard. The songs themselves are well-played, but somewhat boring. Also, why don’t these guys just move to California already instead of writing ten songs-worth of straight fomo? Cringy.

Whoever told him that he could sing deserves to be shot Other than that it's pretty sub-par indie rock

Best Song: Big Sur. Short and punchy, and occurred early enough in the album that the vocals hadn't yet worn me down. Worst Song: Til The Tide Creeps In. Hiding stuff at the end of an album is mostly annoying. Here is is annoying. Overall: It feels like this album might have gone on to influence more modern indie groups that I do like, but I didn't really enjoy this. Lyrically it was that kind of played-out earnest honesty, but it was really difficult to get past the severely nasally vocals.

Irish Indie

Erm. What? Hey. This isn't bad at all. The singles were overplayed to hell then, but I haven't heard them for 20 years and they're lovely. Bouncing Supertramp basslines. Notes of Teenage Fanclub, High Llamas. Possibly the injection of sunshine I needed on the day America elected to crap itself publicly once again. I never cared enough to find out that the band isn't actually American, which means that excessively hokey Wayne Coyne ish accent and singing voice is put on. Which definitely becomes annoying long before the end of this short album. It's front-loaded for sure and pretty much all the second half of it it is below average.

Another one of those albums where i question why it is in the list. It’s ok but boringly early 2000s indie

I'm bored

Never heard of the guys before, despite their ‘Beach Boys-meet-Wilco’ sound and vibe. I love the lead singers voice and tone, but everything else is pretty pedestrian. The Thrills is gone for me.

Ei oikein sopinut kuunteluhetken tilanteeseen. Ei jäänyt käteen muuta kuin basic doable

Fluffy nonsense.

Completely unremarkable

I really can't remember whether I listened to this. So, that's telling, right?

Big Sur is nog nice, maar daar stopt het ook. Voor de rest saaie indiepop, meh. 2.4

Man, getting Sgt Pepper's, Rumours, Eno's Music For Airports, and Pet Sounds in a row (not to mention Prince's Purple Rain and Nas' Illmatic the previous week) spoilt me and made me forget how mediocre most of the list actually is. This is not totally irredeemable - I enjoyed it for its first two tracks - but the combination of the nasal voice and juvenile love lyrics just sounds stupid after a while, though in a ho-hum rather than offensive way.

Last night, my dad asked if I liked this album. I knew I had listened to it but it was so unmemorable I had to fib and say yes. I just realized I didn’t have to fib- I could’ve said I don’t remember. I was blindsided. I relistened to it this morning and I would agree with myself- it’s unmemorable. Not bad though.

It's not that it's necessarily bad, but what makes this list worthy over so many other things? Ugh I've said this same thing very recently haven't I.

Hmmm I’m kinda bored! It’s not bad I’m just not hooked.

I remember that I wasn’t much of a fan of this band when they came out and the passing of time has not changed my mind.

This is flagrant deceptive advertising. Calling your band 'The Thrills' and playing music like this is mean-spirited and hateful. I'm sure you're sitting in a corner laughing at all of us who were expecting something exciting and raucous. Shame on you!

The opener, “Santa Cruz,” is a 3 min song stretched to 4 min. But it gave me more time to wonder what was up with this singer’s voice? It was weird… I couldn’t place quite what it was. Then I looked the band up and found that they’re Irish. With the first two tracks on the album about California. An Irishman trying to sing with an American accent and sound like the Beach Boys? A breathier Beach Boys. I remember “Big Sur.” I think it was used on the show “The O.C.” “Deckchairs” is about California too!? I don’t know what the rest was about. I wasn’t thrilled.

First listen. Ok meh.

sounds like sunshine, dreamy wistful West Coast pop, with strong harmonies, jangling guitars, big arrangements - but, sadly, largely insubstantial and forgettable

i remembered liking this when it came out but not any more

meh

Alright enough. Don't care to listen to again.

The CW's wet dream. Jesus Christ.

weird country blink-182 midwest emo vibes and i can’t stand the breathiness

I liked the music but the vocals were too whispery for me

I was promised thrills and there were none, not cool

Uninteresting. Boring. After listening to 3 tracks, I didn't feel like wasting any more time with the album. 2/5

2.5 music was alright but couldn’t stand the guys voice

It starts off reasonably but turns out to be an uneventful affair.

Day242 - this was hard to listen to. it’s like the american version of whiny brit-pop

A lukewarm pop rock record. Not much going on for me (2.5/5)

Only found out that The Thrills are from Dublin a couple of years ago, couldn't believe it. They lean into the Californian schtick harder than the beach boys. Wanting to make this sort of music is fair enough, singing in an affected American accent is a bit silly but fine, but constantly singing about Santa Cruz, Big Sur, San Diego, ridiculous. Fake tales of San Francisco is spot on for the Thrills. Taking the album at face value, I like the singles enough, a nice addition to a summer barbecue playlist I'd say. A whole albums worth of it is bit testing though, another band that should be an EP I think. I'd say 2.5 but closer to a 2.

I don't mind the US inspiration - would have sworn they were American - but it is all just a bit dull. One of George W. Bush's favourite songs is Say It Ain't So; potentially the best song on the album. Completely passed me by first time around, no interest in listening to it again.

They've listened to some Crosby Stills and Nash and read some Kerouac and they want you to know it! CSN did nothing for me first time round. Even less reheated here. It sounds expensive , but for the cost it could've been much more interesting. Nice harmonies though...

I got kind of sick of hearing the exact same song structure three songs in a row. Luckily, the fourth song was the exact same song structure, just slowed down a little bit. Then they blew my mind a little later by having the exact same song structure, just sped up a little bit! What a ride. 2.5 stars

Ma! Sean forgot to flush the toilet again. etc

I would rate this 2.5 if I could. It's not bad, but it doesn't quite meet the expectations of an above average album for me

This is no doubt the most overtold joke in rating this group, but I was NOT thrilled. In their best songs they sound a little like they're trying to be the Beach Boys . . . if the Beach Boys had been boring and predictable.

okayish

I understand their intention with this record – music that could lift them out of their mundane reality. however, I can't say it fully comes through in the album, as a lot of the songs just are whiny, filled with banal lyrics and superficial nostalgia. so all in all, it actually ends up being a bit of a downer

This is better country than 90% of the crap coming out of the US in the past 20 years. It's good. But I didn't like it.

Fairly tepid 60s throwback. Another album to ponder why is it on this list? 2.5*

Well the streak had to end sometime. I don't care if Say It Ain't So was on George W Bush's iPod, this album didn't need to be on this list.

Love following an epic Joan Baez debut with some humdrum boring rock. Were this released like 20-30 years earlier I could see the appeal, but it's just not pushing anything in any direction. So middle of the road that it's off the road and on the median. Replace this immediately. Favorite tracks: Don't Steal Our Sun. Album art: Just a bunch of people sitting in a field, filled with ennui. Framing is fine, everything is just fine. I'm unmoved. 2.5/5

Not impressed.

High 2. Not bad but but I’d never listen again. A little repetitive

2.5 stars. A lot of Cali regencies that made me do the Leo meme but it wasn’t great

Indie rock. Lento. Rollo. Un 2.

I'm sure it was intentional, but this sounds like an album from the 60's, so...no thank you. This was hard for me to get through. I don't think it's objectively bad, so it probably doesn't deserve a 1, but it's darn close. 1.5

I am so sorry for this, it pains me to make a pun here, it does, but, the thrill is gone my friend. The Thrill is gone.

While I’ve never heard this album before, there’s nothing particularly unique about them. Sorta standard indie rock infused with Britpop that was released just as that style was starting to fade from popularity.

Pourquoi tant d'albums indie avec des chanteurs qui sonnent comme s'ils baillaient tout le long ? Quoiqu'il en soit je ne comprends aucunement l'inclusion de cet album. Je ne trouve pas que ça vient rien révolutionner dans aucun des styles que ça incorpore dans son son. Y a-t-il tant de monde qui a écouté ça en dehors du UK et de l'Irlande ? 4/10

mid but sorta nice,

Took a while to get used to the singer. Some of the songs were ok but I got tired of it by the end. A hard rate for me.

When it started I thought it sound quite listenable but after a while the vocals made all the tracks sound the same. 2*

Pretty average and his voice really grated on me. I don’t think anyone really *needs* to hear this one.

"The song "Say It Ain't So" appeared on US President George W. Bush's iPod in 2005." Is the funniest possible thing to have in your Legacy section on Wikipedia. Singer's doing his best Flaming Lips impression, while the rest of the band are doing their worst Beach Boys impression. Wouldn't even belong on a 10001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list, but I guess it's not bad or anything. Just incredibly, incredibly average.

So much for interesting music. It's OK, but it didn’t move me.

Another one for my list of "not sure why this is on the 1,001". It's fine in areas and consistent enough but I don't see anything special here.

The stereo mixing is really good. I kind of wish the tracks stuck to being just under 3:00 minutes.I say this because Deckchairs and Cigarettes got tired for me. The formula that's been mentioned of Phil Spector, Beech Boys Neil Young seems apt. This album probably would have got it's hooks into me had I listened to it in my younger days. But nothing really popped for me, or felt special. I'm going to name drop a couple canadians here: Thrush Hermit, Joel Plaskett, Sloan, The Inbreds

According to 23andme I am 93% irish and yet this is not my jam

Not my kind of music

Not sure why this is in the list.

Not great. Not a lot interesting overall and no real individual songs to redeem it.

Remarkably unremarkable

Jeez, the opening song “Santa Cruz (You’re Not That Far)” is so repetitive. A lot of these songs repeat themselves without introducing new ideas. The hooks and choruses aren’t that great to begin with and definitely don’t justify the endless refrains. I don’t like the lead singer’s voice. Soft-spoken, high-pitched and raspy? A lot of his singing sounds flat.

Track 1 started on a whimper and I was admittedly a little bored but thankfully it only lasted about 30 seconds and then it started to go somewhere after. From there on I expected a little more and ultimately had the hardest time with the singer's voice. It's just so soft and hard to sit and enjoy without hearing how much it stands out from the rest of the band. 2.4/5

I almost bailed after the dude repeated Santa Cruz a thousand times. Apparently they felt the same way as someone shouted “End it!” At the end of the song. This kind of sounded like not-as-good Death Cab (maybe just the dudes voice). Man, don’t steal our Sun also annoyed me. Maybe it was the doo-wap sounding harmonies. Sounded like a mentos commercial. Man, I really did not enjoy this.

плохого вроде нет хорошего особо тоже Прям супер проходной альбом Алкоальбом: 1 euro beer

this wasnt horrible but i didnt love it. like a weird irish elliot smith indie rock band? i dunno. not my cup of tea.

2/5 - whiny and uninspired

very basic american pop band sound.

Gentle indie of its era.

What are these Dubliners doing singing about the US West Coast like this? They must have had an enjoyable long vacation to SoCal. The Beach Boys fingerprints all over this album are undeniable, and I'm not picking up on any Irish accents here. It's fine, I guess, but it feels a little strange to me. Is this how the English or Irish feel when we sing with their accents? I wish I'd skipped the Wikipedia entry before my listen so I could be really surprised. When the album started and I heard the vocal delivery I said "Oh, no" softly, out loud, to myself--there be precious 2000s indie ahead. I wasn't wrong. I'll give them props for the varied instrumentals and sweet melodies, but the 60s pastiche is difficult to ignore. The Monkees reference in the second track made me roll my eyes, especially when they doubled down with "People said you monkeyed around." Yuck. I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this joke, but they could've used a different band name. Highlights: One Horse Town, Hollywood Kids

Whiney and difficult to listen to. Most of the songs on here sound the same - boring, whiney, and generic.

5/10

I quite enjoyed this at the beginning - a tribute act to the Beach Boys with the harmonies and the constant California references, but with a bit more of a rocky sound. I knew Big Sur and Don't Steal Our Sun before, but the first few tracks are pretty good. Once you get past One Horse Town, it completely fades away, which is a bit of a shame. Nothing worth listening to really after that, which drags this album down to yet another 2. Highest 2 in a while, but that's not saying much.

Quite boring actually. Big Sur is a good song

Liked it at the time, seems a bit derivative in retrospect

It’s as close as good as you can get while still being bad and boring

The accompaniment is great, the production is wonderful, the harmonies emmaculate. But the lead singer makes me want to strangle someone. So breathy and pitch-for-shit, such weird pronunciation. It sucks, he sucks, and I can't listen to this album even though I want to. 2.0

Der var et par sange her jeg synes var rigtig gode, og jeg kunne ret godt lide vokalerne, de gav Wayne Coyne vibes (sorry Sandra!). Instrumentationen var en lidt akavet blanding af folksy og indie som jeg ikke synes helt virkede. Sååhh ja, det var fint, men helt uklart for mig hvad faen det laver på den her liste

Fin nok plade og kender andet der også lyder lidt henad mod det her, men godt nok ikke essentielt..

Another on I'm not sure how it got on the list. I liked the singles when they were released but after they're out the way the album is very one note

Very distinct sound... To the point that I can't tell one song from another.

Funcionou bem como música agradável como sendo som de fundo. Só que não tem nada de relevante na minha percepção.

I feel like in theory I should’ve really liked this, but I just really really cannot stand this guys voice. It’s soooo annoying

Having a hard time putting into words why I don't like this album. It sounded kind of like a less interesting Plain White Tees or Relient K. The breathy vocals put me off as well.

Just so indie bleagh 1.7

Good news: The 2018 version of the book no longer contains this album, so it must've been eliminated somwhere along the way. This record is proof of a problem with some post-2000s inclusions in these 1001 albums. Maybe it was added for being culturally relevant at the time, for being a light, summery indie record fit for the early 00s, but what about it? Twenty-one years later and it has barely made a ripple in the grander scheme of 2000s records, much less in the entirety of post-Y2K music. I don't mean to say that every record included here should have some immense impact on pop culture, but I can think of other titles from the early 2000s that deserve a place on this list over this. That's more of commentary for this entire collection though, so to go back to my thoughts on this album, I'll just say this: it's light and sweet but ultimately very meh.

could i write poetry to this? n

Nothing thrilling here. Pretty middle-of-the-road Adult-Oriented-Rock. Not sure what could be so essential about it. I wonder if they ever toured with The Waterboys. That would be a double-bill I'd be happy to skip. Loses a half-star for having more references to California than an average Red Hot Chili Peppers album.

Not offensively bad, just boring

It's . . . fine. I just got bored and forgot it was on. Which is more of a 'me' thing, but still.

Meh

So Much for the City First thing that struck me was his singing accent, the weirdly exaggerated rotic sounds. Actually quite off putting. Santa Cruz is a pretty nice bit of west coast countrified pop with nice harmonies. Big Sur is a superior version of the same thing. One Horse Town is very good, a nice melody with some great little hooks and moments. The highlight for me. I liked Say it ain’t So too. However the 3 or so good songs, and the harmonies and country touches can’t quite cover up that this is a bit boring. Plenty of MOR is great, well written and well structured pop music and some MOR is dull, where you feel the only ambition was to write something inoffensive and nice. This definitely feels too much in the latter camp to me. Songs like Big Sur and One Horse Town are clearly superior, but the rest never quite lifts off or gets out of the ‘nice’ zone, mainly as the melodies aren’t that strong, and I get a sense of them cosplaying being west coast country pop band, which is probably why the playing lacks a bit of swing and dynamism for me. It’s somewhere between a 2 and 3 but the more I listened the more shallow and ersatz this started to feel. Perhaps it’s the earnestness in recreating a type of music so faithfully that it becomes a bit insipid. I don’t have any issue with anyone from anywhere playing any type of music from anywhere, but there just seems something a bit unreal about a lot of this, almost like it’s AI. All the elements have been inputted but the output is slightly off in an undefinable way. ⭐️⭐️

It's a bit too radio-friendly vanilla for me

This whole album feels like a cheap, imitation, gas-station knockoff of real Americana. I get that they loved their time in Cali but it all just comes off so fake. I can only imagine that Irish listeners ate it up for the same reasons Americans love an "authentic Irish pub" here in the US. They haven't experienced the real thing and don't know better.

don't like this guys voice. so-so songs though

I hate his voice. I remember Big Sur being flogged on 3J in 2002/3.

Langweilig.

This kind of music I guess isn't just my thing, I did like the first song (\"Santa Cruz\") but then I lost interest. On a positive note, completely new discovery for me

I can not imagine telling a friend they have to listen to this record. It does nothing of note. And the vocals are awful. It gets a 2 because it didn't make me turn it off.

Not much depth or variance, a real malaise. Why did I have to listen?

Kind of bland but not terrible. At times sounds like The Flaming Lips at home. Not sure "Thrills" is the right name for this group lol

Pretty bland.

Just not much here…not that the songs are bad but nothing that stood out to me as something that is a must listen before I die.

Good background music but there is nothing special to be found here

Another Beach Boys wannabes

Too light and poppy. Marshmallows and lollipops. Had to stop

Grandaddy mixed with The Beach Boys. Not nearly as interesting to me though. This was a hard one to get through for some reason. It’s like cheap indie psych rock. Looked up a live performance and was even more disappointed. Eh it’s okay

Indie pop rock with a misleading name. I knew from the first song that this wouldn't be for me.

It was like nails on a chalkboard.

Nett, 60er Jahre kalifornischer Gitarrenpop aus Irland, ob es unter die Top 1000 gehört, nee, gewiss nicht.

It’s fine Santa Cruz and big sur are great songs But it’s far too slight to really warrant a place on this list

Weak and annoying lead singer voice, decent melodies

Folk rock. Not quite my style. Boring.

In this list there are som amazing inderstandebal album and also som horrible but significant. But what i find most in this list are albums like these... not great, not really bad. Bland and sometimes boring. This is another one of those album and im only halfway through... so i guess here is another 2/5

Not really my style, just finished the album and already forgot about most of it.

Meh this was fine

Indie rock. Lento. Rollo. Un 2.

2.5

Pretty uneventful, nothing hooked me at all.

Okay, aber catch nicht

This was lacking some of the thrills for me was just kinda in the background.

An interesting album here. Hard to say if it’s good or not. The singer has a unique voice that reminds me of some modern alternative bands that I like but yet it doesn’t match the style of music with the instrumentals. The band itself is also interesting as they’re Irish but most of their songs are about California. Not really sure what to make of it. It was alright but just didn’t seem to mold together well. 5.4/10

Listened Before? No Vocals on Big Sur makes me think a lot of Flaming Lips. Not a bad comparison per se, but kind of a boring song imo. Deckchairs and Cigarettes is nice and spread out. Makes for a nice languid listen. As this album went on, I found myself getting less and less interested. Sure, the vocalist sounds a lot like the guy from Flaming Lips, but he never showed any real range and the instrumentals rarely engaged me. This is a middle of the pack album that doesn't do much for me. 2 / 5. Added to Library? No.

Not bad. Very early aughts.

meh. it's been real feast or famine on these album choices lately. not sure if this one survived more than one edition of the book but it's not interesting. just more nice enough indie music that doesn't really say anything (unless it's about california) and these guys are irish?? the lead singer sounds like the guy from drive-by truckers. what on earth. no more of this please favorites: santa cruz, big sur

If the feeling of "sitting on a porch on a crisp summer afternoon" was condensed to an album, this project wouldn't be too far off from it

Average music, bad vocals.

These guys heard the zombies and thought 'what if we do that but with less originality and slightly more annoying accents?'

So mundane. If you like this, I can understand why but there's absolutely no reason to heap praise on this as an essential album. It's just for fans of 2000's indie and nothing more than that.

The songs are kind of catchy and quaint but I was extremely sick of the lead singer's voice a few tracks in, which made it painful to finish the album. I think I could stand a song or two of this at a time, not the whole album.

The instrumentation is interesting. The singing voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Ditto for most Indie albums. No real standout tracks here to pick a favorite.

2.7 Irish India 00s rock

Twee.

Sounds very Alt not my style

I was halfway through the album when I realized I wasn't listening to one long song. This is completely forgettable.

O banjo foi muito inesperado. Parece um negócio da roça mas ao mesmo tempo é bom. Só que bem enjoativo

It was okay

Soort van afkooksel van Flaming Lips, maar minder goed. Niet echt overtuigd van dit album

2.5

It's okay, just didn't interest me very much.

Nicht meins

Not much of a thrill. Did like the album art though.

Decent oul album. Up the irish

schrott

Un disc del seu espai i temps. Seria com posar a la llista algun treball de Kula Shaker o The Jeevas. Al seu moment estaven a l'oïda de tothom, però ara ja ningú se'n recorda. En el cas de The Thrills, melodies pop retro buscant una certa modernitat, i amb algun moment afortunat com 'One Horse Town'

Pretty boring but perfectly fine background music

Ik had hier meer van verwacht. Big Sur vind ik een leuk liedje maar een heel album van dit soort trage tegen het zeverige-aan muziek is echt too much to take.

This album put me to sleep.

Too country sounding for me.

Meh. 2/5

Känns som en medioker poänglös blandning av en massa bra band Say it aint so är banger men låter som en total ripoff av något idk vad.. semi många andra lät också som ripoffs av bra låtar

Chill time and easy-going...

No reason at all to listen to this over literally any other early-00's Indie band. So much for essential albums...

tão ruim quanto eu lembrava que fosse pqp vsf

This is wet salty garbage.

Induces the same kind of rage that Arcade Fire does. Utter bullshit.

What the fuck is this shit? Pure trash.

UGH. nare stem, ongeïnspireerde muziek

Very lame and annoying. This is like a tutorial on how to live in the 70s after entering 21st century. I like vintage sounding records, but change something or at least make the songs sound good.

Braucht niemand

Bland, cutesy music for pre-pubescent girls

Completely unthrilling

The fact that one of these songs appeared on GWB’s iPod is not a ringing endorsement. But this is pretty shit all on its own. Cheesy, empty, boring, twangy, harmonicas…. Yeah, I’m not into this. Is this an Irish band singing about California? Oh fuck this sucks.

Not for me this one

Thoroughly annoying album. Reminds me a lot of several artists I do like (Grandaddy, Flaming Lips, The Feeling etc) but the songs are uninteresting, the vocals monotone and the bands name a misnomer. Don't see any reason this album could be seen as interesting or inspiring enough to make this list. 1/10

I don't know what it is, but I lothed every second of this album

Another one that baffles the mind. In no way is this a record anyone needs to hear

Maybe I would like this if it weren’t for it being on the list…. bc it’s not worthy of any top 1000 compilation. Bland and forgettable beach boy rip off

I was surprised that this is an Irish band. I was even more surprised it made it on the list.

Det var inget för mig.. visste inte att irländare som sjöng med en amerikansk dialekt mer lät som en grov west country dialekt på amerikansk engelska. Samtidigt hans hesa röst irriterar mig

Sounds to me like a generic college indie band that shouldn't be on this list.

When I worked at a Suburban plaza pub in my early 20s I used to stay well after close to help the bartender close the place. She’d fill me with half pints as I wandered through the jukebox looking for music to accompany us. This was one of the albums I found and I was obsessed with the song Deckchairs and Cigarettes. I played that song multiple times every night (along with Ooooh Child by the 5 stairsteps and Hey Mama by Tupac). As time went on I forgot the name of this band and the song but I remembered the feeling I had and how important a part this song was in this part of my life. Imagine my surprise when the album came up on this list and imagine my utter horror at how much this album sucks. More British boys I’m America face. Ugh.

The band needs to change their name cause this debut was anything but thrilling. Pretty much everything about this album was dull. I compare it to a room temperature plate of buttered spaghetti. Conor Deasy has a voice that makes you cringe...so wimpy and off-putting. I'm happy the team is uplifted by the content they created on a trip to the west but they should have stayed in old Eire. This was a complete flop from the list for me from beginning to end...even all the way to the secret song. These jabronies should be pumping gas. A song from this record even showed up on Dubya's playlist...is that cool? So much for the shitty...1.07 stars.

Not sure why a bunch of Irish indie-pop boys are singing about California towns but to each their own I guess. Maybe someone else can draw some inspiration from the subject matter but I was mostly annoyed by the whole thing. Despite the softer approach something about the vocal style was really grating and irritating. Almost like if someone was intentionally doing a bad impression of someone to get a rise out of them or something. When said and done this album came off as a bunch of lame sappy ballads. At only 45 minutes this was a surprising struggle. Not thrilled in any way. 1.27 stars

Don't remember anything but that it was innocuous the next day.

so i can't beat ana's review which is hilariously on point about how awful this list is and about how nothing this album is, but i can attempt to give a californian perspective because this album is just ridiculous. it is literally just the the band singing about their trip to california. it's embarrassing to hear in a way of like "dude, just relax" if that makes sense. they visit one time and record a whole album about how much they love and miss the concept of california. i'm tugging at my collar. it's a little over-familiar to say the least. absolute drek. get a job. stay away from her (california)!

i definitely don’t hate it and it’s got some good moments but they can’t rlly put together a great song, i definitely don’t think it’s deserving of a place on here

What a terrible pick for my last 1001 album. I would usually give this a 2 but I'm so sad they get this 1.

Never heard of these geezers. How can this be top 1001 albums of all time when I haven’t got half a clue who they are? Santa Cruz (You’re not that far): His voice is shithouse. Are you American or Irish you git? This song has left such a bad taste in my mouth, not even gonna bother with ranking the rest of the album.. Big Sur: Don’t steal our sun: Deck chairs and cigarettes: One horse town: Old friends new lovers: Say it ain’t so: Hollywood kids: Just travelling through: Your love is like Las Vegas: Til the tide creeps in:

So, basically it's competently played and performed. I don't mind a weak or lazy vocalist, but this goes beyond that. A put-on American drawl? I hate that. The constant geographical signposting? Competent as the playing is, the lyrics, instrumentation, and production all sound like a costume. Beach Boys. Jayhawks. Byrds. A Bob Ross painting of Laurel Canyon. I recognize "One Horse Town" from somewhere. Sounds like one of the less ingenious songs by Girls. First reaction was this is a benign 3-/2+, but I had to listen to it all and it just emphasizes its faults over and over. 1.5? Should absolutely not be on a list of 1001 must-listen albums. The note in Wikipedia, kinda sums it up: "The song "Say It Ain't So" appeared on US President George W. Bush's iPod in 2005."

Absolutely not

Total hipster indie rock. You can tell right from the cover. Not sure how many of these slow piano breakdowns I'll be able to take if the ones in the first track keep up. A few tracks in, and I might as well have turned this off after the first one. Pretty lame, high treble oughts hipster indie rock. Then there's the guy's whiney voice... anything but a Thrill, for sure. Not my thing, and why I ignored rock for like a decade starting in late 90s. I can picture exactly the type of bar that used to play shit like this. Then just when you think it's over there's a bonus track. Oh joy. 1/5

This album sucks. When the last song came on and it was 10 minutes long I wanted to kill myself. The hidden track was a jump scare and, predictably, sucked like the rest of this album.

convinced me to give it 1 star in under two seconds. instead of writing a bunch of shitty songs about California they should have used the recording budget on plane tickets. music: hated. (⌐■_■)

Shouldn’t a band called The Thrills be at least a little bit not boring

Not a fave

The more I listened to this the more I hated it. I couldn’t get behind the affect of the lead singer’s voice, every song sounded the same and not in a “sonically cohesive” way, and The Thrills somehow managed to make me hate the greatest instrument of all time (the tambourine). In theory this should’ve been right up my alley, if only for its wistful dreaming of the Californian coast but why you would choose to listen to this album over anything else is beyond me.

Not for me, sounded really thin

Boring, whiny, corny, honkytonk in a very cringe way. Wholly uninteresting. Very glad to have learned this album was dropped from updated editions of this list, no idea how it made it on in the first place

Man, this is wholly unnecessary. I wouldn’t even call this band flash in the pan, they may as well not existed. Why is this here?

this was terrible!

Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far) Big Sur

The first song had me thinking it might be okay but there was nothing here that really caught me. Just mediocre and not memorable

I find it no small coincidence that this album was released the same year as the Iraq War. I assume the CIA-funded research into torture resulted in this album. Further proof: The Thrills never released an album after the ending of the enhanced interrogation program. Coincidence? Probably. But this album sucks.

The Thrills, huh. Decidedly not delivering on the name (Yeah, I was champing at the bit to delivery that absolute ZINGER). Everything is great except for the weird whisper singing of the vocalist. I think the Eels are the only group that can get away with that. Every song just made me so mad because it was somehow tedious and time wasting to listen to this album. I felt a brief glimmer of hope at the very end both when the vocals started to speak up and when the track ended.

Boring

another piece of evidence that the irish are shit musicians. do not let the propaganda from big pub fool you

Musica para cayetanos (no hay nada mas que ver la portada) no soporté.

What have I done to deserve this bland, whiny, boring indie pop shite? And I like whiny indie pop.

This isa struggle for me, as I see very little value in there. I get mad, at the number of great records from other countries we could have had, instead of this very run of the mile 00's indie thing. Every song sounds the same, (and that sound is lame). It was really not for me, I listened to it, immediately forgot it, and I can't seem to think what people will like about this.

This one fell flat for me. I didn't dislike the album exactly, but it felt like a really surface-level understanding of a small corner of America that is masquerading as something more profound. The music itself is fine yet forgettable. I don't really understand why this one's on the list instead of a stronger Indie entry. Favorite track: "Big Sur" because it's funny that I got this just a few days after an album by The Monkees

Thoughts before listening: No idea. Looks like this is from the 00s so I'm going to guess its some sort of British indie rock band. Review: Yeah I guess I got it right. For some reason a bunch of their songs are about California? Weird subject matter for a Dublin-based band. Seems a little contrived quite frankly like they are trying to emulate the 70s California rock scene...or maybe just that band with the dude from Rushmore in it that did the theme song for the OC. Anyway, this is pretty bad. Not really sure why these guys are on here. 1-star

This was fine enough, but more than 20 years on I question how influential they were. And I have given some unknown bands on this list high scores, but they have to be something really special that I feel should be better known to get that. Not sound exactly like the Stereophonics, Travis, and Starsailor. And then the back half of the album devolved into some pseudo-country bullshit and I’m all the way out

Meh

Don't like the voice, nor the music.

Not a fan of this one.

If this is the top 1001 albums this one has to be #1001

Худший! за долгое время (а может и в целом) в списке альбом. Мучительная подъебка под Флэйминг Липс. Лучшая песня - Deckchairs And Cigarettes.

This is extremely plain. Can't wrap my head around the reason why it is included in this list. Amazingly boring. And to think I liked "Big Sur" when it first came out... Well, I was 12, so it shouldn't say much...

I totally forgot about the thrills until today and have seen them live more than once at festivals. Dull then dull now, so bland it sounds like a bad pastiche of folk rock.

This was woeful. Desperately trying to sound “retro”, but instead sounding like a cruddy sixth form band. Vacuous and uninspiring. Definitely not an album that anyone needs to hear before they die. It’s been a tough week, made worse by this.

Belanglos ist noch geprahlt.

Oh, no wonder I don’t remember this from 2003!

Howard Molson has a new shovel. Spear and Jackson No.3.

My goodness, this record is a drag. It is meant to be an attempt at the ´Sunny California´ records from the sixties. But it falls well short of achieving that, just like it falls short of accomplishing anything else. How on earth did this album end up on this list? There is really nothing standing out on this album. A well-deserved 1/5

another cup of instant coffee another plastic spoon another table routine. another 2000s indie rock album. this time with a substantial amount of 60s California country rock flavor. that's like. this list's two favorite things. and they're Irish and have noticeably unamerican accents. not a fan. dull and bland. deserves to be one of the 1001? no. but Whitehouse should have one

Oh this OC crap.

That one review saying this sounds like sober Flaming Lips is so right 😭

nah

Should not be on the list. Completely soulless. There are a few omissions from this list of albums that are actually quite defining in their own genres, and then you get something like this which just feels like a rip off of other music at the time.

Wow! "The Thrills" doesn't quite capture the glory that is this! I think a more appropriate designation would be "AIreland". 2003?! I'm seriously impressed the Irish were already implementing some fairly advanced AI techniques way back then! The music, the vocals, Hell - even the album cover! If I didn't know any better, I'd have totally believed those were real people on there! And how about those lyrics?! Repetitive? Check. Vapid? Check. Repetitive? Check. Amazing!

What the fuck

Wow, I found this to be some boring, lame shit. I like this website but I feel like there’s a fair amount of awful chill indie shit on here. I love some indie but this ain’t it. To me all the songs are boring and sound the same, and the guys breathy falsetto voice isn’t my thing at all. Yuck.

A sound so sugary it damn well may have given me diabetes. A cringe inducing listen. Bewildered at its inclusion. 💫

I found this album to be completely unremarkable in every way. Like I just listened to it and I couldn't really tell you much about it. Plus the vocals were grating. Like a severe annoying version of Wayne Coyne.

I knew right off the bat with Santa Cruz that this was going to be a grind, how repetitive can a song be my god. Dump whoever the songwriter is and this album has 4-star potential. I think the break between the final song and the hidden track was my favorite part.

I don't remember u 1 star

Sucked

I could have died and not listened to this album.

Who votes for this shit?

This one is somewhat nostalgic for me, as it was played to death on Irish radio at the time, when I was about 12 or 13. Apart from the big hits though, it's fairly dull. The singer's fake American accent gets old pretty quickly too. It's a pleasant enough sounding album, but is so derivative of the influences they wear proudly on their sleeves, that I don't think it's really deserving of this list.

Somewhere between country and britpop, but with more jingling and jangling. Insufferable in its cheerful moments, annoying in its louder moments, and with all the depth of a pothole puddle.

Terrible. Not sure out of all the music in the world that this was a must listen. Awful vocals

Aburridillo

Why is this essential listening

Rubbish dull

If you’re feeling particularly numb today, lying on your sofa with no motivation to get up at all, giving this a play comes highly recommended. I can confirm: it will not disturb your insufferable state of mind. As for why I think So Much for the City is included on this list: I think this is because it is a record that explains… nothing at all. Look, there was a portion of good indie (folk) pop in the early 2000s. A word of warning though: if you want to convince an unbeliever of this, do not play them So Much for the City by The Thrills. Yeah, it’s not a terrible album, but it’s a far cry from being a good one either — and, in theory, even further from being worthy of inclusion on this list. It’s mostly mundane, forgettable, folksy-tinged music about some Irish dudes spending time in California. And I think this is exactly the reason why this should, in practice, belong here. There were already thousands of copycats of this sound, and there will be thousands more to come — which is fine. And if the editors wanted to prove exactly this point by including a random act such as The Thrills, they fully succeeded. So Much for the City is a “powerful” reminder that indie folk always existed, will continue to exist, and that it’ll produce bazillions of records that will be immediately lost to time. Sometimes the sound will be more popular (as it was back in 2003), and sometimes it will be absolutely unpopular (as it is in 2026). Sometimes you will feel shitty, sometimes you will feel better. Two vicious circles aligning… But one thing is for sure: So Much for the City and its countless peers will always be here for you on your streaming service of choice.

point2.

So much alt europe stuff on here. I'm not gonna sit here and call it trash. Because it's not - and some of it is pleasantly surprising. But I'm just saying it doesn't deserve to be dubbed as a top 1001 album. So for that. 1 Star

Very bland, meh music. I'm sure they have talent, but it falls short.

Horse music for the fans of Neil Young and the likes ie: not me

Typical 2000s indie garbage

The disaster started with the first song and it didn’t get better. I wanted to like this album but, sadly, we never got there.

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