Pancake Albums

A pancake album is an album that plays out like a plate of pancakes. They are all exciting at the beginning and by the end you're pretty sick of them. Sick of them is a little bit harsh. There are plenty of albums out there that the front end is so heavily loaded with great music that the back end is totally overshadowed.

The best example that I can think of is U2 - The Joshua Tree. It is a solid album through and through, but it is the first three tracks that make it memorable.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is another fine example of a heavily front loaded album. It is another fantastic album through and through, but I could be totally satisfied with the first six tracks alone.

Any other qualifiers out there?

SOTD - Heartbreaker-Dread Zeppelin

Campy, campy, campy! What a fantastic gimmick though!

To their credit, this song could be considered a pioneering move in the development of the mash-up.

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Infinite Arms is one fine example of rock music that is catchy, witty, and passionate. On their third album, Band of Horses seam to have perfected their sound. The vocal harmonies are to die for and they deliver simple sentiments in grand gestures. Neil young is a clear influence on them and the easiest way to classify their sound. Neil Young channeled by Death Cab For Cutie, perhaps.



The album opens with Factory, a sweeping and grand tail of looking back at time wasted longing for a lost love. Stings swoon and cymbals crash as the protagonist wanders through his lonely hotel. The tension rises with Compliments. The beat stomps and the amps and reverb jack up. That, and you have to love a song that starts with the line, “fixing a drink in the morning with the way things are.” The current single Laredo follows. Great guitar pop with visions of escaping it all conjures recollections of Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow at the Posies peek. Blue Beard grabs onto classic American rock. The chorus is 70’s Eagles worthy. The vocals take off even farther and dig deeper into the spirit of American rock on On My Way Back Home. This track could be a lost Beach Boys song. Infinite Arms is a gorgeous acoustic waltz with beautiful lyrics and vocals. The chorus of, “and my thoughts drift to you,” do exactly that. Dilly rebounds you from the dream space of Infinite Arms and gets you bobbing again with lofty pop. Suddenly the mood becomes very personal again with Evening Kitchen. It is the most bare bones track on the record delivered by two acoustic guitars and two voices. It is the reminder of the southern origins of BOH. The alt. country tinge persists through Older, a song that recalls their North Carolina brethren, Whiskeytown. Far Annabelle is another warm and sweet waltz. NW Apartment rocks out with some loud and catchy pop. Neighbors wraps things up with warm organs and a slow build to power chords at the end. It is important to know your place. BOH name check white trash wine so earnestly that it comes across as charming and not as silly as it should be, “Now if Bartles and James didn’t need no first names…”

Then at 45 minutes and 12 seconds I find myself satisfied, yet wanting more.

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