The Posies Album: “Success”

Musically, this album posseses somewhat less brilliance than my favorite Posies record (Frosting), or my second favorite (Amazing Disgrace). Nonetheless, it is more sonically interesting than either, featuring a highly unusual production style, and communicating a sense of the bittersweet more strongly than any other record I have ever heard. Some of you will probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but there is an indefinable emotion of beautiful sadness that some music evokes in me, which to me is the highest attainable goal for anyone who makes music. The Posies captured this with "Song #1," "The Certainty," and others on Disgrace, but it is strongest on this album; notably on "Fall Apart With Me," "Somehow Everything," and "Fall Song." Every song is excellent, however; personally I don't care much for "Placebo" or "Start a Life" (which is a very odd expirement for the Posies), but these are both high quality songs nonetheless, with many good points. And of course any review of Failure would be incomplete without a mention of "You're the Beautiful One," an astounding pop gem that causes your throat to tighten and your eyes to tear up by the final chorus. The ending line "What's so beautiful about you is... you didn't have to explain it to me" alone easily catapaults this song onto the higher tiers of my "top ten songs of all time" list. Highly recommended for Posies fans or anyone who wasn't laughing when I tried to describe this "ethereal bittersweetness."

The Posies album Success has to be one of the 3 to 5 best albums of the 1995-2000 era. This one seems to me like a kind of modern version of the Beatles album SGT. Pepper; not in the use of Semi-Classic and Indian motifs, but in the assimilation of different styles. SUCCESS manages to invoke the spirits of Queen, R.E.M., the Beatles, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, and Cheap Trick, but still manages to tie it into a cohesive whole and make it sound like the Posies. This is their most ambitious album and it is a SUCCESS!

"You're The Beautiful One", a ballad set to kind of a hip-hop/soul beat, sounds like some great lost Prince song. "Fall Apart With Me", and "Placebo" both sound influenced by Cheap Trick's Dream Police period. "Looking Lost", and "Fall Song" are both kind of Queen-like. "Grow", a song about death, is a Nine Inch Nails-like dirge. "Every Bitter Drop" would be very at home on R.E.M.'s AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE. "Somehow Everything" has a very Beatles flavor to it.

"You're The Beautiful One", and "Every Bitter Drop" would have been top 5 hits if properly exposed to the public because they are very memorable, and performed very well. A very good album that makes you wonder if radio stations and video channels were sleeping or what? in 1998-99.

To quote the song "You're The Beautiful One", "What's so beautiful about you is that you didn't have to explain it to me." Sums this album up well.

This is the last studio album (to date) by the Posies, who may or may not have broken up for good. This band is the Everly Brothers of the grunge world, with an effortless sense of pop melody, a keen ear for chord changes, and KILLER two-part harmonies. "Success" is a return to form for the Posies after the angry, dispirited "Amazing Disgrace". This album is full of great songs, from the pure pop of "Somehow Everything" and "Farewell Typewriter" to the synthesized "Start a Life", the full-out rock of "Looking Lost", and the wistful ballads "You're the Beautiful One" and "Every Bitter Drop". My favorite song is the careening "Fall Apart with Me". The Posies aren't the greatest musicians in the world, but they play exactly what the song needs, and they know how to use the whisper-to-a-scream dynamic range to full effect.

This cd is one of my favorite by The Posies. I'm glad I bought it. Many great tunes. My favorite? "You're the Beautiful One."

Success being the Posies 1998 release and their 5th studio album was yet another album that I took a chance at after seeing it in my local library. The sound is straight forward rock music with generic lyrics and sound. All the lyrics are included in the booklet. Throwaway is a great track but many tracks sound similar. 3/5.