Albums to watch

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Kasabian

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Album number three from the stadium indie rockers, with US electronica producer Dan The Automator helping out

ADM rating[?]

6.3

Label
Columbia
UK Release date
08/06/2009
  1. 10.0 |   Uncut

    Kasabian’s third sees their bounding riffs and rock-electro mixture still in evidence, not least in first single “Fire”, but they’ve added extra tints and layers.
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  2. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    The record is unfocused, energetic, melodically mundane but not without its moments
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  3. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    The resulting epic is barmy and beautiful, suggesting that while Kasabian's amps go up to 11, they can also sound good when they're turned down to four
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  4. 8.0 |   The Independent

    After the patchy response duly bestowed upon the patchy Empire, Kasabian have wisely made a few changes for this much-improved follow-up
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  5. 8.0 |   The Times

    Less luddite than Oasis, bereft of Primal Scream’s snobbery and — unlike the Stone Roses — boasting a singer who can sing, Kasabian have shaken off the psychic weight of their idols
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  6. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    It's the sound of past and future uniting to good effect - and Kasabian's strongest statement yet that they're in this for the long haul
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  7. 8.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    One of the best thumping, psychedelic indie/dance albums in memory. Though not to everyone's taste, this is Kasabian back to their rock'n'roll, in-your-face best
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  8. 8.0 |   The Observer

    Their third album is a step forward though, a trippy patchwork of sound that, for once, matches the grandiosity of their interviews. Credit Gorillaz producer Dan ""the Automator"" Nakamura, who's knitted a vision that's more unique, not cribbed from old Primal Scream albums. One dimensional? No longer.
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  9. 8.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    Advances their rock-electronica mix to new, widescreen frontiers
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  10. 7.0 |   The Quietus

    Kasabian aren't and never will be a band that values their message over their music. They operate on a baser level, more attuned to music as rhythm, as a soundtrack, as a feeling. This might mean that, ultimately, West Ryder Lunatic Asylum... does fall short; but on its own terms, it lands close enough to the mark to not be considered total bedlam
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  11. 6.0 |   Observer Music Monthly

    Kasabian are trying too hard to be all things to all men. Adventurous? Definitely. Massive? Perhaps.
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  12. 6.0 |   Clash

    It’s a better listen all round if you just turn it up loud and disengage the grey matter.
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  13. 6.0 |   The Scotsman

    Not bad, just not quite as good as it thinks it is
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  14. 5.0 |   Spin

    Rarely keeps its feet or focus for long, getting lost in mazes of mangy Stones riffs or acoustic roundabouts with little purpose or pulse.
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  15. 5.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Sergio Pizzorno's simplistic melodies render the acid-drenched opener, ""Underdog,"" underwhelming and make the string-swept, uptempo ""Where Did All the Love Go"" sound like blurrier Blur
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  16. 5.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Having witnessed the band's growth through turgid, heard-it-all-before monstrosities such as 'Empire' and 'Shoot The Runner', not to mention their unforgiveable posturing, one suspects the end product here may have had more to do with the record's producer than its creators, and as a result, this album is as unconvincing as the band's hollow assurances that they're open to embracing new horizons.
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  17. 4.9 |   Pitchfork

    During West Ryder's incomprehensibly misguided midsection and final quarter, Kasabian lumber through a rash of poky Kinks pastiches as if the Kooks don't already have a monopoly on that front
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  18. 4.0 |   Scotland on Sunday

    A brazenly ambitious effort to lay claim to the British rock crown
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  19. 3.0 |   PopMatters

    Even Kasabian themselves seem to be gasping for air, and after spending so much time with this album, they still exist as some sort of formless, faceless entity in my mind, an entity glimpsed so faintly—a solid riff here, a nicely unadorned vocal turn there—beneath all the smoke and mirrors that, at times, it’s far too easy to question whether they’re even there at all
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  20. 2.0 |   The Irish Times

    Scrappy, half- formed ideas are draped across unimaginative. Only a brief instrumental, Swarfiga , and the retro garage squall of Fast Fuse hold any flicker of interest on this dreadful, posturing mess of an album
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Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

  • Download full album for just £5.99
  • 1. Underdog £0.99
  • 2. Where Did All the Love Go? £0.99
  • 3. Swarfiga £0.99
  • 4. Fast Fuse £0.99
  • 5. Take Aim £0.99
  • 6. Thick as Thieves (Album Version) £0.99
  • 7. West Ryder Silver Bullet £0.99
  • 8. Vlad the Impaler £0.99
  • 9. Ladies and Gentlemen (Roll the Dice) £0.99
  • 10. Secret Alphabets £0.99
  • 11. Fire £0.99
  • 12. Happiness £0.99
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