Do Make Say Think – You, You're A History In Rust

Plays beautifully. Especially with a quality amplifier. Upgrading from my pc to a real amp, the vinyl simply sings. Very quite, very detailed, pressed beautifully. A solid copy to own and a joy everytime I play it.

My copy has the tracklist that's listed on the jacket. Maybe there was a mispress.

the only weak record in the band's back catalogue, it's unclear why the record was released: to appeal to the broken social scene demographic, to help feed the rest of the band or because they were just supposed to release another record.

certainly, i was happy to get another record. after all, i yelled at them to make another record in between songs two or three times between 2004 and 2007. yet, i didn't think they'd take the kitchen sink in with them into the recording studio. to be fair, the only thing i'm unhappy with are the vocal tracks because do make say think is an instrumental act and they should have known better, but i didn't buy one of the million or so records that necessitated it and that it was geared towards. it was an intelligent thing to do and i can't blame them for it; just don't expect me to listen to those tracks.

to be even more fair, there is plenty of strong material here and a few jumps into uncharacteristic writing. a tender history in rust is a, well, tenderly finger-picked acoustic guitar track that is not remotely like anything else in their back catalogue. the rest of the tracks do what they're supposed to do and do it well, but they sound slightly forced. for example, the horns in the seventh track sound like they're just there for show - because they're supposed to be there.

it's not hard to tell what the major problem was, which is that it sounds like the bulk of these songs were largely not written by the entire act together. it sounds more like the three members of the act that weren't in broken social scene - the two drummers and justin small - had written the bulk of the record years ago and were waiting for the other two members to come home to finish recording it. there are more than a few hints, most profoundly the larger role of justin small's more indie rock oriented guitar playing (as opposed to ohad benchetrit's jazzier playing and finger picking; don't look for a source, i've picked that knowledge up from shows) and the relative lack of keyboards on the disc. the rest of the tracks, bluntly, sound like broken social scene outtakes.

on the one hand, this was the realization of the nightmare that was dreaded; on the other hand, it was hope - the band had not split up. yet, this optimism was tempered by lingering fears that this was the end and a slight level of disappointment about not going out on as high a note as possible. thankfully, this was not the end.

it's worth the $12 but it just doesn't compare to their other records.