Strange House

Strange House
Studio album by The Horrors
Released 5 March 2007
Recorded 2006
Genre Garage punk, gothic rock
Label Loog
Producer
The Horrors chronology
The Horrors
(2006)		 Strange House
(2007)		 Primary Colours
(2009)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
BBC Collective[3]
Drowned in Sound6/10[4]
The Guardian[5]
Mojo[6]
NME7/10[7]
The Observer[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
Uncut[10]
Yahoo! Music9/10[11]

Strange House is the debut studio album by English rock band The Horrors, released on 5 March 2007 by record label Loog.

Content

The band announced the title via a MySpace bulletin on 11 January 2007. Several alternative titles for the album were considered, including Through Wax Seals and Padlocks, a line taken from their song "Gloves". The album subtitle, "Psychotic Sounds for Freaks and Weirdos", was created by two fans from the official Horrors forum. The band's lead singer, Faris Badwan, asked fans on the forum to suggest a name for their then yet-to-be-released album, before the title was finalised. The tag line "Psychotic Sounds for Freaks and Weirdos" was not only a subtitle to the album, but was used on all promotional material for Strange House.

The album consists mostly of previously released material, although several of these tracks were re-recorded or remixed.

Release

It was released on 5 March 2007 on Loog Records. It reached No. 37 in the UK Albums Chart.

A special edition including a DVD in a gatefold digipack was also released, which contained three music videos ("Sheena Is a Parasite", "Count in Fives" and "Gloves"), three live performances (one full-length and two short sets), an interview and a photo gallery.

Reception

A review in PopMatters said, "The Horrors bring a dose of dark glamour to an increasingly anodyne British alternative music scene... They blend their twin influences of early ‘80s gothic rockgoth]] and '60s garage to startling effect. No doubt some will fail to see past the cartoonish fancy dress of cobweb strewn Edwardian undertakers, and write them off as a joke or novelty act. This would be a shame as there are half a dozen brilliant tunes on offer here".[12]

Track listing

  1. "Jack the Ripper" – 3:00 (Screaming Lord Sutch cover)
  2. "Count in Fives" – 3:13
  3. "Draw Japan" – 3:23
  4. "Gloves" – 3:46
  5. "Excellent Choice" – 2:53
    • On the US edition, "Excellent Choice" is replaced by "Horrors Theme"
  6. "Little Victories" – 2:40
  7. "She Is the New Thing" – 3:21
  8. "Sheena Is a Parasite" – 1:42
  9. "Thunderclaps" – 3:06
  10. "Gil Sleeping" – 4:51
  11. "A Train Roars" – 3:54
    • On UK editions of the album, there are three minutes of silence in the pregap preceding "Death at the Chapel"
  12. "Death at the Chapel" (UK bonus track) – 2:19
Special Edition bonus DVD
  1. Videos
    • "Sheena Is a Parasite"
    • "Count in Fives"
    • "Gloves"
  2. Live in London, 21 September 2006 (Underage Club at Coronet Theatre)
    • "Jack the Ripper"
    • "Count in Fives"
    • "Horrors Theme"
    • "Death at the Chapel"
    • "Gloves"
    • "Sheena Is a Parasite"
    • "A Knife in the Eye"
    • "Count in Fives" (Reprise)
  3. Live in New York, 2 November 2006 (The Annex)
    • "Horrors Theme"
    • "Crawdaddy Simone"
  4. Live in Tokyo, 20 December 2006 (The Astrohall)
    • "Count in Fives"
  5. Bonus video material
    • Interview
    • Photo Gallery
  6. Hidden Footage: Live from the Casa de Ultragrrrl
    • Untitled

References

  1. ↑ "Strange House – The Horrors – Critic Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "Strange House: The Horrors – Review", allmusic.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  3. ↑ "Something wicked this way comes", bbc.co.uk, retrieved 8 July 2011
  4. ↑ "The Horrors – Strange House", drownedinsound.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  5. ↑ Cooper, Leonie (1 March 2007), "The Horrors, Strange House", guardian.co.uk, London, retrieved 8 July 2011
  6. ↑ "The Horrors – Strange House", metacritic.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  7. ↑ "The Horrors: Strange House", nme.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  8. ↑ Hodgson, Jaimie (18 February 2007), "The Horrors, Strange House", guardian.co.uk, London, retrieved 8 July 2011
  9. ↑ "The Horrors", rollingstone.com, Archived from the original on 21 May 2008, retrieved 8 July 2011
  10. ↑ "The Horrors", metacritic.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  11. ↑ "The Horrors – Strange House", uk.launch.yahoo.com, retrieved 8 July 2011
  12. ↑ http://www.popmatters.com/review/the-horrors-strange-house/
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