Heroes to Zeros

Again you must understand my foot was a balloon.But this album it’s just great.

Bought as a replacement due to Cds being of superior crap quality was missing it. Beta band one of the best of recent times and this was a superb send off. Buy it!!!

Gift for my husband who is their biggest fan! Made him a very happy man. Prompt, reliable service with no problems.

Great.

all a1

thanks for prompt delivery still a fantastic after all these years

It really is tragic that such a talented band with such obvious commercial appeal never achieved the success they deserved (and yet so many generic rock bands of far lesser talent and creativity are reaping dividends merely as a result of the corporate promotional machine). No lesser luminaries than Radiohead and Oasis declared The Beta Band a major new talent, but by the time the tellingly titled `Heroes to Zeros' was released, this Edinburgh band probably knew that this would be their swansong. Soon afterwards their justified frustration led to their dissolution, with singer Stephen Mason going on to develop his excellent King Biscuit Time project. Perhaps their creative perfectionism was part of the problem-they are even renowned for criticising their debut album before its release. But then again they had pioneered an incredible pastiche sound that seamlessly merged influences as disparate as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Madchester, Grunge, Hip Hop and god knows what else. But rather than resulting in a clumsy hybridity, it worked to produce a sound that is that of The Beta Band and no one else. This album has it all- songwriting, composition, musicianship, production- every aspect a triumph. So why have I only just discovered The Beta Band? Well I guess then, that they need more people singing their praises, and even if they are defunct, ensuring they receive the accolades they are due. Can a hero be super without adulation? The comic characters on the cover of this album deserve it, so give it to them!

I have listened to all of the Beta Band's albums many times. I always liked the Beta Band but never considered them to be anything special, just a really good, interesting band with some nice songs and somewhat different sound, that is, until the release of "Heroes to Zeros" in 2004. I first heard this disc when it was released in 2004.It's now almost 2008 and I've listened to this album many times. This release by the Beta Band "Heroes to Zeros" is a timeless piece of art. Why? Because it's something very different, it's a recording that surpasses all expectations and destroys all preconceptions of music as we know it.Nobody likes OVERPRODUCTION, except big label record industry people. Overproduction in the indie world almost always spells disaster. This release, "Heroes to Zeros" sounds quite produced, with lots of sounds and extra things, I would normally say that some of this album sounds "Overproduced". However, it works perfectly. Whatever they did on this release, however they produced this thing, it really is brilliant, therefore, the Beta Band has made a major achievement here by totally destroying our preconception of overproduction, at least it did for me. I hate overproduction, really, and this release was NOT OVERPRODUCED, it's perfect, even with all the layering.Normally, I would refer to this album as "SLICK". Slick is another term used to describe music that is very precise and polished, all parts played correctly, no mistakes, crystalline sound, etc. In the indie world, people don't really like "slick" music. They like good songs with raw emotion, good playing, and some mistakes are fine. That's how I like my music, usually, until this release came along. Actually I still like music that is raw, unpolished, with mistakes and all. "Heroes to Zeros" is an exception, one of the few exceptions out of thousands of bands and albums that I have heard over the years. The only other exception I can think of is "The Stone Roses" disc on Silvertone. That was brilliant in the same way that this disc is, although the style of music is very different, and no comparison is being made as far as the musical content or the actual songs. In this respect, the Beta Band has achieved an album that I believe will continue to gain more and more respect as the years go by.Finally, and most importantly, we get to the actual songs and musical content, performances, etc. I DO NOT LIKE REPETETIVE SONGS!!! Hardly any bands I have ever heard can pull off repetition successfully. The only bands that come to mind are some 60's bands like The Velvet Underground, the Beatles to a lesser extent, and some others. Also more modern bands like Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, and again The Stone Roses can pull off repetetive songs gracefully and successfully. The Beta Band, before this release, had a lot of repetetive songs, especially on Hot Shots II, which I did not like very much. However, on "Heros to Zeros" all of the repetetiveness works brilliantly. Amazing, I just can't believe that The Beta Band can make me enjoy repetetiveness, but they somehow have achieved something that has very rarely been done before. They have tried it on their previous releases, unsuccessfully in my opinion, but this release is VERY different. Same band, same basic sound, similar vocals, NEW STYLE OF MUSIC...What does this mean? I believe it means we have a brilliant recording here that will be more popular in 2020 than it was in 2004, the year it was released. "Heroes to Zeros" sets a new standard for music. It's not the PRODUCTION, it's not the SOUND, it's not the SONGS, well, what it is? You just can't put your finger on it, and that's the real beauty of this release, there is something else there, something different...pure. 5 brilliant stars for this excellent release-------