Customer Reviews
Builds with intensity 
2007-08-27
This is probably The Frames darkest album. It definitely sets unsettling mood throughout. But it also has some of their most rocking tunes that you just get swept up by. "Finally" the second track on the CD is possibly the most captivating openings to a rock song ever. It's so bitter in tone and yet so fun to sing along to! A lot of songs on this album also fall into their signature format "opening soft and whispy, building, adding layers of violin, rocking the hell out, bombast intensity, and suddenly cutting back to the melodic quiet of the opening..."
And this album adds a bit of electronic bits and beeps into the mix for some interesting affect. Sort of in a Radiohead vibe...but with their own distinct vibe. There's some soundscape experimenting ala Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo on "A Caution to the Birds".
I think "Burn the Maps" has some of the The Frames best stand alone songs...even if it doesn't tie together as a complete album as well as "For the Birds".
My personal favorites are "Dream Awake" (pretty much a definitive Frames song), "Sideways Down" (channeling a bit of the Pixies), Fake (should have been their big pop single), Keepsake (another perfect example of what the Frames do best!). The last song, "Locusts" is almost a foreshadowing to Glen Hansards solo work on "Once" and "The Swell Season".
Unbelievable 
2007-02-13
Honestly, I could write endlessly about how incredible this band is both on cd and live in concert but I really wouldn't be saying anything different from all the other reviewers. I guess the greatest compliment I can give Glen and the rest of the band is that on Friday, I am flying from Vancouver, Canada to London for four days and my sole reason for going is to attend The Frames show on February 20, 2007. If you get the chance to see this amazing band live, you should grab it. They are the #1 live band.
They just keep doing it... 2006-11-05
Mix the subtle intelligence of radiohead with damien rice's beauty, and of course, chuck in a few violin solos, and you get the Frames, who, with burn the maps, have made one of the finest albums to come out of Ireland in quite a while.
Burn the Maps is one huge, draining journey that leaves you with songs like the haunting Locusts, the epic finally, and sublime opener happy, this album demands you turn down the lights, turn the volume up, and listen hard.
From the violently quiet to the obviously sublime 2006-08-31
Perhaps Burn the Maps defines the frames perfectly, because it's just so unpredictable. the tracks range from the instantly brilliant fake, the ex-boyfriend style single; to the dark, melodic opener happy.
there's so many gems here, the almost eight minute epic keepsake, which climaxes with hansard moaning 'hunting me down like an insect', and underglass, with hansard again testing himself, bellowing 'i cannot accept your dsapointment man'.
however, one track shines absolutely brillantly, finally is the outstanding one, with jagged guitars and the downbeat lyrics of more despair and the treachery of a break up. absolutely magnificent.
pure perfection 2006-06-01
this is one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded. the dynamic sincerity moves stones.
1st time Frames fan 
2006-04-28
Ireland's biggest band (even rivaling U2) has built an impressive North American fan base from scratch. They put on an incredibly dynamic show and their constant touring, both on their own and with Damien Rice, Calexico, and The New Pornographers, has paid off to the point where they sell out large clubs in all the major cities. This is their fifth studio album and first for Anti. It's also their most cohesive. The band have reconciled their various personalities into one volatile organism, synthesizing gorgeous melancholy with full-blown anger. "The Frames sing about love and death and revelation. They pick folky ballads full of quiet longing; they seethe and mourn; they build crescendos and taper down to fiddle tunes and build again, making hearts surge every time"--NY Times.
Great band - not so good CD 2005-12-21
While I love the Frames, and would definitely recommend checking them out live (they are quite possibly the best live band I have seen), this is not where I'd start if I were new to the band. For me, the album lacks one important thing: tunes.
It is possible that the album is a complex masterpiece that will grow over time, but I've listened to it a dozen times now and it still does nothing for me. On the contrary, I think "For the Birds" is a wonderful, immediate album, so that's where I would start if I were just discovering this band. (Dance the Devil is a good alternative).
it's in my top five all time 2005-08-09
this record, trying not to sound too cliched, is just....(just)short of being a masterpiece. Were it not for the somewhat poppy "fake" - which has been touted as a Smashing Pumpkins rip off and the radiohead-esque (on a bad day in the studio) "ship caught in the bay" - which for me simply doesn't work - this album would be no.1 on that list. These tracks do however help contrast the greatness of the 10 others, and this greatness really does eclipse those, shall i venture to say, "lapses in judgement". Given fake was the bait for younger teenie boppers to shell out their parent's cash, but songs like "me and my boyfriend" or "people all get ready" could easily have taken the place of "ship caught in the bay". The other tracks....ah.. the other tracks. What a joy. Not a bad moment among them. Colm mac an Iomaire's violin antics (his looped recordings really does give an orchestral feel to the songs) greatly aided the almost frames-trademarked gradual build up from quiet to loud. The final 3 songs, "keepsake", "suffer in silence" and "locusts" make up possibly the best outtro to an album my, in reviewing terms, relatively young ears have heard. and the intro isn't bad either.
Thoroughly recommended.
unappreciated music. 2005-06-22
while this cd is the best they have out, you will either love it or hate it. a mix between the essential damien rice and equally needed radiohead, this album works for me. heartfelt, with raw emotion. no qualms here.
buy it 2005-06-06
This is a truly great album. It sounds a bit like a mix of the shins and modest mouse. Or perhaps just like the shins with a bit more edge and violins.
Finally, A caution to the birds, Underglass, Keepsake, and the excellent final song Locusts are the highlights.
Best moments on the cd: the first time he yells at 1:49 into Finally "when your wants something so much..." bleeding into, "when you found something that good
It's hard to focus on what's right."
And then the peak of the album 57 seconds into Underglass, screaming:
"I want it less than you ever have, I will not accept your disappointment man." Underglass really ranks up there with 'Closer' and 'Killing in the Name of' for songs that sound excellent when your angry.
The last three songs work well together, building up to a repitious, slow and powerful conclusion in Locust: "I'm moving off I'm packing up I'm willing to be wrong. "
