"The Eagles?" "Nobody listens to the Eagles." "Quiet Riot?" "That trash is for dope addicts and twelve year-olds."

Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion

Good lord does everyone love this album. See Pitchfork (9.6/10); CokeMachineGlow (85%); and AllMusic (4.5/5 and AMG Album Pick). And so, the contrarian in me wants to hate it. Alas, I cannot (or, um, maybe that's a good thing, at least for our ears), but I'm also not giving it a full-fledged endorsement.

For one, the album has a true opener, the lovely In the Flowers, in which Panda Bear (or Avery Tare, who knows) declares his thesis at the key moment-- "if I could just leave my body for the night," thereby setting a directive and theme for the rest of the record. Here, already, Animal Collective have surpassed previous efforts which at times sounded more like collections of songs and less like a singular feeling/emotion. The rest of the album, usually for the better, has a celestial feel to it, especially in the instrumentation.

Perhaps the most apt comparison here is the Beach Boys' classic, Pet Sounds. Like Pet Sounds, MPP has some really great moments, which are amplified by the lush and complex production (notably My Girls, Summertime Clothes, Brothersport, and the second half of Bluish). Brothersport closes MPP as a track that sounds like what the Vampire Weekend record could have, if it was, you know, better. And, like Pet Sounds, the album lags during some of the tracks which preserve the sonic feeling of the album but cannot stand alone (Taste, Also Frightened). Even the aforementioned opener, In The Flowers, is only great for about one and a half of the nearly five and a half minutes.

So, should you get this record? I'm not sure. It opened at #13 on Billboard (selling 25,000 copies and just one spot behind Andrew Bird), which, when you think about it, is probably about right. While the number of people who have actually heard an Animal Collective record is small, many of the ones who have probably also bought this one. But for the average listener, it's tough to get through the 11 tracks clocking in at 55 minutes. If someone has the time, it's no doubt worth the listen, especially if you're willing to sit down with some headphones. Otherwise, you might want to stick with some of the more accessible tracks, which are still 4-6 minutes long anyway.