An End Has a Start
by Editors

Album details

US: 17 July 2007 on Fader
UK: 25 June 2007 on Sony

The UK band’s sophomore set was produced by Garret "Jacknife" Lee. It debuted at #1 on the UK charts.

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The critical consensus

Considering all the Interpol comparisons generated by their debut "The Back Room," is it any surprise that most critics find Editors’ second disc very similar in sound to their first? If there’s a difference, it’s that the new album adopts a bigger, more anthemic (dare we say "stadium-ready"? Gigwise does) sound.

Chart Attack, for one, finds only slight differences from the debut (including a slight move into Coldplay territory–a comparison drawn by many critics), though Billboard hears "a giant leap forward." While the BBC was not "blown away," they found Editors’ second coming "bigger, slicker, more ambitious and better," and Uncut declares it "gentler" and "dreamier." Drowned In Sound doesn’t notice any hit singles, but they do hear "a cohesive, flowing album," although Mojo finds it a bit too cohesive (or same-y), "making it hard to take An End Has A Start as seriously as it takes itself." Playlouder, in an absolutely glowing review, disagrees with Mojo, saying that "despite the seemingly limited scope of the Editors sound, their craftsmanship, the watertight production, and Tom Smith’s just-this-side-of-spiteful snarl makes for an album’s worth of triumphs."

Some critics were less fond of the never-ending dourness. Q hears "three great songs" but calls the other tracks "ponderous, minor key dirges, interchangeable in both mood and tempo." NME finds the disc "as serious as cancer," and Stylus opines that it is "so deathly serious that each of its ten songs could be associated with its very own biblical plague." All Music Guide notes that An End lacks the "electricity" of its predecessor, finding it "decent" and "safe" overall, and PopMatters agrees, calling it "a sanded-down version of the original." Urb finds the disc overproduced, while Rolling Stone faults the production as being "soft." Artist Direct bemoans the Hallmark-worthy lyrics, which Dotmusic calls "pompous and uninvolving," concluding that "others do doom and gloom so much better." And The Independent says Editors’ "stadium-bound pessimism picks a comfortable course between standard goth sullen self-pity and the commercial melancholia of Coldplay and Keane." There’s that Coldplay comparison again.

Sure, it’s a bit manipulative but this is engaging, intense and catchy-as-hell music.

- Exclaim!

Review roundup

Tracklisting and media

1. Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors
   
   
2. An End Has A Start
3. The Weight of The World
4. Bones
5. When Anger Shows
6. The Racing Rats
7. Push Your Head Towards The Air
8. Escape The Nest
9. Spiders
10. Well Word Hand

Also on the web

• Official Artist Site
• Editors @ MySpace