Lost and Safe is the third album by The Books

The Books

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech...

. It is in the same style of their previous albums, continuing their rich use of samples as diverse as Raymond Baxter

Raymond Baxter

Raymond Frederic Baxter, OBE was a British television presenter and writer. He is best known for being the first presenter of Tomorrow's World, continuing for 12 years, from 1965 to 1977...

 ("That's the picture. You s-you see it for yourself."), W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

 ("This great society is going smash / A culture is no better than its woods", from his poem "Bucolics: II, Woods"), and a reading of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

's poem "Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky

"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...

". On "If Not Now, Whenever" Mal Sharpe

Mal Sharpe

Malcolm Sharpe is an American television and radio personality with roots in San Francisco, California.In the early 1960s, Sharpe teamed with Jim Coyle to create a series of comic on-the-street interviews for San Francisco radio station KGO. Armed with a tape recorder, Coyle and Sharpe confronted...

 asks a passerby "How're you doin' today?" Some of the sampled passages are either accompanied or performed elsewhere by guitarist/bassist Nick Zammuto in Sprechstimme. Some of the eclecticism of the samples is owed to their origins in Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 shops.

Critical reception

Lost and Safe has received very positive reviews from numerous critics and music publications. Allmusic awarded the album 4½ stars out of 5, saying "From the songwriting to the production to the performance, the whole package that the Books present with Lost and Safe works wonderfully and makes for a very rewarding listen." Lost and Safe currently holds a rating of 84 out of a possible 100 (indicating universal acclaim) on Metacritic.com. Wire magazine voted Lost and Safe as the best album of the year in 2005.

Track listing

1. "A Little Longing Goes Away" – 3:30
2. "Be Good to Them Always" – 4:51
3. "Vogt Dig for Kloppervok" – 3:54
4. "Smells Like Content" – 3:41
5. "It Never Changes to Stop" – 4:01
6. "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps." – 4:38
7. "Venice" – 1:42
8. "None But Shining Hours" – 2:42
9. "If Not Now, Whenever" – 3:35
10. "An Owl With Knees" – 4:41
11. "Twelve Fold Chain" – 4:44

External links

• The Books official web site which contains full-length streaming versions of all songs on this album.
• Lost and Safe at Metacritic
  Metacritic
  Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...