I remember this album when The Thrills burst onto the scene 5 years ago with a clutch of California-inspired singles that captured the mood of what was a record-breaking summer for us in the UK. After 5 years, this is still one of my most-played albums and on a recent trip to California I had this on repeat play in my car more often than The Beach Boys. The vocals are gorgeous and the pure Irishness of the music comes over in a subtle way, not the stereotypical bottle-breaking Pogues way... It's a beautiful album filled with perfect pop songs and full of surprises - how can 'Your love is like Las Vegas' be almost at the end of the album? It just shows you how good the rest of the songs really are!

This is a stunning album. Beautiful songs, sung in a beautifully original voice with gorgeous melodies and hooks-a-plenty. The album flows easily from pure pop to heartfelt tunes with emotional depth and not one song is filler: it really is all killer. They should prescribe this on the NHS - the best anti-depressant around. Superb.

I heard "Big Sur" at a friend's house and feel in love with the vocal harmonies, the sweet 60s-lyrics and the melodies. However, when I bought it later, I was disappointed, and I did not think the material could live up to the hype. Then I started to play it every night before bedtime, and now some of the songs have grown on me, and the album itself has become one of my favorite night records at the moment.
My favorite so far is "Your Love Is Like Las Vegas" (which nobody else mentions....). Just give the album some time and let it grow on you. Right now I would give it 3,5 stars, but later it might increase further.

Take anything by the Beach Boys and filter through anything by The High Llamas and this is what you will get. Seven boys and girls with goofy retro haircuts have spent some time with their older cousin's stylish record collection and So Much For The City is the result. So, what do we learn from this collection of re-heated Beach Boy tunes? We learn that California is so very cool, as if the LA riots and crack houses never existed and if the US wasn't turning into a fascist police state. No, these kids have been touring in their gas guzzling Buick Roadmaster wagon, sucking on their Bud and Marlboro lights and, sadly, writing all about it. Avoid this stale, pre-chewed bubble gum at all costs and head directly to the High Llamas and then on back to Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.

This is a great album with very singalong songs. A pleasant change from all the rubbish around these days. Buy this cd and you'll find yourself listening to it all the time and singing along, a very cheerful uplifting album.