Disco de The Postal Service: “Such Great Heights”

The Postal Service is one very unique band, and now, you can hear them from a different perspective. 2 originals and 2 more originals covered by Iron and Wine and the Shins. These songs are great, very exceptional.

Such Great Heights was a very poppy upbeat from their album "Give Up", and it's a great song. The drums are active, there is a lot of panning-involved riffs, and some good vocals.

There's Never Enough Time is a simple Electronica song. The simplicity is actually great in this song. Everything is real clear, and the "tss tss tah tss" drums sound awesome. I love the arrangement of this song, and the keyboard riff is soo good.

We Will Become Silhouettes by the Shins is a very nice song. Instead of busy keyboard riffs with saws and snare drums, there's a lot of realism acoustic guitars. They didn't make an exact replica measure for measure and they change some of the melodies (but keep the mood the same). Both the Postal Service's version and the Shins' version are good in their own ways.

Finally, Iron and Wine's cover of Such Great Heights. If you like acoustic guitar work, you'll apperciate this song. It's folky and a very different perspective on this song. Because of the slow tempo, the verses seem a little long, but that's the only flaw I see in this song.

Basically, if you like the Postal Service, this single will be worth it to you. It's only a few bucks to find out anyways.

I have loved the Postal Service since the first time I heard them. It's too bad they are no longer together since the lead singer is now singing, last time I knew, with Deathcab for Cutie. Out of the 3 singles they have out, I thought this one was the best. Specifically I enjoyed The Shins version of "We Will Become Silhouettes" the most. Some of their other singles have a bad remix on them, but for the Postal Service fan, I'd recommend all 3 since they aren't that expensive plus each one does have the original song plus a remix, good or bad, and/or a cover from another band.

The debut EP from The Postal Service, SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS, shows little correlation with Tamborello's glitchy main project, Dntel. Instead, it goes for poppy electronica, and with that, it's eminently successful. The title song is gloriously catchy; it's not surprising that it was a moderate crossover hit. "There's Never Enough Time" is more mellow and introspective, but still has an irrepressible catchiness that's hinted at by quiet woodwinds in the background. And it's a strange day when rock musicians cover electronic musicians, but that's what we have here. The folksy, acoustic Iron and Wine version of "Such Great Heights" is the more successful of the two, but that might be a matter of source material.

I got this single for two reasons. First, I had a gift card that was expiring, so I started searching for a CD I could buy for under $7 including shipping. Second, I'd heard this song in many places and already liked it. So I decided to support the group and buy the single.

It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that I like the song. What was surprising to me, though, is that track 4 is the cover by Iron and Wine - which I'd heard on commercials and also liked, but didn't know who had performed. So the purchase turned out to have a bonus component.

Such Great Heights contains four tracks altogether. Two songs performed by The Postal Service: the self titled track which is borrowed from it's upcoming release, Give Up (2003), is very up-beat, almost drum-n-bass like, a very catchy melodic tune...and the other, There's Never Enough Time, which is alright - blends random electronic blips and bleeps and twangy guitars to a steady groove.

The other two tracks are not performed by Postal Service. The Shins perform an "unplugged" version of We Will Become Silhouettes and the last track, Such Great Heights is performed by Iron And Wine - most notably played in a recent M&M's "kaleidoscope" commercial...very slow & pokey folky with just acoustic guitars and vocals.

Very worthy of the $4 price tag!