Mad for sadness? Then Northern Irish four-piece Snow Patrol could be the band for you. Ignore lead singer Gary Lightbody when he hisses that he's "never gonna fall in love again" on the opening track of the same name; When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up is an album about giving your heart away, feeling it break, and desperately trying to reassemble it before the next emotional crackup. Some of this record's greatest moments find amps turned down and emotions laid desperately bare, such as the acoustic "Make Love to Me Forever" and the love-laid-to-rest lament of "If I'd Ever Found the Right Words to Say." But that's not to say that the ballsy pop songs-see "Ask Me How I Am," the sound of a harmony-laden Sebadoh playing hip-hop through a detuned radio-don't make the grade. And when it's all over? They may have been casualties in the wars of love, but as Lightbody whispers "we won't get much sleep" on the closing "Firelight," you know that-like you-Snow Patrol are ready to flip the record and live it all again. -Louis Pattison.
1) Never Gonna Fall on Love Again
2) Ask Me How I Am
3) Making Enemies
4) Black and Blue
5) Last Ever Lone Gunman
6) If I'd Found the Right Words to Say
7) Batten Down the Hatch
8) One Night Is Not Enough
9) Chased By... I Don't Know What
10) On/Off
11) An Olive Grove Facing the Sea
12) When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up
13) Make Love to Me Forever
14) Firelight