Mew - Half the World Is Watching Me (2000)

1) Am I Wry? No; 2) Mica; 3) King Christian; 4) Saliva; 5) Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years; 6) 156; 7) Symmetry; 8) Comforting Sounds
2007 re-release bonus disc: 1) Half the World Is Watching Me; 2) Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years (Live 2001); 3) Mica (Live 2001); 4) Wheels Over Me (Live 2001); 5) Wherever (Live 2001); 6) 156 (Cubase Demo); 7) Quietly (Demo); 8) Comforting Sounds (Do I Look Puerto Rican?) (Demo)

The first Mew album that really showcases their signature sound. You'll know most of it via Frengers, though.

Key tracks: "Am I Wry? No", "Mica", "Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years"

“What’s the point of tracking down Half the World Is Watching Me”, someone who’s not a completionist might ask. “I mean, two thirds of it is on Frengers after all”, they might continue. It’s a reasonable point I suppose, if you’re not the sort of geek who just wants to own every album a band releases (*cough*).  Mew’s second album isn’t the most convenient to find even after it was re-released, and it shares the majority of its tracklist with the more common follow-up Frengers. Frengers was the band’s international debut album after a couple of Denmark-only releases and for it, the band chose to include a number of their old favourites that they didn’t want to leave dusting away on some obscure indie releases. Nearly all of the old tracks chosen hail from Half the World Is Watching Me and for a good reason. Where the debut A Triumph for Man was a quirky lo-fi affair, Mew’s sophomore release presented a far more confident band and the production to back it up, with the bold power pop cuts a far cry from the first album’s whimsy.

Brushing off the irrational reasons (complete the set! Get everything! Collect!), the logical way to look at this dilemma is to look at the two different sides of it: the songs which were eventually remade, and the ones that didn’t make the cut.

The five songs on Half the World Is Watching Me which eventually got a facelift are “Am I Wry? No”, “Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years”, “156”, “Symmetry” and “Comforting Sounds”. The changes between the versions are as different as the songs themselves. The duet ballad “Symmetry” is largely identical to the point that I actually struggle finding any discernible differences between the two versions, including in the guest vocals, but the song was always built on a few simple elements anyway: it’s still the same minimal and wintery last dance of the ball, no matter which version you play. “Am I Wry? No” and “Comforting Sounds” are largely the same as their later counterparts, just a little less produced. The honestly epic “Comforting Sounds” is still the size of a small galaxy even if the final climax isn’t covered in an orchestra and it’ll always be an experience no matter its guise. “Am I Wry? No” is one of Mew’s finest honest rock songs and arguably the song that best nutshells them, and the main difference between the original and the re-make is slight arrangement decisions. If anything, I actually slightly prefer the version here as it introduces the keyboards after the second guitar part in the intro, as opposed to the other way around it’s performed in the remake: there’s a greater sense of drama to it and if anything, Mew love their dramatic entrances.

“Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years” and “156” on the other hand carry the major differences. The blissful indie pop mini-masterpiece “Her Voice Is Beyond Her Years” has an airier sound and a looser feel than its tightly-wound high-energy twin on Frengers and it suits the song and its delicate emotional touch better. The piano flourishes are also more similarly more elegant and contributes wonderfully to its shy poet boy romance vibe. There’s admittedly also a tacked-on extended outro that’s somewhat less essential. “156” goes even further and is almost a whole different song. It’s still recognisable and it features the same structure and melody as the re-recording, but the vibe and sound are wholly different. The “156” everyone knows from Frengers (because, let’s face it, unless you’re Danish you won’t have heard of this band before that album nor would you have obtained this before it) is ethereal and dreamy, full of beautiful melancholy and longing that ebbs between its placid verses and soaring choruses. The one here starts with a whimsical fairytale frolic of an intro, before it abruptly transforms into a more guitar-driven and laidback take on the song. It’s the closest tie Half the World Is Watching Me has to A Triumph for Man and carries that same whimsy, but it kind of fails to rise from the ground. It’s still a good song but clearly one still under construction. It needed the remake.

Mid-way tally: that’s two drastically different versions, albeit one which is more to please those who have a fetish for alternative versions, and a couple of minor differences that won’t make or break anything even if you can hear them. Not quite the selling point. But there’s still the other three songs.

One might wonder why “Mica”, “King Christian” and “Saliva” were left behind by the band. The initial assumption is because of quality: if Mew wanted to display their strongest back catalogue hits on their international entrance, surely it must mean everything that got left behind just wasn’t good enough? That assumption would be wrong. Rather, these three just wouldn’t have worked within Frengers. If you’ve heard that album (which I seem to assume you have, reading back on this review), you’d know that it’s not afraid to be aggressive, punchy and powerful: it’s full of dramatic energy and power riffs. These three songs, however, would have just been too damn fluffy and adorable for the serious image the band were trying to convey in Frengers. “Mica” is a super sunny pop ditty that’s so light and wonderful it practically floats, all heavenly falsettos, earworm choruses and shiny keyboards. “King Christian” is a daft romp with a stomping beat that could come out of a musical and which includes, of all things, a spoken word interlude featuring the titular king. “Saliva” is nothing like its namesake and sounds downright adorable – all sing-along choruses and handclaps, and some sudden tempo switches just to spice things up. These three are some of the most overtly poptacular moments Mew have committed to tape and they just wouldn’t have worked in the context of Frengers, whereas the others could with a little tweaking. They’re also the three best reasons to obtain a copy of Half a World Is Watching Me, with “Mica” and “Saliva” in particular being top class Mew.

(and besides, “Mica” and “King Christian” were re-recorded during the Frengers sessions anyway. They ended up as b-sides, and this time it was because they just weren’t strong enough. The transition tried to reshape and it didn’t quite work).

That tips the balance in favour of hearing Half the World Is Watching Me. Yes, even if you have an indepth knowledge of Frengers, this is still worth picking up. Granted, if you’re actually pondering about this you’re probably already too far in the fandom rabbit hole to back away, but suffice to say it’s a really good album with plenty to love. I should also point out that despite how I’ve titledropped other albums in this review way more many times than I’ve mentioned the one I’m actually reviewing, Half the World Is Watching Me definitely stands on its own feet as well. We’ve already established the tracks are great, the flow is good and despite only featuring eight songs it doesn’t feel too short. It’s definitely a transitional record but the transition itself is already great to listen to. So to answer the originally posted hypothetical question – the point of getting this is to get access to a bunch of great songs by a really good band who are on their way to become a great one.

The bonus disc that comes with the re-release shouldn’t really form any enticing factor, however. It doesn’t drop the ball quite as badly as the one attached to A Triumph for Man (we’ll get to that later) but still comes across as wholly inessential, even if curious. You’ve got the previously unreleased title track (s’alright) and “Quietly (Demo)” (which is pretty good and barely demo-like), but otherwise the b-sides and studio outtakes are once again missing. The live tracks go on to prove that Mew are a good live force but they offer little in the way of anything enlightening, apart from the take of “Wherever” (originally off A Triumph for Man) that’s already going through some changes from the original noise-slacker crawl to a loud, stereo-blasting guitar anthem. The Cubase demo of “156” is pretty anaemic, although the chorus is kinda entertainingly lazy in its delivery, and the demo of “Comforting Sounds” shrinks it even further: no longer a giant, it’s now “just” a big song still being worked on by a band in a room. It makes for a set of interesting curios that are good to listen to, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually had the desire to listen to the bonus disc beyond the sake of occasions like this review.

Rating: 8/10