Review: Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys
Elbow take their name from a line in the BBC drama The Singing Detective(a fact little known).The band comes from Manchester and have five members. Lead man Guy Garvey is the driving force. BARB is their fifth album and they also have had seven Top 40 singles in the UK.
Since the band formed in 1990 they have had rising success,winning the Mercury Prize in 2008 for The Seldom Seen Kid,their fourth album. They fuse the genres Britpop,Dream Pop and Emo very successfully.In 2009,Elbow received two Ivor Novello awards for two songs- One Day Like This and Grounds For Divorce. They play Glastonbury 2011 and will support Muse at Reading and Leeds Festival 2011.
Their influences are Genesis(Peter Gabriel’s era),Talk Talk and Radiohead. Genesis’s very strong influence comes over in this album; however Elbow are kinder and less arrogant than Genesis, in my opinion.
There are eleven tracks on this album.I liked High Ideals,the second track,on which Guy Garvey’s voice is at its best,and the instrumental breaks are inspired and provocative.
Lippy Kids is really lovely,yearning and heartrending,with its line” Build a rocket boys!” -a masterly album title if ever there was one-and the breathless musical backing with careful whistling woven in amongst it.What a super track!I listened to it on repeat.
Neat Little Rows is the single and a very strong track,with the catchiest keyboard riff I’ve heard so far this year,and a very dark side to it..”lay my bones in cobblestones…lay my bones in neat little rows”. Guy Garvey has been quoted as saying that this song is about the demise of public libraries – a death knell for the end of a timeless and vital institution.
The Night Will Always Win is also a beautiful track,perceptive and regretful. A fitting anthem from this most different of bands.
The River is like a hymn. Tearjerking and nicely interpreted by Guy Garvey, its a favourite of mine.
The last track With Love, rounds this album off admirably.
Very highly recommended.
Review: Cult With No Name – Adrenalin
Formed in 2004, this band are classed as post-punk and modern classical-influenced. Compared to Roxy Music and Scott Walker (a loose comparison, I feel) they are a little cheesy sounding….of the twelve tracks on here, Breathing and Generation That’s are the two strong songs. The vocals are pleasant enough on the ear,but rather predictable,making the music sound like background music in a store.
I would personally prefer to hear the instrumental without vocals, from this band,on this album. The piano is excellent and makes me think of David Gray’s piano style. Not an album I would buy, but this CD will have its fans.
Review: James Blake – James Blake
22 year old Londoner James Blake studied popular music at Goldsmiths College,London and was recording songs in his bedroom in his school/college days.
The genre of his music encompasses electronic/dubstep and ambient. A new,exciting figure in the ever growing group of electronic composers, he has only been active since 2009.His self titled album, released on 7 February 2011 comprises eleven tracks, including the single Limit To Your Love (best track).
James Blake is, first and foremost, a classically trained pianist with a warm booming voice which catches the listener’s attention straight away.
However, that said,there is a certain amount of pretentiousness in his work,as though he is trying rather too hard to impress.
Blake was runner up behind Jessie J at the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice in 2010, and runner up again in BBC’s Sound Of 2011 poll on 6 January 2011, ahead of his album release.
As far as the album itself goes,there are eleven tracks of quite hard,emotionally stirring electronica and vocal, some undiscernable and experimental,such as the opener, Unluck which is a bit of a corker to decipher.
The Wilhelm Scream, the second track, is a poor man’s Arthur Russell – not a bad try at his style,though.I Never Learnt To Share consists of two lines “my brother and my sister don’t speak to me-but I don’t blame them” repeated over and over like a sort of
psychological torture.A Damien Hurst lyric,if you will!
Lindisfarne I is a curiosity. It sounds like an electronic Gregorian chant,but rather more harsh on the ear. Lindisfarne 2 is a variation on the former track,but with a soft beat backing it up.Very clever clever. Could be a grower, this one.
Limit To Your Love- now THIS one I’ve had in my head all day today.Its the single and the strongest track on the album by far.Its lovely piano intro and super vocals score with me.
However Mr Blake does like to be fancypants with his songs,just in case we get bored listening,by introducing an electronic drum/synth part into this track,making it harder work to hear than it should be.
Give Me My Month is a lovely emotional piano accompanied song.Very listenable. To Care Like You is hard on the ear,and Why Don’t You Call Me? I’m not that keen on. I Mind and Measurements are more of the same.
To sum up,this album was not personally to my taste.However I do think that James Blake has an exceptional voice and is undoubtedly a new talent to keep an eye on.
Review: Secret Colours -Follow The Drone
VERY psychedelic/shoegazey/West Coast sound on this EP,which I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did on listening.Its polished and rather addictive.
Secret Colours are a five piece from Chicago( four men,one girl),and this is their second album,released 6 Jan 2011.vIt is intense and dense, with lovely rich guitars and richer harmonies,and a powerful punchy tone to the whole package,but nonetheless highly melodic.
One of the nicest albums of the New Year,this one should sell very well to those
afficionados of the West Coast sound,which enjoyed a revival last year, and should convert many more.
I really enjoyed listening to Follow The Drone and will be tracking it down in a local record store(quick….before it closes down!!)
Highly recommended.