News & Tributes Not in the Top 10
Note: The title to this entry would more appropriately read "Why News & Tributes Won't Make it Into My Annual Year End Top Ten Albums List Even Though I Really Wanted It To."
The Futureheads, the best of the new new wave, were brought into my life by way of opening for the original purveyors of this brand of rock - Franz. This release was much anticipated after countless spins of the self-titled release way back in 2004 (that came in a tight third place that year on the top ten, but ended up having more lasting power than Ferdinand and even the Arcade Fire.) Well all that humming, frantic singing of four layered vocal pieces, and grooving at as many (3) of their dynamic and phenomenal shows as I could get to, brought me up to this release. Okay, not exactly - but I'll get to the in-between single in a second.
So out it comes - all the hype, the news, the waiting, the tributes, the scouring of torrent sites for early releases and finally the disk arrives. Initial disappointment as I'm not hit with the barrage of jangling guitars and rapid fire harmonies that I've been craving. Alright let's try again. I rip through it a bunch more times and some songs do grow on me but I'm still finding it a slight disappointment considering the calibre of the first release.
True they have, oh how I hate the word, matured, and their sound is a little more dynamic - varied from track to track - but maybe that's not what I wanted. Yes a re-release of the first disk is always boring, however I'd fallen in love with that fun-loving, fast-as-sin, straight-ahead sound. That's where Favours for Favours, Thursday, and the title track fall short. Weaknesses between some solid songs.
Then there's the powerful and frantic Return of the Beserker. Which is a real energy boost to the live show with the ripping of guitar strings and insanely fast pace that brings the band, along with the crowd, to a rolling boil by the end. Always being a better live group than recorded (even with the aforementioned fantastic debut) this CD falls short on delivering that live energy. If every time I slipped this disk in my player, Barry Hyde and co. could appear in my room, or backseat, and play it like they did at the Commodore, I would be much more entertained. Instead I have to extract the goodness from Return to the Sea and the soft-to-loud Face, while wading through throwaways like Worry About It Later.
The opener - Yes/No - which grows in intensity, is solid, as is the next track Cope which reminds me of the first LP. However when getting into the deeper cuts of the album the depth of the tracks just isn't there. That is until the bonus tracks come in to save this album from being an absolute waste. Area was that single-between-albums that I alluded to earlier. And it is likely the strongest track on this CD, albeit tacked on as a bonus. Despite its mostly du-du-du lyrics - or more likely because of them, the song is catchy and plays on their strong suit which is to have the vocals take centre stage.The other two new, but bonus, tracks include Help Us Out and We Cannot Lose which are also of high quality. Remix closer and Area B-side, Decent Days and Nights, is of course an outside (Shy Child) mix of the first album single. Sampling the original, it gives it a completely different sound, actually working the chronology of the song backwards, and all in all it gets me pumped to listen to The Futureheads again. It's just too bad that its not this album that I want to spin once more.
The Futureheads, the best of the new new wave, were brought into my life by way of opening for the original purveyors of this brand of rock - Franz. This release was much anticipated after countless spins of the self-titled release way back in 2004 (that came in a tight third place that year on the top ten, but ended up having more lasting power than Ferdinand and even the Arcade Fire.) Well all that humming, frantic singing of four layered vocal pieces, and grooving at as many (3) of their dynamic and phenomenal shows as I could get to, brought me up to this release. Okay, not exactly - but I'll get to the in-between single in a second.
So out it comes - all the hype, the news, the waiting, the tributes, the scouring of torrent sites for early releases and finally the disk arrives. Initial disappointment as I'm not hit with the barrage of jangling guitars and rapid fire harmonies that I've been craving. Alright let's try again. I rip through it a bunch more times and some songs do grow on me but I'm still finding it a slight disappointment considering the calibre of the first release.
True they have, oh how I hate the word, matured, and their sound is a little more dynamic - varied from track to track - but maybe that's not what I wanted. Yes a re-release of the first disk is always boring, however I'd fallen in love with that fun-loving, fast-as-sin, straight-ahead sound. That's where Favours for Favours, Thursday, and the title track fall short. Weaknesses between some solid songs.
Then there's the powerful and frantic Return of the Beserker. Which is a real energy boost to the live show with the ripping of guitar strings and insanely fast pace that brings the band, along with the crowd, to a rolling boil by the end. Always being a better live group than recorded (even with the aforementioned fantastic debut) this CD falls short on delivering that live energy. If every time I slipped this disk in my player, Barry Hyde and co. could appear in my room, or backseat, and play it like they did at the Commodore, I would be much more entertained. Instead I have to extract the goodness from Return to the Sea and the soft-to-loud Face, while wading through throwaways like Worry About It Later.
The opener - Yes/No - which grows in intensity, is solid, as is the next track Cope which reminds me of the first LP. However when getting into the deeper cuts of the album the depth of the tracks just isn't there. That is until the bonus tracks come in to save this album from being an absolute waste. Area was that single-between-albums that I alluded to earlier. And it is likely the strongest track on this CD, albeit tacked on as a bonus. Despite its mostly du-du-du lyrics - or more likely because of them, the song is catchy and plays on their strong suit which is to have the vocals take centre stage.The other two new, but bonus, tracks include Help Us Out and We Cannot Lose which are also of high quality. Remix closer and Area B-side, Decent Days and Nights, is of course an outside (Shy Child) mix of the first album single. Sampling the original, it gives it a completely different sound, actually working the chronology of the song backwards, and all in all it gets me pumped to listen to The Futureheads again. It's just too bad that its not this album that I want to spin once more.
posted by Stefan Andrushenko at
12:56 PM
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