Written 28th October 2009:
Muse – The Resistance
Muse, without question the greatest live band, ever, ever, ever! (In my humble opinion of course, this is the internet after all!)
Ok, so is there anyone out there who actually doesn’t like Muse? Really? If so you’re probably not really a fan of great Indie music bands so I’m wondering why you have ended up on my Blog dedicated to ‘cool for 15 minute Indie Bands? Anyway rant over lets a have brief history lesson of Muse.
So Muse came on the scene circa 1998, and, if my maths is any good, have actually been going for just over a good decade now. I remember one of their early singles being ‘Uno’, before I was lucky enough to see them record an ‘X-Fm’ session on the day their debut album ‘Showbiz’ came out. Obviously at the time I didn’t really know much of their material at this point but came away thinking, “frigging hell these guys make a lot of noise and create a good sound for a three piece!!”
Much anticipated 2nd album ‘Origin of Symmetry’ followed this and was really when they started to get a bit more recognised and recognition with hit singles ‘Plug In Baby’, ‘New Born’ ‘Bliss’ and ‘Feeling Good’, before the band hit the big time with the arrival of 3rd album ‘Absolution’. After another string of successful hits and rave live reviews Muse had hit the big time, erm, big time!! 4th album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, was massively anticipated, and being the cool as fudge band that they are, not only did they pull out another great album from the bag, but some argued that it was their best to date.
So with a band now reaching a following of epic proportions in not only the world of Indie music, but music in general how does their 5th album The Resistance stand up, eh?? Short answer not bad, but let’s do this properly and go through it track-by-track.
The album kicks off with ‘Uprising’, a very electronic sort of track, with a rhythmic bass line beating through it, and sound bites ‘nicked’ from Doctor Who in the background (well I’m pretty sure it’s Doctor Who!). This is a really decent opening track and gets the album off to a good start. Next up title track ‘Resistance’ follows and this is classic Muse territory with Matt Bellamy’s obsession with space coming through very strongly in this track. The lyrics “Could Be Wrong, Could Be Wrong” are the first time on the album where I think this record sounds a bit Queen-esque, but certainly not the last!!
‘Undisclosed Desires’ is an amazing song. The band have openly admitted in the past they would be keen to record a future bond theme (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8257767.stm), but I would say a track like this would make the perfect bond theme, with its synth based opening and rhythm throughout, it’s string-laden chorus and it’s whispered backing vocals from Dom over the 2nd verse. This is an amazing, amazing song!!
First single from the album ‘United States of Eurasia’ follows, and is the 2nd track on the album that makes me thinks of ‘Queen’ again, although it still has a distinctly Muse feel to it. It starts with a slow piano melody and softly sung lyrics before it goes into a more epic sounding-prog rock track, with the occasional vocal pieces that reminds me of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ like vocals. I guessing the ‘+ Collateral Damage’ part of this song is the little peaceful like piano at the end of the track, with the fighter jet engines appearing in the background. No really this does happen!! ‘Guiding Light’ opens with massive ‘stadium rock’ like drumming. More of a slowed down rock track with a SUPER MASSIVE guitar solo thrown into the middle of it. Not my personal favourite track on the album in all honesty.
However, I do like ‘Unnatural Selection’, a 7 minute epic of a rock track, starting with a church like organ, before speeding up into an accelerating guitar riff. This track, like, totally, rocks dude!! ‘Mk Ultra’ continues the speeded up, space age rock, with another mental guitar riff opening it. We are still like, totally, rocking here to the max dude!! Now things get interesting with ‘I Belong to You’, a jazz, funk fusion of a track, with Matt Bellamy even pulling off some lyrics in French!! Muse being overly-extravagant? Never!! This is what I would call a ‘marmite’ track, you’ll either love it or hate it, I actually favour the former off the two.
And then we get to the final three tracks off the album, the much talked about ‘Exogenesis’, which is supposed to be a symphony consisting of 3 parts, ‘Overture’, ‘Cross-Pollination’ and ‘Redemption’. Each track seems to have its own purpose in building to an epic finale for an album that overall does nothing to hide its roots of the question of “Are we really alone or is there something really out there?” I’m not too sure about this three part symphony in all honesty, but I must confess I do like 'Part 1: Overture' musically. I guess the purpose of the symphony is to complete the 'story' of this album.
So, overall then I like this album generally, but in comparison to the earlier Muse albums and the bigger picture of all things (see what I did there!?), it’s not as mind-blowing but still a great record to listen to for some serious escapism. I think I shall mark this one 7 Resistors out of 10, so another solid album by Muse, but they have done better material in the past in my opinion for sure. Also, if you do get hold of it and like it for being the experimental album that it is, then I would highly recommend that you get hold off the 1998 album 'Six' by Mansun, an album even more ambitious and barmier than this Muse effort.
The Resistance ‘Flynny‘
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #7: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Written 20th October 2009:
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?
Well, to be honest at first I really wasn’t too sure about the Arctic Monkeys. Alright ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ was a decent track, but as Alex says at the start of the video “Don’t Believe the Hype”. That is exactly what I thought upon hearing their 1st album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ and following singles ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and ‘View from the Afternoon’ which subsequently featured on the ‘Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?’ EP.
After this ‘Fluorescent Adolescence’ was released, the 1st single from they’re forthcoming 2nd album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ which radio stations across the UK were all over quicker than a fly to shit! I fucking hated it and to be honest it’s still not a particular favourite track off mine by them, and I used to curse it every time it came on the radio.
What changed all this however was the off chance that I caught their Saturday night highlight slot at Glastonbury 2007 as by this point, due to my stubbornness, I still had not heard much off their new material from the 2nd album at this time! After watching this performance by them though, it finally dawned on me that these boys can really fucking play well and do actually have some awesome tunes in their locker.
After this I went out and brought the 2nd album (which I gave a brief review in Blog #1 of Flynndie Reviews, fact fans!!), and became hooked, even then going out and buying the 1st album!! So by the time the imminent release of the 3rd album came round I was like, ‘right I ain’t gonna fucking miss being on the band wagon this time, especially with Josh Homme’s involvement’, but after this previous hate/love relationship with the Monkeys how do I feel having had a few listens to their 3rd offering, ‘Humbug’? Read on to find out……
Ok, so the album opens with a short, sharp quick drum solo, before going into menacing guitar heavy riffs which straightaway you can tell Mr. Homme has had his fingers in at some point. I actually quite like this opening track and feel it is a good indication quite early off the major change in-direction this album takes from the 1st two offerings from the Monkeys. Even from as early as this track, 'My Propellor', you may already notice Alex’s voice sounds a bit different on this record in comparison to the previous two LPs, more dark and mature sounding in my opinion.
Next up is 1st single from the album ‘Crying Lightning’, again a pretty solid rock track with a deep, heavy bass line coursing through its veins. I wasn’t too sure about it when I first heard it but it seems to get better with each listen. This is then followed by ‘Dangerous Animals’, another track that seems to get better with each listen with a definite nod towards the sounds of ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ particularly with its spellings off the words of the song title throughout and over the chorus.
‘Secret Door’ starts with a loose, slow guitar riff before going into the 1st melancholic rock track on the album, this one doesn’t blow me away by any means but again I found I quite liked it the other day. ‘Potion Approaching’ is a ‘live’ favourite of the band I believe, it starts with jagged guitars and a bass line that coasts through its chorus, before in the 2nd half of the track it goes on into a full on trippy riff?!?! I’m wondering what ‘Potions’ the Arctic’s were on when they wrote this track?
The middle of the album is the weakest part of the album for me. First, ‘Fire and the Thud’, is possibly the weakest track on the album another chilled out, acoustic type track, before next single ‘Cornerstone’. Again, this track doesn’t really do anything much for me, it coasts along steadily with jangly guitars, but doesn’t have too much about it. I guess it’s appropriate for radio play! ‘Dance Little Liar’ is another slowed down affair with some droning guitar sounds in the background.
Thankfully, ‘Pretty Visitors’ really picks things up again, easily my favourite track on the album, it starts with a haunting organ piece before going into a fast catchy bursts of chorus before the big sing-a-long chorus and then the immortal line ‘What came first? The chicken or the dickhead?’ What a classic line!!! Last track ‘The Jeweller’s Hand’ is another quiet, slow track, and hasn’t again caught my attention too much on previous listens.
So, a bit of a mixed bag of a review on this one then, I think I shall award it 6 Bah, Humbugs!! out of 10, but this album does tend to be a bit of a grower. I just think in comparison to the 1st two albums, this is an album that I won’t listen to as much in the future as I have done with the other two in the past. I appreciate that they have tried something a bit different with this record and let’s face it you can’t blame them for wanting to go out to the desert to work with Josh Homme, but I still think this is their weakest album to date and ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is still my, erm, favourite!!
Bah, Humbug!! Flynny
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?
Well, to be honest at first I really wasn’t too sure about the Arctic Monkeys. Alright ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ was a decent track, but as Alex says at the start of the video “Don’t Believe the Hype”. That is exactly what I thought upon hearing their 1st album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ and following singles ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and ‘View from the Afternoon’ which subsequently featured on the ‘Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?’ EP.
After this ‘Fluorescent Adolescence’ was released, the 1st single from they’re forthcoming 2nd album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ which radio stations across the UK were all over quicker than a fly to shit! I fucking hated it and to be honest it’s still not a particular favourite track off mine by them, and I used to curse it every time it came on the radio.
What changed all this however was the off chance that I caught their Saturday night highlight slot at Glastonbury 2007 as by this point, due to my stubbornness, I still had not heard much off their new material from the 2nd album at this time! After watching this performance by them though, it finally dawned on me that these boys can really fucking play well and do actually have some awesome tunes in their locker.
After this I went out and brought the 2nd album (which I gave a brief review in Blog #1 of Flynndie Reviews, fact fans!!), and became hooked, even then going out and buying the 1st album!! So by the time the imminent release of the 3rd album came round I was like, ‘right I ain’t gonna fucking miss being on the band wagon this time, especially with Josh Homme’s involvement’, but after this previous hate/love relationship with the Monkeys how do I feel having had a few listens to their 3rd offering, ‘Humbug’? Read on to find out……
Ok, so the album opens with a short, sharp quick drum solo, before going into menacing guitar heavy riffs which straightaway you can tell Mr. Homme has had his fingers in at some point. I actually quite like this opening track and feel it is a good indication quite early off the major change in-direction this album takes from the 1st two offerings from the Monkeys. Even from as early as this track, 'My Propellor', you may already notice Alex’s voice sounds a bit different on this record in comparison to the previous two LPs, more dark and mature sounding in my opinion.
Next up is 1st single from the album ‘Crying Lightning’, again a pretty solid rock track with a deep, heavy bass line coursing through its veins. I wasn’t too sure about it when I first heard it but it seems to get better with each listen. This is then followed by ‘Dangerous Animals’, another track that seems to get better with each listen with a definite nod towards the sounds of ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ particularly with its spellings off the words of the song title throughout and over the chorus.
‘Secret Door’ starts with a loose, slow guitar riff before going into the 1st melancholic rock track on the album, this one doesn’t blow me away by any means but again I found I quite liked it the other day. ‘Potion Approaching’ is a ‘live’ favourite of the band I believe, it starts with jagged guitars and a bass line that coasts through its chorus, before in the 2nd half of the track it goes on into a full on trippy riff?!?! I’m wondering what ‘Potions’ the Arctic’s were on when they wrote this track?
The middle of the album is the weakest part of the album for me. First, ‘Fire and the Thud’, is possibly the weakest track on the album another chilled out, acoustic type track, before next single ‘Cornerstone’. Again, this track doesn’t really do anything much for me, it coasts along steadily with jangly guitars, but doesn’t have too much about it. I guess it’s appropriate for radio play! ‘Dance Little Liar’ is another slowed down affair with some droning guitar sounds in the background.
Thankfully, ‘Pretty Visitors’ really picks things up again, easily my favourite track on the album, it starts with a haunting organ piece before going into a fast catchy bursts of chorus before the big sing-a-long chorus and then the immortal line ‘What came first? The chicken or the dickhead?’ What a classic line!!! Last track ‘The Jeweller’s Hand’ is another quiet, slow track, and hasn’t again caught my attention too much on previous listens.
So, a bit of a mixed bag of a review on this one then, I think I shall award it 6 Bah, Humbugs!! out of 10, but this album does tend to be a bit of a grower. I just think in comparison to the 1st two albums, this is an album that I won’t listen to as much in the future as I have done with the other two in the past. I appreciate that they have tried something a bit different with this record and let’s face it you can’t blame them for wanting to go out to the desert to work with Josh Homme, but I still think this is their weakest album to date and ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is still my, erm, favourite!!
Bah, Humbug!! Flynny
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #6: Nine Black Alps - Locked Out from the Inside
Written 14th October 2009:
Nine Black Alps – Locked Out from the Inside
Erm, what’s up doc??
Okey-dokey, after a vote by ‘the people’, I’ve come to write Blog #6 of Flynndie Reviews and today’s blog will be a review of an album by what I would call a ‘proper’ band Nine Black Alps. Seriously, I like these guys, no flashy gimmicks, no whoring themselves to the media, just four honest Manchester lads who you can tell are passionate about what they do, and what’s that you may ask? They write fucking great Indie rock songs, which if you’re reading this blog will hopefully appeal to you too!! Ok, so let’s get on with this.
Right as always I like to give a bit of an overview of the band’s previous material, so in this case let me just say their debut ‘Everything Is’, Is Everything you would want from a debut album, cracking tunes from start to finish, I listened to it a lot when I got hold of it and listened to it again the other week, which was a major kick up the arse reminder of how good it is.
‘Love/Hate’ followed this and I personally quite liked it, but felt it was a little bit more poppy and maybe a bit more commercial than the debut, although still rocky in places but you could still tell it was an album by a band who are creating their own style. I would suggest maybe listening to or downloading a few tracks before you try and get hold of ‘Love/Hate’ and see what you think. Track #4 ‘Pet Hate’ is a definite recommendation from me though.
So, onto ‘Locked Out from the Inside’. The album opens with ‘Vampire in the Sun’, a clear indication that this album goes back to the roots of ‘Everything Is’, with its brooding guitars and bass line’s before the sing-a-along chorus crashes in, it’s a nice opening to the album. ‘Salt Water’ follows and keeps up the frenetic pace set by the opening track, with its punchy slow bit/fast bit chorus rocking along nicely.
‘Every Photograph Steals Your Soul’, and we’re still in major grungy territory here, especially with the 90’s classic sounding ‘YEAH’s’ reminding me a certain 90’s band beginning with ‘N’, that we don’t like to make comparisons too. ‘YEAH!’
‘Cold Star’ features sharp, fast guitar riffs before hitting the perfectly fitting chorus “You’re My Cold Star…….” before we can finally catch our breath for the 1st time with ‘Bay of Angels’, a more melodic tune with a really strong chorus in it, I actually quite like this tune and it fits well in place of the album.
‘Porcupine’ is another good, fun rock assault on the ears, followed by ‘Full Moon Summer’, that all I’ve got to say about is a fucking IMMENSE tune!! Seriously top, top song!! ‘Silence Kills’ is a bit of different sound to the rest of the album, if anything this sounds a bit Pink Floyd in my opinion, but fair play for trying something a bit different.
Download only single ‘Buy Nothing’ is a typical Black Alps affair, and by that I mean a kick ass rock track, ‘Along for the Ride’ follows with guitar heavy riffs, that you can perfectly nod your head to.
Then we have the final track on the album, and actually my favourite track, ‘Ghost in the City’. A completely different track to the fast paced, grungy guitar driven sound off most of the rest of the album, this is a slow, melodic track with a killer guitar hook looping through it. I guess despite being a fan of kick ass Indie rock, I’m still a sucker to this type of slowed down numbers.
So, as you will no doubt tell from the review, I’m quite enthusiastic about this new album from the Alps, and personally I think it’s a good return to form from the lads. I’m gonna award this album 8 Ghosts in the City out of 10, and a very strong 8 at that so recommended stuff, but also make sure you pick up their debut album as well, because it should be in every Indie rock fans music collection!!!
Ghost in the City ‘Flynny’
Nine Black Alps – Locked Out from the Inside
Erm, what’s up doc??
Okey-dokey, after a vote by ‘the people’, I’ve come to write Blog #6 of Flynndie Reviews and today’s blog will be a review of an album by what I would call a ‘proper’ band Nine Black Alps. Seriously, I like these guys, no flashy gimmicks, no whoring themselves to the media, just four honest Manchester lads who you can tell are passionate about what they do, and what’s that you may ask? They write fucking great Indie rock songs, which if you’re reading this blog will hopefully appeal to you too!! Ok, so let’s get on with this.
Right as always I like to give a bit of an overview of the band’s previous material, so in this case let me just say their debut ‘Everything Is’, Is Everything you would want from a debut album, cracking tunes from start to finish, I listened to it a lot when I got hold of it and listened to it again the other week, which was a major kick up the arse reminder of how good it is.
‘Love/Hate’ followed this and I personally quite liked it, but felt it was a little bit more poppy and maybe a bit more commercial than the debut, although still rocky in places but you could still tell it was an album by a band who are creating their own style. I would suggest maybe listening to or downloading a few tracks before you try and get hold of ‘Love/Hate’ and see what you think. Track #4 ‘Pet Hate’ is a definite recommendation from me though.
So, onto ‘Locked Out from the Inside’. The album opens with ‘Vampire in the Sun’, a clear indication that this album goes back to the roots of ‘Everything Is’, with its brooding guitars and bass line’s before the sing-a-along chorus crashes in, it’s a nice opening to the album. ‘Salt Water’ follows and keeps up the frenetic pace set by the opening track, with its punchy slow bit/fast bit chorus rocking along nicely.
‘Every Photograph Steals Your Soul’, and we’re still in major grungy territory here, especially with the 90’s classic sounding ‘YEAH’s’ reminding me a certain 90’s band beginning with ‘N’, that we don’t like to make comparisons too. ‘YEAH!’
‘Cold Star’ features sharp, fast guitar riffs before hitting the perfectly fitting chorus “You’re My Cold Star…….” before we can finally catch our breath for the 1st time with ‘Bay of Angels’, a more melodic tune with a really strong chorus in it, I actually quite like this tune and it fits well in place of the album.
‘Porcupine’ is another good, fun rock assault on the ears, followed by ‘Full Moon Summer’, that all I’ve got to say about is a fucking IMMENSE tune!! Seriously top, top song!! ‘Silence Kills’ is a bit of different sound to the rest of the album, if anything this sounds a bit Pink Floyd in my opinion, but fair play for trying something a bit different.
Download only single ‘Buy Nothing’ is a typical Black Alps affair, and by that I mean a kick ass rock track, ‘Along for the Ride’ follows with guitar heavy riffs, that you can perfectly nod your head to.
Then we have the final track on the album, and actually my favourite track, ‘Ghost in the City’. A completely different track to the fast paced, grungy guitar driven sound off most of the rest of the album, this is a slow, melodic track with a killer guitar hook looping through it. I guess despite being a fan of kick ass Indie rock, I’m still a sucker to this type of slowed down numbers.
So, as you will no doubt tell from the review, I’m quite enthusiastic about this new album from the Alps, and personally I think it’s a good return to form from the lads. I’m gonna award this album 8 Ghosts in the City out of 10, and a very strong 8 at that so recommended stuff, but also make sure you pick up their debut album as well, because it should be in every Indie rock fans music collection!!!
Ghost in the City ‘Flynny’
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #5: Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Written September 2009:
Ahoy there pop pickers!!
Right it's been a while but welcome to Blog #5 of Flynndie Reviews. Possibly the reason for the delay is that I try and review albums that I think you may not already have or already heard, so while 'big hitters' like ‘Arctic Monkeys’ and ‘Muse’ have returned with new offerings recently, which your likely to have already heard, I've decided to review the 2nd offering from 'Big' Jon McClure aka ‘The Reverend’ aka ‘Reverend and The Makers’ and their 2nd album 'A French Kiss in the Chaos'!!
Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Ok, so let me begin by saying now that if you haven't already got the 1st Reverend album 'The State of Things', buy it, burrow it, nick it, download it, whatever, just get hold of a copy of it, cause it's a great, fun, fucking sing-along of an album, one of those sort that you put on, on a Friday night before having it large all weekend!!! Bit of a soundtrack for me and my mate Bomber already this summer at the Oasis Wembley gig (sob-sob I'm still gutted about the split, well not that much)!!
So onto the new material, and a bit of a heads up as well, if you never really followed Jon McClure before, believe me he is well political!! Ok, so the album opener 'Silence Is Talking’ was a recent single, I believe, and great way to kick things off. It starts with a proper Indie guitar riff, before fusing into a ‘Happy Mondays’ dance vibe, needless to say I fucking like this tune!!
We then move onto 2nd track 'Hidden Persuaders' and if you hadn't already picked up on political vibes already, you'll realise that ‘The Rev’ isn't shy at taking a pop at how commercialism tends to dictate modern day English society, controversial I guess, but he says it all whilst writing such fucking good tunes to back them with at the same time, another decent track in my book.
'No Wood Just Trees', is alright as well and then we move on to a personal favourite of mine 'Professor Pickles', another catchy tune with a mesmerising drum loop beating all the way through the heart of it. The album has a couple of slower, acoustic offerings in the middle of it, before we get to real stand out track 7 called 'Manifesto/People Shapers'.
As you will no doubt guess The Rev is really on his soapbox by now, but fuck me can he put a tune to his rants?! As the title suggests this is actually two tunes merged into one, 'Manifesto' is good stuff, but when he starts going into 'People Shapers' words cannot describe the fucking genius of this guy!! Seriously, I love this track and it comes highly recommended, too political for a single I would say, but try and get hold of it.
'Mermaids' is another rocky, catchy indie driven track, before 'The End' follows, and finally the album closes with its 10th track 'Hard Time for Dreamers'. Probably one of the few tracks I don't really like on the album, mainly because the content of the lyrics are too depressing, even for me so I don't tend to listen to this one!
So in summary, as you can tell I quite like this album, but when you stand it up against the debut album it not quite as good, and not quite as fun with it's political under (or should that be over?) tones, but overall I gonna give it 8 French Kisses out of 10, so recommended, but get the debut album first!!
Not sure what's up next, let me know if there is anything you would like me to review that you may be considering in the future.
Professor ‘Flynny’ Pickles!
Ahoy there pop pickers!!
Right it's been a while but welcome to Blog #5 of Flynndie Reviews. Possibly the reason for the delay is that I try and review albums that I think you may not already have or already heard, so while 'big hitters' like ‘Arctic Monkeys’ and ‘Muse’ have returned with new offerings recently, which your likely to have already heard, I've decided to review the 2nd offering from 'Big' Jon McClure aka ‘The Reverend’ aka ‘Reverend and The Makers’ and their 2nd album 'A French Kiss in the Chaos'!!
Reverend and the Makers - A French Kiss in the Chaos
Ok, so let me begin by saying now that if you haven't already got the 1st Reverend album 'The State of Things', buy it, burrow it, nick it, download it, whatever, just get hold of a copy of it, cause it's a great, fun, fucking sing-along of an album, one of those sort that you put on, on a Friday night before having it large all weekend!!! Bit of a soundtrack for me and my mate Bomber already this summer at the Oasis Wembley gig (sob-sob I'm still gutted about the split, well not that much)!!
So onto the new material, and a bit of a heads up as well, if you never really followed Jon McClure before, believe me he is well political!! Ok, so the album opener 'Silence Is Talking’ was a recent single, I believe, and great way to kick things off. It starts with a proper Indie guitar riff, before fusing into a ‘Happy Mondays’ dance vibe, needless to say I fucking like this tune!!
We then move onto 2nd track 'Hidden Persuaders' and if you hadn't already picked up on political vibes already, you'll realise that ‘The Rev’ isn't shy at taking a pop at how commercialism tends to dictate modern day English society, controversial I guess, but he says it all whilst writing such fucking good tunes to back them with at the same time, another decent track in my book.
'No Wood Just Trees', is alright as well and then we move on to a personal favourite of mine 'Professor Pickles', another catchy tune with a mesmerising drum loop beating all the way through the heart of it. The album has a couple of slower, acoustic offerings in the middle of it, before we get to real stand out track 7 called 'Manifesto/People Shapers'.
As you will no doubt guess The Rev is really on his soapbox by now, but fuck me can he put a tune to his rants?! As the title suggests this is actually two tunes merged into one, 'Manifesto' is good stuff, but when he starts going into 'People Shapers' words cannot describe the fucking genius of this guy!! Seriously, I love this track and it comes highly recommended, too political for a single I would say, but try and get hold of it.
'Mermaids' is another rocky, catchy indie driven track, before 'The End' follows, and finally the album closes with its 10th track 'Hard Time for Dreamers'. Probably one of the few tracks I don't really like on the album, mainly because the content of the lyrics are too depressing, even for me so I don't tend to listen to this one!
So in summary, as you can tell I quite like this album, but when you stand it up against the debut album it not quite as good, and not quite as fun with it's political under (or should that be over?) tones, but overall I gonna give it 8 French Kisses out of 10, so recommended, but get the debut album first!!
Not sure what's up next, let me know if there is anything you would like me to review that you may be considering in the future.
Professor ‘Flynny’ Pickles!
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #4: Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Written July 2009
Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Right, back in November 2008 (I think) Idlewild made a proposition to their fans to pre-pay for the recording of their new album, which I'm guessing none of you decided to take up, but as they are one of my all time favourite bands I decided to go with the idea. By doing this the band provided videos and photos via a website of the album making process, and all fans received a label-free copy of the album and with a name check, waaaaaaaay in advance of any general release.
At present the band are now looking for a label to give the album a general release around September time (edit: it has now since been released on’t 5th October on Cooking Vinyl label!) but in the mean time is it worth the wait you may be wondering? I've had the album nearly two weeks now so hopefully I can answer your question!
Ok, unusual album title for an Idlewild record for a start, and I'm still not sure what it's about to be honest. The album opens with 'Younger Than America' a good solid Idlewild rock track, and general consensus by fans is that this is quite a popular track. 'Readers/Writers' then takes a bit of a different sound for the 'Wild, quite a jolly old romp of a rock track with even a xylophone thrown in, in the background, I actually really like this track and feel it's even better than the opener. Track 3 'City Hall' is another fine effort, then '(The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life' is again new territory for the boys, featuring almost a duet like folk song between Roddy and Rod, but it actually works really well.
"Dreams of Nothing" is another good fun rocky track, before one of my favourite tracks on the album, "Take Me Back To The Islands", a piano driven folk track with superb vocals from Roddy, backed by John McCusker on violin and the lovely Heidi Talbot offering beautiful backing vocals, really nice, relaxing track (maybe a bit unusual for an Idlewild record!)
So we hit track 7 'Post Electric', not a particular favourite of mine, quite blues-esque, then 'All Over The Town' is classic Idlewild with a jangly Smiths' like guitar driving through it, suffice to say I fucking love it!
The closing few tracks tend to fade away a bit for me, not sure quite why, perhaps because the earlier few tracks on the album are such fun, especially in comparison to older Idlewild records which tend to be a bit more bleaker, but these closing tracks lowers the mark a bit for me.
However, I’m gonna give this one 8 Blues Jazz Musicians out of 10, this is certainly my favourite Idlewild LP since 'The Remote Part', with a good blend of their type of material spanning most of their previous albums, so take this as high praise on another worthy record by them.
Not sure what my next review will be. I could if there is any interest give a live review of the Oasis gig at Wembley, and the supports acts, though I am planning on being somewhat intoxicated that day. Has anyone else got any decent records to share or has anyone else had the chance to listen to Kasabian's latest offerings one off my recent reviews?
Take Me Back To The Islands,
Flynny
Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Right, back in November 2008 (I think) Idlewild made a proposition to their fans to pre-pay for the recording of their new album, which I'm guessing none of you decided to take up, but as they are one of my all time favourite bands I decided to go with the idea. By doing this the band provided videos and photos via a website of the album making process, and all fans received a label-free copy of the album and with a name check, waaaaaaaay in advance of any general release.
At present the band are now looking for a label to give the album a general release around September time (edit: it has now since been released on’t 5th October on Cooking Vinyl label!) but in the mean time is it worth the wait you may be wondering? I've had the album nearly two weeks now so hopefully I can answer your question!
Ok, unusual album title for an Idlewild record for a start, and I'm still not sure what it's about to be honest. The album opens with 'Younger Than America' a good solid Idlewild rock track, and general consensus by fans is that this is quite a popular track. 'Readers/Writers' then takes a bit of a different sound for the 'Wild, quite a jolly old romp of a rock track with even a xylophone thrown in, in the background, I actually really like this track and feel it's even better than the opener. Track 3 'City Hall' is another fine effort, then '(The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life' is again new territory for the boys, featuring almost a duet like folk song between Roddy and Rod, but it actually works really well.
"Dreams of Nothing" is another good fun rocky track, before one of my favourite tracks on the album, "Take Me Back To The Islands", a piano driven folk track with superb vocals from Roddy, backed by John McCusker on violin and the lovely Heidi Talbot offering beautiful backing vocals, really nice, relaxing track (maybe a bit unusual for an Idlewild record!)
So we hit track 7 'Post Electric', not a particular favourite of mine, quite blues-esque, then 'All Over The Town' is classic Idlewild with a jangly Smiths' like guitar driving through it, suffice to say I fucking love it!
The closing few tracks tend to fade away a bit for me, not sure quite why, perhaps because the earlier few tracks on the album are such fun, especially in comparison to older Idlewild records which tend to be a bit more bleaker, but these closing tracks lowers the mark a bit for me.
However, I’m gonna give this one 8 Blues Jazz Musicians out of 10, this is certainly my favourite Idlewild LP since 'The Remote Part', with a good blend of their type of material spanning most of their previous albums, so take this as high praise on another worthy record by them.
Not sure what my next review will be. I could if there is any interest give a live review of the Oasis gig at Wembley, and the supports acts, though I am planning on being somewhat intoxicated that day. Has anyone else got any decent records to share or has anyone else had the chance to listen to Kasabian's latest offerings one off my recent reviews?
Take Me Back To The Islands,
Flynny
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #3: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Written June 2009:
Previously in Flynndie Reviews....
Right bumper blog today for a quality band, Kasabian, but if you recall in the last blog on Flynndie Reviews, I gave what may have seemed a bit of a harsh review of Maximo Park’s 3rd album ‘Quicken The Heart’, in which I gave it '6 kids with chickenpox out of 10'.
However, having now had the chance to give it a few more listens, it’s definitely a grower, the opening two tracks are much better than I gave them credit for and overall I like the album as a whole so feel it is more deserving of a 7 out of 10, nearly an 8. Still yet to watch the DVD but I imagine its good shit! Right now onto....
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Forget the kerrrazy album title this is a solid album, although not quite genius. Now be warned this is quite a different animal to the 1st two Kasabian albums, more like a cat ‘likes to be unique, but always assured of itself’ and this is by no means a bad thing. I love the fact that this band has a genuinely unique sound going for them, therefore making this review a bit tougher to make comparisons to other bands but try I shall.
So opening track ‘Underdog’ is actually a good starting point to where ‘Empire’ left off, chances are you’ll recognise this track as it was used on the Bravia TV advert with Kaka doing keepy-ups in a Joe-90 style spinning thingy, and it gets you nicely into the record. ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’ follows and this is the first insight that this album is more laidback than the first two, this is a good foot-tapping tune and is quickly followed by two more ‘Swarfiga’ and previous standalone single ‘Fast Fuse’, again another typical sort of Kasabian tune which I always liked.
The middle tracks of the album are where things become really laid back and subtle, ‘Take Aim, ‘Thick As Theives’ and West Ryder’, all well written songs in fairness but I find that my interest tends to wane a bit at this point of the album for some reason, fortunately 1st single ‘Vlad The Impaler’ restores it again. When I first heard this I was not too keen on it, but when you hear it in place on the album, it really picks the album up again. Serge is a fucking genius when it comes to picking the right songs for singles!
Track 10 ‘Secret Alphabets’ is my favourite track on the album, although for some reason I find it hard to explain why! This is not the sort of track you would associate Kasabian with. It opens with sounds that would not be out of place on The Beatles ‘Revolver’, and then beautifully merges into a laidback tune that I would expect from a Cooper Temple Clause B-Side (One of my all time favourite bands, RIP!). A-ha, that’s why I fucking love this track so much!
Track 11 ‘Fire’ is another good foot tapper and closer ‘Happpiness’ is alright but certainly no ‘Doberman’ from Empire which was a fucking epic closer. Overall though, I’m really into this laidback but assured effort from Kasabian and I am gonna give it 8 lunatics out of 10! I’m looking forward to watching the Live DVD that came with it from their performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Tune in for my next blog, as the boys from Idlewild have finally been in touch and ‘Post Electric Blues’ (jazzy album title huh!!) has finally been released from its hostage like situation in a CD pressing plant in Poland (not a joke!), and apparently the boys are posting it out today, so expect a review shortly....
Control Out,
Flynny
Previously in Flynndie Reviews....
Right bumper blog today for a quality band, Kasabian, but if you recall in the last blog on Flynndie Reviews, I gave what may have seemed a bit of a harsh review of Maximo Park’s 3rd album ‘Quicken The Heart’, in which I gave it '6 kids with chickenpox out of 10'.
However, having now had the chance to give it a few more listens, it’s definitely a grower, the opening two tracks are much better than I gave them credit for and overall I like the album as a whole so feel it is more deserving of a 7 out of 10, nearly an 8. Still yet to watch the DVD but I imagine its good shit! Right now onto....
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Forget the kerrrazy album title this is a solid album, although not quite genius. Now be warned this is quite a different animal to the 1st two Kasabian albums, more like a cat ‘likes to be unique, but always assured of itself’ and this is by no means a bad thing. I love the fact that this band has a genuinely unique sound going for them, therefore making this review a bit tougher to make comparisons to other bands but try I shall.
So opening track ‘Underdog’ is actually a good starting point to where ‘Empire’ left off, chances are you’ll recognise this track as it was used on the Bravia TV advert with Kaka doing keepy-ups in a Joe-90 style spinning thingy, and it gets you nicely into the record. ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’ follows and this is the first insight that this album is more laidback than the first two, this is a good foot-tapping tune and is quickly followed by two more ‘Swarfiga’ and previous standalone single ‘Fast Fuse’, again another typical sort of Kasabian tune which I always liked.
The middle tracks of the album are where things become really laid back and subtle, ‘Take Aim, ‘Thick As Theives’ and West Ryder’, all well written songs in fairness but I find that my interest tends to wane a bit at this point of the album for some reason, fortunately 1st single ‘Vlad The Impaler’ restores it again. When I first heard this I was not too keen on it, but when you hear it in place on the album, it really picks the album up again. Serge is a fucking genius when it comes to picking the right songs for singles!
Track 10 ‘Secret Alphabets’ is my favourite track on the album, although for some reason I find it hard to explain why! This is not the sort of track you would associate Kasabian with. It opens with sounds that would not be out of place on The Beatles ‘Revolver’, and then beautifully merges into a laidback tune that I would expect from a Cooper Temple Clause B-Side (One of my all time favourite bands, RIP!). A-ha, that’s why I fucking love this track so much!
Track 11 ‘Fire’ is another good foot tapper and closer ‘Happpiness’ is alright but certainly no ‘Doberman’ from Empire which was a fucking epic closer. Overall though, I’m really into this laidback but assured effort from Kasabian and I am gonna give it 8 lunatics out of 10! I’m looking forward to watching the Live DVD that came with it from their performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Tune in for my next blog, as the boys from Idlewild have finally been in touch and ‘Post Electric Blues’ (jazzy album title huh!!) has finally been released from its hostage like situation in a CD pressing plant in Poland (not a joke!), and apparently the boys are posting it out today, so expect a review shortly....
Control Out,
Flynny
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #2: Maximo Park - Quicken The Heart
Note, again this review was written towards the end of May 2009.
Right, new Maximo Park (3rd album stat fans!) arrived yesterday called 'Quicken The Heart'. Now I pre-ordered which turned out to be a badly signed copy, still not sure if it says 'Thanks' or 'Thomas' on it, but I'm pretty sure it says 'Thomas'. (Edit: I have since realised this ‘Thomas’ or 'Tom' is actually the drummer off the band, man I’m such a donut sometimes!! However, still I would argue that you would expect the entire band to have made the effort to sign an album you’ve made the effort to pre-order!!)
Ok Maximo Park, I fucking loved their 1st album ‘A Certain Trigger’ and still dig it out regularly, I loved to ‘Apply Some Pressure’, draw some ‘Graffiti’, and watch the ‘Coast Is Always Changing’. The 2nd album, I felt was nowhere near as good as the 1st, but still had some good tracks on it after a few listens.
Anyway, this review is based on my 1st listen so could change, but these are my ‘1st Impressions of Earth’ (what do you mean that was a Strokes album and not Maximo Park, doh! Oh that's right Maximo's 2nd one was called ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’!)
Ok so the 1st two tracks didn't have much of an impression on me initially, but I’ve since realised they are a couple of solid tracks, ‘The Penultimate Clinch’ in particular was underappreciated on my 1st few listens. Next up the single ‘The Kids Are Sick Again’ follows, to say I was sick of the song would be harsh, but again not too much to shout about on early impressions.
Track 4, ‘A Cloud Of Mystery’, is the 1st one to catch my attention, mainly because it sounds like very, very early REM which is never a bad thing in my book. Anyway, the album 'coasts' on. ‘Let's Get Clinical’ has a funky 80's bass line through it that Mark King of Level 42 fame (hmm, how do I know this stuff?) would have been proud off.
Now we get to track 10 ‘Questing, Not Coasting’ and finally a song that sounds like an old school Maximo Park tune, although so far it's taken 10 tracks to get to one!! For me this is the highlight of the album. What is it with Maximo songs and the word ‘Coast’ in them sounding so good? Anyway, the last two tracks sounded quite good too, but overall I'm not blown away by this effort yet...
'Quicken the Heart', for me gets 6 kids with chicken pox out of 10 (see the "Kids Are Sick Again!") Hopefully, the Live DVD that came with it should be better.
Anyway, all going to plan Flynndie Reviews - Blog #3 will contain an early preview of the new Idlewild album which will not be on general release for aaaaaaaaaaages yet, unless you want me to quit my poor attempts at comedy blog reviews just let me know...
Flynny
Right, new Maximo Park (3rd album stat fans!) arrived yesterday called 'Quicken The Heart'. Now I pre-ordered which turned out to be a badly signed copy, still not sure if it says 'Thanks' or 'Thomas' on it, but I'm pretty sure it says 'Thomas'. (Edit: I have since realised this ‘Thomas’ or 'Tom' is actually the drummer off the band, man I’m such a donut sometimes!! However, still I would argue that you would expect the entire band to have made the effort to sign an album you’ve made the effort to pre-order!!)
Ok Maximo Park, I fucking loved their 1st album ‘A Certain Trigger’ and still dig it out regularly, I loved to ‘Apply Some Pressure’, draw some ‘Graffiti’, and watch the ‘Coast Is Always Changing’. The 2nd album, I felt was nowhere near as good as the 1st, but still had some good tracks on it after a few listens.
Anyway, this review is based on my 1st listen so could change, but these are my ‘1st Impressions of Earth’ (what do you mean that was a Strokes album and not Maximo Park, doh! Oh that's right Maximo's 2nd one was called ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’!)
Ok so the 1st two tracks didn't have much of an impression on me initially, but I’ve since realised they are a couple of solid tracks, ‘The Penultimate Clinch’ in particular was underappreciated on my 1st few listens. Next up the single ‘The Kids Are Sick Again’ follows, to say I was sick of the song would be harsh, but again not too much to shout about on early impressions.
Track 4, ‘A Cloud Of Mystery’, is the 1st one to catch my attention, mainly because it sounds like very, very early REM which is never a bad thing in my book. Anyway, the album 'coasts' on. ‘Let's Get Clinical’ has a funky 80's bass line through it that Mark King of Level 42 fame (hmm, how do I know this stuff?) would have been proud off.
Now we get to track 10 ‘Questing, Not Coasting’ and finally a song that sounds like an old school Maximo Park tune, although so far it's taken 10 tracks to get to one!! For me this is the highlight of the album. What is it with Maximo songs and the word ‘Coast’ in them sounding so good? Anyway, the last two tracks sounded quite good too, but overall I'm not blown away by this effort yet...
'Quicken the Heart', for me gets 6 kids with chicken pox out of 10 (see the "Kids Are Sick Again!") Hopefully, the Live DVD that came with it should be better.
Anyway, all going to plan Flynndie Reviews - Blog #3 will contain an early preview of the new Idlewild album which will not be on general release for aaaaaaaaaaages yet, unless you want me to quit my poor attempts at comedy blog reviews just let me know...
Flynny
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #1: The Rakes, Arctic Monkeys and The Prodigy
Welcome to Blog #1 of Flynndie Reviews!
This is just my small fun corner of the internet where I make attempts to review albums by cool for 15 minutes Indie bands with no real purpose other than whether I like their album or not and if you have similar tastes in music to me, as to whether you may also enjoy them based on my reviews.
So with that intro may I introduce to you Blog #1 of Flynndie reviews, which was actually written back in May 2009. Like I say this was the 1st one I wrote so the reviews are very brief, but I will post all the reviews I have done in the past and hopefully, my writing improves with each one that I post.
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #1: The Rakes, Arctic Monkeys and The Prodigy
Right I've had a chance to listen to some new albums I've purchased recently last week and can now give you my 1000 words or less style reviews below:
The Rakes – Ten New Messages: Not a bad listen, not as instant as the 1st album, ‘Capture/Release’ (which is pretty awesome and would receive an 8/10 ‘grand’ job). There are some decent subtle tunes on it and some very witty lyrics. I think this album will grow on me with more listens, but for now I will give it 7 messages out of 10.
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare: Now the Monkeys were a band I didn’t ‘get’ when they released their 1st album, the one with the title ‘this title is so long I can’t be bothered to write it all’, but after watching their performance at Glasto 2008 last year I was well impressed with them and particularly their new songs of this record and fortunately this album does not disappoint!
This record features some mega guitar riffs and lyrics on this one and I’m now think I’m becoming to realise this bands potential considering how young they are. The bastards how can they be this good? Track 4 Balaclava in particular is a mega tune. This is a 9/10 chimpanzees album easily but could rise to 10 with even more listens that’s how much I like it!
Prodigy – Invaders Must Die: Well, well, well, Prodigy have gone back to the old-skool, and this album is so much better for it! Personally my favourite albums of theirs was always the early ones ‘Experience’ and ‘Jilted Generation’, the rave classics, although ‘Fat of the Land’ has some good singles on it, the early rave stuff are what the Prodigy are really all about in my opinion!
This goes back to some big fat tunes, been busting it in my motor with the volume up to 11 and it rocks big style. This record gets 8 Glow Sticks out of 10 but could rise to a 9 with a pair of white gloves as well, again with more listens!
Well this concludes my 1st blog of Flynndie Reviews for now. If anyone else has got anything new worth a bag or worth telling me about simply leave a comment below.
Signing Out,
Flynny
This is just my small fun corner of the internet where I make attempts to review albums by cool for 15 minutes Indie bands with no real purpose other than whether I like their album or not and if you have similar tastes in music to me, as to whether you may also enjoy them based on my reviews.
So with that intro may I introduce to you Blog #1 of Flynndie reviews, which was actually written back in May 2009. Like I say this was the 1st one I wrote so the reviews are very brief, but I will post all the reviews I have done in the past and hopefully, my writing improves with each one that I post.
Flynndie Reviews - Blog #1: The Rakes, Arctic Monkeys and The Prodigy
Right I've had a chance to listen to some new albums I've purchased recently last week and can now give you my 1000 words or less style reviews below:
The Rakes – Ten New Messages: Not a bad listen, not as instant as the 1st album, ‘Capture/Release’ (which is pretty awesome and would receive an 8/10 ‘grand’ job). There are some decent subtle tunes on it and some very witty lyrics. I think this album will grow on me with more listens, but for now I will give it 7 messages out of 10.
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare: Now the Monkeys were a band I didn’t ‘get’ when they released their 1st album, the one with the title ‘this title is so long I can’t be bothered to write it all’, but after watching their performance at Glasto 2008 last year I was well impressed with them and particularly their new songs of this record and fortunately this album does not disappoint!
This record features some mega guitar riffs and lyrics on this one and I’m now think I’m becoming to realise this bands potential considering how young they are. The bastards how can they be this good? Track 4 Balaclava in particular is a mega tune. This is a 9/10 chimpanzees album easily but could rise to 10 with even more listens that’s how much I like it!
Prodigy – Invaders Must Die: Well, well, well, Prodigy have gone back to the old-skool, and this album is so much better for it! Personally my favourite albums of theirs was always the early ones ‘Experience’ and ‘Jilted Generation’, the rave classics, although ‘Fat of the Land’ has some good singles on it, the early rave stuff are what the Prodigy are really all about in my opinion!
This goes back to some big fat tunes, been busting it in my motor with the volume up to 11 and it rocks big style. This record gets 8 Glow Sticks out of 10 but could rise to a 9 with a pair of white gloves as well, again with more listens!
Well this concludes my 1st blog of Flynndie Reviews for now. If anyone else has got anything new worth a bag or worth telling me about simply leave a comment below.
Signing Out,
Flynny
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