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
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