Gordon Bennett
Active member
- Sep 7, 2010
- 385
Ok, here is my overly long and musically uneducated review.
As regards the artwork/presentation, probably the least said about it the better although in its defence it was……er, personalised and……er……hand drawn!
As for the tracks themselves:
1. This was a secret track which turned out to be Alan Partridge reporting from the Olympics! A somewhat unexpected opening to the CD but its solid Partridge fayre nonetheless.
2. The Raconteurs - “Level”: I’d heard of The Raconteurs but didn’t really know anything about them other than the track ‘Steady as she goes’, so much so that I hadn’t actually realised that Jack White was involved with them. It’s probably unsurprisingly therefore that as I was listening to this track I did think to myself that it sounded remarkably like the White Stripes, which is usually no bad thing as far as I am concerned. A good solid opening track and at less than two and half minutes it didn’t over stay its welcome. I’ll definitely look into more of The Raconteurs back catalogue.
3. Rage Against The Machine - ‘Tire Me’: Again, I know very little about RATM but if asked I’d have said that their music involves lots of fast, loud guitars, shouty vocals and a general cacophony of noise. This track ticks all those boxes! Not sure I’d manage a whole album of theirs though.
4. Fields - “Heretic”: The opening few seconds reminded me of The Kinks song ‘David Watts’ for some reason but this track quickly veers off from that once the vocals kick in as it’s a lot more ethereal and electronic than Ray Davies! (Google tells me they were an Anglo-Icelandic electronic indie band so that would probably explain that!) The pace never drops with this track and at key stages the instrumental break actually picks up the pace nicely before slowing back down again at the end. Before, if you’d have offered me the choice between an afternoon listening to Anglo-Icelandic electronic music or an afternoon watching football at Selhurst Park I’d have probably gone to check the train times to Norwood Junction but this track has made me re-think things a little and maybe I’ll listen to some of Fields other output.
5. The Walkmen - ‘The Rat’: Another track that starts with fast guitars and loud drums, so that was a good start and then the vocals kick in with just the right balance of rauchiness/volume to give feeling to the lyrics. A rollicking good indie/rock track, just a shame they have recently gone on an "extreme hiatus”.
6. The Cold War Kids - “Hang me up to dry”: This track caught my attention from the first time I listened to this CD and is probably my favourite one. The track has an interesting blend (to my ears at least) of blues/honky tonk with maybe even a bit of calypso thrown into the mix and distinctive vocals (all of which reminded me of the late 80’s album Sour Mash by the Mystery Girls). The only negatives were the piano breaks in the middle which sounded more like they were breaking a piano by pushing it down some stairs and should probably have been left out along with the sound effect at the end of the track of something being hung up to dry - it’s not big and it’s not clever!! However, despite that, I’ll definitely be delving into their back catalogue.
7. Queens of the Stone Age - “Make it wit Chu”: A slight change of pace with this track which is a bit mellower than the previous one but still in the indie/rock genre with a nice bass line and pace throughout (which gets the toes tapping!) and some indulgent guitar playing in the middle. Not a band I know that much about but again will keep an ear out for their stuff in the future. The only thing that slightly grated was the use of ‘wit chu’ in the song title….. too cheesy for my liking?
8. Pedro The Lion - ‘I do’: This track dropped the pace still further with a fairly slow, almost ambient sound at the start that developed into a more musical rhythm. To begin with it sounded as though it should be something I’d like but the earnest vocals and lyrics (along with what seemed an endless repetition of the song’s title throughout) meant that for some reason it just annoyed me. In parts it reminded me of Elbow although I quite like some of Elbow’s stuff. It felt like the sort of track/artist that has probably won a lot of critical acclaim but it just didn’t work for me! My least favourite track of the CD.
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - ‘Turn Into’: This track picked up the pace again with a stripped down vocal and sound which was more to my liking. Another track that would probably be classed as indie rock but with female vocals this time. In parts it reminded me a little bit of Siouxsie and the Banshees and there is nothing wrong with that! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are another band that I’ve heard of but wouldn’t have been able to immediately identify any of their songs but will definitively take note of them in the future.
10. Kashmir - ‘Kalifornia’: This was a difficult one to review as it didn’t really register with me when I was listening to the CD in the car but having had another chance to listen to all the tracks it’s probably got a bit more going for it that I first thought! It is clearly a track that needs your full attention and yet doesn’t quite grab your attention or at least it didn’t grab mine initially. Another indie type sound with plenty of guitars and hints of Manic Street Preachers and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I want to persevere with this track and maybe get to hear some of their other stuff.
11. The Race - ‘Raising Children’: This was another fairly up beat (indie/rock) track but it didn’t really stand out when I listened to the CD in the car (maybe my musical attention span isn’t very long when driving?) It’s inoffensive but isn’t really distinctive enough even when giving it my full attention. A track you can sing/hum along to but it didn’t really stay long in my consciousness.
12. James Yuill - ‘This Sweet Love’: Apart from the odd snippet I haven’t really heard any of Jack Johnson’s music but if you’d played me this track and told me it was from Jack Johnson’s new, slightly more electronic album then I probably would have believed you. Apparently James Yuill’s type of music is actually called Folktronica, so I’ve learnt something new. The track itself has got a reasonably pleasant rhythm and laid back feel to it and wouldn’t feel out of place wafting across middle class gardens on a summers evening as the last of the embers of the BBQ die out. At the risk of dabbing it with faint praise, for me, it falls into the category of ‘inoffensive’!
13. The Last Night - ‘No Mother Knows’: Another low key offering that somehow didn’t really register with me when listening to the CD in the car. The track has a haunting, rhythmic quality to it which is complimented by a somewhat subdued vocal. It reminded me a little of Talking Heads or perhaps more accurately some of David Byrne’s more recent solo work. It’s an interesting listen which needs a few plays to really appreciate. Despite being somewhat underwhelmed by it to begin with, it’s growing on me and I’ll probably try to listen to a few more of their tracks.
14. Interpol - ‘Hands Away’: Both this track and the next one largely passed me by when listening to them in the car. There is nothing to particularly dislike about either of them but somehow they are just a bit unremarkable. Having listened to this one again a couple of times I can see why it didn’t register as its largely an instrumental track during which nothing really happens and it takes over half of the song’s three minutes playing time to actually get going.
15. The Strokes - ‘Slow Animals’: This probably suffered during my original listening from (a) coming after the previous track and (b) having a jaunty intro but relatively subdued vocals, so that despite it reminding me a little in parts of The Killers (yes, I know The Strokes came first!), the song didn’t really lodge in my head. Having listened to it again several times, I can’t help but remember a review that referred to them as producing chainstore indie music and this track in particular does have an indie-music-by-numbers feel to it.
16. Pink Floyd - ‘Hey You’: It’s got the familiar soaring guitar bits, the drum bits, the piano/organ bits, Dave Gilmour’s vocals, Roger Waters’ vocals. All the boxes are ticked for pure Pink Floyd.
17. The Queens of the Stone Age - ‘Vampyres of Time and Memory’: I’ll assume having this track after ‘Hey You’ was intentional as it segues beautifully from it and you could easily believe that it was the next verse of ‘Hey You’. It’s got a fairly low key start, the vocal backed by piano has hints of 70’s Bowie about it but then it moves up a gear becoming a bit more power ballad and theatrical - even having a bit of a rock opera feel to it but in a good way, if that isn’t an oxymoron!! A good finishing track and reaffirms my earlier thoughts that I need to listen to more of Queens of the Stone Age.
I’ve got no idea who sent this CD (I assume the American indie bias will give away the identity to someone here?) but thanks for putting it together; it’s widened my musical knowledge and I really enjoyed listening to it, so as far as I’m concerned the NSC Easter Bunny CD has been a big success. It will widen my CD collection over the coming weeks that’s for sure.
As regards the artwork/presentation, probably the least said about it the better although in its defence it was……er, personalised and……er……hand drawn!
As for the tracks themselves:
1. This was a secret track which turned out to be Alan Partridge reporting from the Olympics! A somewhat unexpected opening to the CD but its solid Partridge fayre nonetheless.
2. The Raconteurs - “Level”: I’d heard of The Raconteurs but didn’t really know anything about them other than the track ‘Steady as she goes’, so much so that I hadn’t actually realised that Jack White was involved with them. It’s probably unsurprisingly therefore that as I was listening to this track I did think to myself that it sounded remarkably like the White Stripes, which is usually no bad thing as far as I am concerned. A good solid opening track and at less than two and half minutes it didn’t over stay its welcome. I’ll definitely look into more of The Raconteurs back catalogue.
3. Rage Against The Machine - ‘Tire Me’: Again, I know very little about RATM but if asked I’d have said that their music involves lots of fast, loud guitars, shouty vocals and a general cacophony of noise. This track ticks all those boxes! Not sure I’d manage a whole album of theirs though.
4. Fields - “Heretic”: The opening few seconds reminded me of The Kinks song ‘David Watts’ for some reason but this track quickly veers off from that once the vocals kick in as it’s a lot more ethereal and electronic than Ray Davies! (Google tells me they were an Anglo-Icelandic electronic indie band so that would probably explain that!) The pace never drops with this track and at key stages the instrumental break actually picks up the pace nicely before slowing back down again at the end. Before, if you’d have offered me the choice between an afternoon listening to Anglo-Icelandic electronic music or an afternoon watching football at Selhurst Park I’d have probably gone to check the train times to Norwood Junction but this track has made me re-think things a little and maybe I’ll listen to some of Fields other output.
5. The Walkmen - ‘The Rat’: Another track that starts with fast guitars and loud drums, so that was a good start and then the vocals kick in with just the right balance of rauchiness/volume to give feeling to the lyrics. A rollicking good indie/rock track, just a shame they have recently gone on an "extreme hiatus”.
6. The Cold War Kids - “Hang me up to dry”: This track caught my attention from the first time I listened to this CD and is probably my favourite one. The track has an interesting blend (to my ears at least) of blues/honky tonk with maybe even a bit of calypso thrown into the mix and distinctive vocals (all of which reminded me of the late 80’s album Sour Mash by the Mystery Girls). The only negatives were the piano breaks in the middle which sounded more like they were breaking a piano by pushing it down some stairs and should probably have been left out along with the sound effect at the end of the track of something being hung up to dry - it’s not big and it’s not clever!! However, despite that, I’ll definitely be delving into their back catalogue.
7. Queens of the Stone Age - “Make it wit Chu”: A slight change of pace with this track which is a bit mellower than the previous one but still in the indie/rock genre with a nice bass line and pace throughout (which gets the toes tapping!) and some indulgent guitar playing in the middle. Not a band I know that much about but again will keep an ear out for their stuff in the future. The only thing that slightly grated was the use of ‘wit chu’ in the song title….. too cheesy for my liking?
8. Pedro The Lion - ‘I do’: This track dropped the pace still further with a fairly slow, almost ambient sound at the start that developed into a more musical rhythm. To begin with it sounded as though it should be something I’d like but the earnest vocals and lyrics (along with what seemed an endless repetition of the song’s title throughout) meant that for some reason it just annoyed me. In parts it reminded me of Elbow although I quite like some of Elbow’s stuff. It felt like the sort of track/artist that has probably won a lot of critical acclaim but it just didn’t work for me! My least favourite track of the CD.
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - ‘Turn Into’: This track picked up the pace again with a stripped down vocal and sound which was more to my liking. Another track that would probably be classed as indie rock but with female vocals this time. In parts it reminded me a little bit of Siouxsie and the Banshees and there is nothing wrong with that! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are another band that I’ve heard of but wouldn’t have been able to immediately identify any of their songs but will definitively take note of them in the future.
10. Kashmir - ‘Kalifornia’: This was a difficult one to review as it didn’t really register with me when I was listening to the CD in the car but having had another chance to listen to all the tracks it’s probably got a bit more going for it that I first thought! It is clearly a track that needs your full attention and yet doesn’t quite grab your attention or at least it didn’t grab mine initially. Another indie type sound with plenty of guitars and hints of Manic Street Preachers and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I want to persevere with this track and maybe get to hear some of their other stuff.
11. The Race - ‘Raising Children’: This was another fairly up beat (indie/rock) track but it didn’t really stand out when I listened to the CD in the car (maybe my musical attention span isn’t very long when driving?) It’s inoffensive but isn’t really distinctive enough even when giving it my full attention. A track you can sing/hum along to but it didn’t really stay long in my consciousness.
12. James Yuill - ‘This Sweet Love’: Apart from the odd snippet I haven’t really heard any of Jack Johnson’s music but if you’d played me this track and told me it was from Jack Johnson’s new, slightly more electronic album then I probably would have believed you. Apparently James Yuill’s type of music is actually called Folktronica, so I’ve learnt something new. The track itself has got a reasonably pleasant rhythm and laid back feel to it and wouldn’t feel out of place wafting across middle class gardens on a summers evening as the last of the embers of the BBQ die out. At the risk of dabbing it with faint praise, for me, it falls into the category of ‘inoffensive’!
13. The Last Night - ‘No Mother Knows’: Another low key offering that somehow didn’t really register with me when listening to the CD in the car. The track has a haunting, rhythmic quality to it which is complimented by a somewhat subdued vocal. It reminded me a little of Talking Heads or perhaps more accurately some of David Byrne’s more recent solo work. It’s an interesting listen which needs a few plays to really appreciate. Despite being somewhat underwhelmed by it to begin with, it’s growing on me and I’ll probably try to listen to a few more of their tracks.
14. Interpol - ‘Hands Away’: Both this track and the next one largely passed me by when listening to them in the car. There is nothing to particularly dislike about either of them but somehow they are just a bit unremarkable. Having listened to this one again a couple of times I can see why it didn’t register as its largely an instrumental track during which nothing really happens and it takes over half of the song’s three minutes playing time to actually get going.
15. The Strokes - ‘Slow Animals’: This probably suffered during my original listening from (a) coming after the previous track and (b) having a jaunty intro but relatively subdued vocals, so that despite it reminding me a little in parts of The Killers (yes, I know The Strokes came first!), the song didn’t really lodge in my head. Having listened to it again several times, I can’t help but remember a review that referred to them as producing chainstore indie music and this track in particular does have an indie-music-by-numbers feel to it.
16. Pink Floyd - ‘Hey You’: It’s got the familiar soaring guitar bits, the drum bits, the piano/organ bits, Dave Gilmour’s vocals, Roger Waters’ vocals. All the boxes are ticked for pure Pink Floyd.
17. The Queens of the Stone Age - ‘Vampyres of Time and Memory’: I’ll assume having this track after ‘Hey You’ was intentional as it segues beautifully from it and you could easily believe that it was the next verse of ‘Hey You’. It’s got a fairly low key start, the vocal backed by piano has hints of 70’s Bowie about it but then it moves up a gear becoming a bit more power ballad and theatrical - even having a bit of a rock opera feel to it but in a good way, if that isn’t an oxymoron!! A good finishing track and reaffirms my earlier thoughts that I need to listen to more of Queens of the Stone Age.
I’ve got no idea who sent this CD (I assume the American indie bias will give away the identity to someone here?) but thanks for putting it together; it’s widened my musical knowledge and I really enjoyed listening to it, so as far as I’m concerned the NSC Easter Bunny CD has been a big success. It will widen my CD collection over the coming weeks that’s for sure.
