The Album Review Club - Week #127 - (page 1545) - Definitely Maybe - Oasis

[threespires]

Hmmmm...

3 listens in now and I'm still of the opinion that this is really not my bag.

It's the music to the tv series 'Friends'. Which I fucking hate. Badly acted, scripted by hundreds and quite bland. Oh my God...see how one of them suddenly 'smokes'. The horror of it all.

It's the music to the 'Friends' generation. The girls who had a certain haircut, the girls who thought the nasally tall one who voices a giraffe was 'sensitive' and the boys who thought that the two daft lads in it were funny. See how they move in together. Watch how they use facial expressions to convey a complete lack of acting talent. Stare in awe at how 4 such gormless individuals can afford to live in central Manhattan.

Now gasp at how their acting careers plummeted after the show finished. And the winner of the best actor goes to...none of them. Obviously.

Oh yes...the album.

Although not dull, nothing really happens. The blokes voice is probably the most inoffensive voice in the history of music. And yet annoying in a lot of places. And also very samey. It sounds like he's moaning about everything.

The music washed over me, pleasant enough in the background but I don't listen to music that way...I want it to jump out at me, a loud chorus here, a guitar solo there. This does nothing like that. Ever. It's full of whiney vocals and same old same old guitar work.

Any positives? All very talented musicians. I like the drumming on a few songs. The guitar on Your New Aesthetic is not bad. Believe In What You Want has a very strong start...hmmm...very recognisable...and then the whole song drops a level when the inoffensive singing starts. Goodbye Sky Harbour. Jam session filler alert.

I'd have loved to have my ears suddenly pricked up by something when it was blaring around the house yesterday but apart from the Believe In What You Want/No One Knows start nothing else did.

It's nothing to get all riled up about but the whole album just drones on and on and on and on and...you get the picture.

Bit like this review.

4/10

'kinell, I mean you don't have to like it but comparing it to Friends, that's a bit of a low blow isn't it?

 

[HaalandEffect]

Departure Chandelier - Satans Soldier of Fortune

Raw Black Metal

Very good album, have good old fibes, good riffs.
Most of the album is very good, consistant tracks. Many of Black metal bands nowdays does not have that good old riffs. Giving some vibes of the band Judas Iscariot

8/10

 

[Coatigan]

View attachment 110022
Departure Chandelier - Satans Soldier of Fortune

Raw Black Metal

Very good album, have good old fibes, good riffs.
Most of the album is very good, consistant tracks. Many of Black metal bands nowdays does not have that good old riffs. Giving some vibes of the band Judas Iscariot

8/10

Did you mean to post this in the New Music thread by any chance?

Incidentally I briefly thought of you here recently, when we were discussing carbonara.

 

[OB1]

Jimmy Eat World. Hade never knowingly heard anything by them so good to listen to someone new.

This was ok but didn’t grab me. Reminded me a bit too much of all those whiny shite 90’s (or was it 00’s) bands. I kept trying to think of who it did specifically remind me of and the best I could do was poor man’s R.E.M., which probably isn’t a great comparison; also I really like a lot of R.E.M.’s stuff.

I wouldn’t buy this and it doesn’t fall into any genre classics bracket so a bang in the middle. 5/10.

 

[Mancitydoogle]

CLARITY

Another Emo recommendation from Coats, it’s a genre that I quite like although I don’t listen to much of it.Ive heard a few Jimmy Eat World songs before and quite a lot off American Bleed but nothing from this album.I like his voice and the music is good and melodic reminds me a bit of Feeder.
There’s a lot of songs I’ve enjoyed on this record but my main criticism is a few sound very similar.
I particularly like ‘Lucky Denver Mint’ ‘ Believe in What You Want’’A Sunday’ and my personal fave
‘Just Watch The Fireworks’. I gave the original album a listen too and agree this is a better version.

Not as good as the Wonder Years but a good listen..

7/10

 

[Coatigan]

CLARITY

Another Emo recommendation from Coats, it’s a genre that I quite like although I don’t listen to much of it.Ive heard a few Jimmy Eat World songs before and quite a lot off American Bleed but nothing from this album.I like his voice and the music is good and melodic reminds me a bit of Feeder.
There’s a lot of songs I’ve enjoyed on this record but my main criticism is a few sound very similar.
I particularly like ‘Lucky Denver Mint’ ‘ Believe in What You Want’’A Sunday’ and my personal fave
‘Just Watch The Fireworks’. I gave the original album a listen too and agree this is a better version.

Not as good as the Wonder Years but a good listen..

7/10

Speaking of re-releases, wish Placebo would re-record their debut self titled album, with his voice 25+ years older and a more mature polish on the production. Another I really loved, similar kind of time as this that was at the time daring and different and a bit of a defining album of those years. Think these kinds of albums were good but were ultimately by fairly immature adventurous kids, who have since developed into good musicians. This is similar, and people listen to in the context of 2024 and likely an average age of over 50 here, but it was a but different back in its day.

 

[Coatigan]

Guitar this, bass that, vocals and whatnot. Did nobody else like the chimes? Ah well.

 

[RobMCFC]

Clarity: Phoenix Sessions – Jimmy Eat World

I’ve given this album a good old listen this week in a variety of settings: working at my desk at home; lying down in a hotel room in Cordoba and on a flight back from Malaga last night. I think I got the most out of it chilling out in the hotel room, which maybe corresponds to the type of music that it is.

One of the advantages of being a later reviewer – which is not my normal position – is that you can see what others think and maybe cherry pick some of the key comments. I don’t usually like to do this, but I was struck by how some key comments from a couple of earlier reviewers chimed with the exact thoughts that I was having as I listened to this album.

@GoatersLeftShin said:-

"I am not sure why I don't like this genre, I think that partly the guitar playing feels a bit predictable" and "It sounds very 'template-y' to my ears".

“Templately” is a very good description of the guitar sound on this album – for a large part of the running time, the guitars don’t chime, don’t buzz, don’t ring. To be fair, there are a lot of fans of this type of music – probably fans who would hate hearing a Ritchie Sambora guitar solo – so I suppose that this just says that this sound is not for me.

@BimboBob said that "Although not dull, nothing really happens". Again, not the exact phrase I’d use, but I see where he’s coming from. I’d say that the album is not dynamic enough for my tastes. The last time I criticised an album for a lack of pace change, @Coatigan pointed out that maybe that’s not what the album is trying to achieve, and it’s a fair comment. Just because BimboBob and I don’t get a lot out of this sound, it doesn’t mean that somebody somewhere cannot find beauty in a piece of music that delivers its magic in little shifts in tone.

I thought that “Table for Glasses” was a decent opener that build nicely in layers, but the next two songs were forgettable. Things got a little more interesting with “Believe in What You Want”: that choppy/staccato guitar that drives the verse shifts the dial in terms of dynamics and gives the album a much-needed shot of adrenaline.

“A Sunday” sounded OK to me, with its nice string (synth?) backing, and the breaks where it’s just the guitar. A nice break from that template guitar. After this it’s back to the template and I didn’t get anything out of a whole run of songs. At the end of “Just Watch the Fireworks”, as a listener I’m tempted to say “Go on then, I’m ready for the fireworks”, especially when a guitar solo threatens to break out, but sadly it’s just a damp roman candle that fizzles out in the rain over the last few seconds.

I think two of the best tracks are saved until the end of the album. “Clarity” begins with a clatter of drums, and the squall of guitar before the “this is something better” refrains bring back an energy that has been sorely lacking.

“Goodbye Sky Harbour” is actually an example of the type of long-form song that I like. There are several changes of pace, and when it breaks down to just a soft organ backing in the background, I get the feeling that Jimmy Eat World know exactly what I crave as a listener, but it’s just a shame that large portions of the album have that generic filler. In fact, I enjoyed re-listening to this last song so much whilst listening to it again whilst writing this review that I’ve added an extra half point. 6.5/10.

 

[Coatigan]

Clarity: Phoenix Sessions – Jimmy Eat World

I’ve given this album a good old listen this week in a variety of settings: working at my desk at home; lying down in a hotel room in Cordoba and on a flight back from Malaga last night. I think I got the most out of it chilling out in the hotel room, which maybe corresponds to the type of music that it is.

One of the advantages of being a later reviewer – which is not my normal position – is that you can see what others think and maybe cherry pick some of the key comments. I don’t usually like to do this, but I was struck by how some key comments from a couple of earlier reviewers chimed with the exact thoughts that I was having as I listened to this album.

@GoatersLeftShin said:-

"I am not sure why I don't like this genre, I think that partly the guitar playing feels a bit predictable" and "It sounds very 'template-y' to my ears".

“Templately” is a very good description of the guitar sound on this album – for a large part of the running time, the guitars don’t chime, don’t buzz, don’t ring. To be fair, there are a lot of fans of this type of music – probably fans who would hate hearing a Ritchie Sambora guitar solo – so I suppose that this just says that this sound is not for me.

@BimboBob said that "Although not dull, nothing really happens". Again, not the exact phrase I’d use, but I see where he’s coming from. I’d say that the album is not dynamic enough for my tastes. The last time I criticised an album for a lack of pace change, @Coatigan pointed out that maybe that’s not what the album is trying to achieve, and it’s a fair comment. Just because BimboBob and I don’t get a lot out of this sound, it doesn’t mean that somebody somewhere cannot find beauty in a piece of music that delivers its magic in little shifts in tone.

I thought that “Table for Glasses” was a decent opener that build nicely in layers, but the next two songs were forgettable. Things got a little more interesting with “Believe in What You Want”: that choppy/staccato guitar that drives the verse shifts the dial in terms of dynamics and gives the album a much-needed shot of adrenaline.

“A Sunday” sounded OK to me, with its nice string (synth?) backing, and the breaks where it’s just the guitar. A nice break from that template guitar. After this it’s back to the template and I didn’t get anything out of a whole run of songs. At the end of “Just Watch the Fireworks”, as a listener I’m tempted to say “Go on then, I’m ready for the fireworks”, especially when a guitar solo threatens to break out, but sadly it’s just a damp roman candle that fizzles out in the rain over the last few seconds.

I think two of the best tracks are saved until the end of the album. “Clarity” begins with a clatter of drums, and the squall of guitar before the “this is something better” refrains bring back an energy that has been sorely lacking.

“Goodbye Sky Harbour” is actually an example of the type of long-form song that I like. There are several changes of pace, and when it breaks down to just a soft organ backing in the background, I get the feeling that Jimmy Eat World know exactly what I crave as a listener, but it’s just a shame that large portions of the album have that generic filler. In fact, I enjoyed re-listening to this last song so much whilst listening to it again whilst writing this review that I’ve added an extra half point. 6.5/10.

Get most of that.

Out of interest, what template is it using?

 

[RobMCFC]

Get most of that.

Out of interest, what template is it using?

The template that makes a guitar sound not like a guitar even though you can tell it's supposed to be a guitar.
I'll bet there's a preset on ProTools and Ableton and what-not that does this.

Like I said: it doesn't ring, it doesn't buzz, it doesn't chime - it sounds processed in some way. I know a lot of guitar is processed, maybe even all guitar on modern albums, and even going back to 1987, I loved the other-worldly guitar sound on INXS's "New Sensation". But some of these more recent examples just sound horribly industrial and very unmusical.

Maybe McFly or Busted or Green Day invented it. Maybe it was the oft-blamed Foo Fighters: I don't know enough to pinpoint who started it, but I'm pretty sure it's a late 90s invention. Or maybe it's producers taking too heavy a hand in the process. Generally it's not a sound that I like.