Archive for the ‘Singles’ Category
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
Flood of Red are an emerging band from Glasgow who released their debut album ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ last month. Back in 1997 they had released ‘Home Run’ and have now subsequently decided to re-release it in a form of media including digital downloads and CDs with exclusive tracks.
If any track was ideally suited to battling it out in the singles chart, then this is surely a strong contender. ‘Home Run’ starts out with resonant electronic guitar riffs chords before driving drum beat launches the song into full flow. (more…)
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
After taking a break from the music scene to write their latest album, The All-American Rejects are back. “The Wind Blows” is their latest track from the band’s third album “When The World Comes Down”. The song is much more mellow approach than previous hits, such as “Move Along” and memorable “Dirty Little Secret”, which were both released in the band’s ‘hay-days’ during 2005.
The ‘rejects’ most recent single suggests a mature and melodious path in the band’s career. “The Wind Blows”is a song about a broken love. It’s repetitive and less upbeat than the likes of chart-topping “Gives You Hell”, which was the first single to be released from the American foursome’s new album.
Admittedly, the mainstream boys have done it again. Despite “The Wind Blows” not being as popular, people seem to like it, which keeps the momentum going for now.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
This is the first single from the Brooklyn duo Black Gold’s debut album “Rush” (to be reviewed later) and, as you would expect, is a pretty good example of what the band are all about. The single is edited much more tightly than the album version for radio play although this doesn’t really work in this case. The atmospheric piano intro which builds up as the bass comes in on the album version is lost as the 4 bars of piano and bass lead straight in to the vocal.
Singer Eric Ronick is working at the top end of his vocal range on this song, which emphasises the breathy. ethereal quality of his voice and the subject matter of the song which, you guessed it, is someone having a breakdown. The verse is driven along by the rhythm section, particularly the drums and builds up to a chorus where all of the instruments kick in to reinforce the breakdown message.
As a sampler for the band and the album, which the first single usually is, this is pretty good; it gives you a good idea of what the band’s about while still holding back the best for later. This isn’t the strongest song on the album by a long way; there are at least 2 songs which are much better, catchier and more commercial and will probably do better as singles. It’s not a bad song, but there is so much more to come.
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Monday, November 2nd, 2009
You wouldn’t exactly say that he’s prolific. Since the Stone Roses days, the new material has arrived at lengthy intervals. It’s usually described as “eagerly anticipated” and it may not always have been great, but it’s always been interesting. The news with “Stellify” is that it’s very good indeed, it’s a noughties love song.and it’s a great big glorious noise which sounds great on the radio.
“Stellify” (become a star?) starts with a simple and effective two keyboard riff (piano and keyboards on alternating half beats) then in come Ian Brown’s unmistakable vocals and the tune builds as first drums and then bass come in to complete an uncomplicated but incredibly effective arrangement. At around two minutes in there’s a bit of a Mark Ronson moment when the song breaks down to a two-trumpet riff (actually it sounds more like synthesised brass to me, rather than the polite interjections that we usually find on Ronson productions). The raw brass sound works perfectly as a contrast to the smooth arrangement of the rest of the song and then we’re off again building towards a slap ending at three and a half minutes.
In this edit, everything is in that needs to be there and nothing that shouldn’t be there and it’s the right length for radio play. It’s a song which should keep the fans happy, works on the radio and doesn’t make compromises to do that. Great single.
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