About Me Blogs Articles Disclaimer News ReviewsText Box: Releases for week of 27/10/08 No competition this week, sorry Pink, as Snow Patrol and The Cure’s latest releases are under the album microscope. Text Box: Music Text Box: Quirky Sounds from Indie Legends Legendary goth-rockers return, slightly delayed, but in tune with their 4-years-per-album ratio and what do we have here? Well in terms of style, it’s trademark Cure with melodic symphonies such as in opening track ‘Underneath the Stars’. The band are upto all their usual tricks with audio fades applied to Robert Smith’s voice, in sync with the composition of the song. ‘Only One’ is an instant Cure classic with upbeat, melodic vocals ensconced over a mellow guitar background. Smith’s voice is still sounding as fresh and as vivid as it ever was as he sings with fond memories of the past. Likewise ‘Perfect Boy’ adds all that sexual ambiguity that the band are so famous for, mixed with powerful delivery. Fellow recent single, ‘Sleep When I’m Dead’ adds a sprinkle of funk to this rather withdrawn assembly, styling the sounds of a jazzy guitar riff jumping in between Smith’s diverse range. ‘Reasons Why’ borrows some of its endearing rhythm from past favourite, ‘In Between Days’ and a strong guitar that creates the dreamy sound The Cure are so synonymous with and this creates another decent effort. Clearly Smith and the band have some descriptive influences on this album and a lot to write about but not all of the songs work as well on quite a random album. ‘Freak Show’ bounces into complex guitar solos and a toe-tapping beat but just doesn’t fit into the mood the previous tracks had done so well to make. ‘Real Snow White’ as you might imagine, adds a rather darker dimension to the classic tale, much like Rammstein had done with it in their video for ‘Sonne’. Whilst it is mixed with emotive elements, it all culminates in quite a dark image of a song which isn’t as memorable as it might have been. The album just doesn’t work as an attention-grabbing listen, which you might argue is true of a lot of their work- well if the aim was consistency, they have certainly achieved it with ‘4:13 Dream’. Smith’s vocals throughout are superb and as poignant as they ever were, it’s just the music that doesn’t quite match that extensive billing. ‘Hungry Ghost’ is epitomized by this, Smith’s voice delivers just as strongly as it always does, but the weak guitar backing just doesn’t match the mood of his emotion. ‘Scream’ is another bizarre effort and doesn’t disappoint as Smith’s piecing yell reverberates the speakers to breaking point. As an album it doesn’t work particularly well and really only features a couple of tracks that a passing Cure fan would be interested in. It does indeed stay true to the enigmatic roots of the band but as a piece of music it is very forgettable. 5/10 CM

Released– 27/10/08

Label– Geffen

13th Studio Album
Text Box: Nothing New Here Don’t you just hate it when bands describe an album as “their best work”? There are many reasons to hate this, not least because in many cases it’s said to support an album that will probably go down as one of their worst. After several years in mainstream obscurity, Snow Patrol struck gold in 2004 with the brilliant ‘Final Straw’ showcasing heartfelt ballads with the likeability factor Chris Martin could only dream of. With 2006’s not-quite-as-good ‘Eyes Open’ the band showed that they were certainly one to look out for. However it would appear they have run out of creative steam. Let’s start with the good. First single, ‘Take Back the City’ is maybe the poor man’s ‘You’re All I Have’ but has a catchy beat and Gary Lightbody’s voice is as beautiful as ever. Though not as memorable as efforts like ‘Headlights on Dark Roads’ and ‘Run’, it’s beat-packed and funky. ‘Crack the Shutters’ features a nice melodic, piano-ridden start before building into a vocal assault amongst those atmospheric guitars the band is so fond of. However much you can enjoy these songs, that feeling of déjà vu just won’t leave and this is the fundamental weakness of this album- you think you have heard it all before because you have. ‘Lifeboats’ is one of the only songs to add something that little bit new with what sounds suspiciously like an acoustic guitar and some string-influenced pace changing. ‘If There’s a Rocket, Tie Me to It’ is classic SP with slow, melodic build-up and Lightbody launching into strong emotive metaphors but for me, it’s just one too many- this is what I expected to hear and it’s disappointing their work has become so formula-driven. ‘The Golden Floor’ experiments with voice distortion without really going anywhere and is instantly forgettable. ‘Please Just Take These Photos...’ is more formula-consulting, borrowing tried-and-tested rules from some of the more imaginative tracks from ‘Final Straw’ with powerful guitar riffs. As for ‘Set Down Your Glass’, well if you’re finding it hard to get the kids to sleep, fear no more, this is about as soothing as a mug of Lemsip and a hot towel in December. The sad fact is that this overly-slow emotive style that we heard so much of on ‘Eyes Open’ (which incidentally was its downfall) takes over the album. Not for one instance should you believe that this is as bad a piece of work as has been suggested in certain media circles, it’s classic Snow Patrol but without the innovation that worked so well before. There are some decent tracks but it’s as-you-were and maybe I should be criticised for daring to hope for more. Of course Snow Patrol fans will lap it up and just as well. 6/10 CM Text Box: Released– 27/10/08 Label– Polydor 5th Studio Album The Cure- 4:13 DreamSnow Patrol- A Hundred Million Suns