Love music and never tire of hearing new bands. Other likes: walking, cycling, real ale, reading, ge...
Love music and never tire of hearing new bands. Other likes: walking, cycling, real ale, reading, geology, cooking, surfing, camping. TWo kids. Work as a journalist in the UK. Happy!
Member since:14.09.2006
Reviews:38
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Powderfinger are one of Australia's biggest bands and when I was over a couple of years ago, everyone said (usually at barbies in the arvo): "You've got to buy some Powderfinger - they're ripper, mate". Or words to that effect.
I love Australian music and listen to rock radio station JJJ over the internet at least once a week. It's a country where music is very important but it's all just a little bit average. Imagine a world where every band sounds like INXS. There's nothing startlingly original.
Even my current favourite album from Down Under, Gotye's "Like drawing blood" contains tracks that basically rip off a variety of genres. Very good but not ground breaking.
Given that, it's no surprise that the country's best band would, to UK ears, sound a little uninspiring. I bought several of the albums and while there are some good tracks, a lot of it is just a little dull.
My attitude towards them changed when lead singer Bernard Fanning released a solo album, "Tea and sympathy". I got it on import (but I think it was available over in the UK) and it made me feel much more positive about the band.
Fanning has a distinctive voice, haunting and slightly fragile. It gets a little tiresome after a while because he only does haunting and fragile, but when it's good it's really good. The second track on there, "Wish you well" is as fine a tune as you'll ever hear: catchy and emotive, it's one of my favourite songs ever and on eight out of 10 car journeys it's a singalong essential.
So after loving Mr Fanning's solo I was very pleased when this new album landed on my desk. I'd heard tracks on JJJ but never tried ordering the album because of the reservations expressed above.
It turns out that the band went to Los Angeles to record the new album and while it's still distinctive, it's got a more rounded feel. It's tight and tuneful and has lost a little of that Australian blandness while retaining the charm and appeal that Oz music often has.
Opening track Head up in the clouds" is about mental illness but is a mid tempo tune and quite catchy, despite Fanning singing: "Every day feels the same / The bomb keeps ticking till the routine breaks."
It's a good opening track with some nice guitar sounds on and typical Fanning vocals and I was a little worried that the album would tail off - and happily, it doesn't, though there are a couple of typical Powderfinger slower moments.
Standout tracks include "Lost and running", an excellent song that got a lot of radio play and is evocative of driving down a coastal highway with the roof down. It's good and if you like well-made, melodic pop rock that borders on downbeat, it's worth a listen. If you like your music novel and new, probably best avoided.
Out of interest, the lyrics to "Black tears" had to be changed in their homeland after complaints that they would affect an on-going court case.
Incidentally, over in Australia, the album was released in June (07) and went straight to number one, Powderfinger's fourth album to peak at the top spot. A week after its release, the album achieved the highest first-week sales figures of any new release in 2007, with total sales of 40,847, making it the fastest selling album of the year in Australia. It also broke the Australian digital album sales record in its first week, with over 3,000 digital sales.
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