How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money
Advantages:
Some classic pop moments
Disadvantages:
Some songs that are just plain boring
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The Bluetones first came to my attention with their bouncy debut single "Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?" in 1995, the year of Britpop. While most of the music of that era has dated like a 1980s Citroen, that song is constantly on my stereo. So I was obviously annoyed to see that they didn’t stick it on their debut album along with the two superb follow-up singles "Bluetonic" (track 2) and "Slight Return" (track 7). The latter is not a cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic (which would be a stupid thing to do), but a song that sounds more like the Stone Roses than the Stone Roses ever did. These three singles promised an excellent album, but I couldn’t help being disappointed by what followed.
It opens with another slice of plagiarism "Talking To Clarry". This song is so like "Dear Prudence" by the Beatles, that they even had the nerve to stick the air plane sound on at the start! Its tempo echoes around the album like a voice in a canyon with songs like "Things Change", "Vampire" and "Putting Out Fires" all being in a similar vein. All these songs are alright, but not particularly inspiring and no where near as good as the singles. This is why the album is so disappointing, they couldn’t stretch the quality levels over eleven songs.
But don’t be too distraught, there are plenty of gems along with it. The third single from the album was "Cut Some Rug", a relatively heavy number. "The Fountainhead" reminds me a little of Crowded House, but that might just be because they had a song called "Pineapple Head". "Carn’t Be Trusted" is a return to their poppy form and could have been a great single. In my opinion the standout track is ‘A Parting Gesture’, true to their bluesy roots, it plucks at your heart strings. The final track ‘Time & Again’ is good song but I would question its place at the very end of the album.
The Bluetones have released two albums since this one and both exceed their predecessors by quite a margin. The latest release "Science & Nature" has been criminally underrated and is so far one of the top three albums of 2000 in my opinion. It’s true to say that this album fell well short of my expectations, but it’s worth buying for the excellent half of it. Oh! and the ironic sleeve is quite smart too!
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