No I have to admit, that I bought this album only after reading in some newspaper that Amy Studt was billed to be the UK's equivalent to Avril Lavigne. Now as I quite enjoy Avril's music, I was quite excited about this particular album by Amy Studt. After listening to it, I have mixed emotions. The album kicks off with the three singles, in order of release (Just A Little Girl, Misfit, Under The Thumb), none of which can really claim to be of the skate punk rock genre. Where as the first two are mis-placed attempts at angry pop, Under The Thumb is quite emotionally packed, and energy filled, with ska and electro-rock elements to the song. It is a peak which the rest of the album fails to match. Rather than resembling Avril Lavigne, "If Only" would not be out of place on a Savage Garden album and "Beautiful Lie" reminds me of Ace of Base. Others are just pure pop, with your average pop ballad here and there. It is just a pure shame that Amy fell into the hands of Simon Fuller, and not a more independantly minded or even considerate managerial team. The album has Simon Fuller written all over it. The original guitar works are overcrowded and muddled out in the mid frequency range by a mass of strings and synthesiser sounds, which brings the image of the artist closer to Pop Idol than anything else. Girls Aloud sound less poppy than this. Overall, it is definitely something you could comfortably have as background music, but there are only a few good songs, and far too many average ones to make this album stand out. I'm not saying that this album is bad, you'd probably enjoy it if you like S Club or Westlife, but the album could be better, a waste of obivous talent... Better luck next time Amy!
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The timing of Amy Studt's debut album,False Smiles, couldn't be better. Building on a ... more
solid foundation established by the likes of Natalie Imbruglia and Lene Marlin in the late 1990s and carried forward by Gemma Hayes and a glut of young, brokenhearted...
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Advantages: Loads of really good songs. A great CD with lots of variety of songs Disadvantages: The album first released doesn't includ the 'all i wanna do song'. Make sure you get the second version
tiffany12 17.10.2004 (17.10.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of False Smiles - Amy Studt
Advantages: Genuine talent in song writing, catchy tunes, nice voice Disadvantages: can get repetative, filled with songs that could have been left out
dan_pentagram 21.08.2008 (21.08.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of False Smiles - Amy Studt
Advantages: Loads of really good songs. A great CD with lots of variety of songs Disadvantages: The album first released doesn't includ the 'all i wanna do song'. Make sure you get the second version
tiffany12 17.10.2004 (17.10.2004)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of False Smiles - Amy Studt
Advantages: Genuine talent in song writing, catchy tunes, nice voice Disadvantages: can get repetative, filled with songs that could have been left out
dan_pentagram 21.08.2008 (21.08.2008)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of False Smiles - Amy Studt
Advantages: Exceptional, unique and memorable. Amy writes all her own songs and plays her own instruments. Disadvantages: The lyrics are a bit self-pitying and pessimistic at times (but this didn't bother me!)
Nov 4th, 2003
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