New Red Dress - Helen Boulding

Advantages: long, lots of great songs, wonderful guitar work and strong performances all round
Disadvantages: very diverse and lacks cohesion, some of the songs just don't hit the mark

...to be good, mysterious girl misunderstood, dressed like a wedding cake" (Slow Cheetah) and "She's a runner, rebel and a stunner" (Dani California) are two of my favourites. Then, my personal favourite, you get the stand-out lyrics, spiritual, meaningful, usually expressed quite simply that just grab you straight away - "When we collide, the universe will shift into a lull" (Wet Sand) and "The more I see, the less I know, the more I like to let it go, hey oh" (Snow) are both lines I find myself having to sing and getting choked up as I do. And some of them just capture a feeling so beautifully - "My heart, your skin, this love I'm in" (Charlie) or "Lions and tigers come running just to steal your love" (Especially In Michigan) or "Desecration is the smile on my face" (Desecration Smile) are all, to me, such perfect expressions of emotion... Read review

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Advantages: Some great songs, Amazing Emo band, Powerful and Exciting tracks
Disadvantages: Not as good as their EPs

...the tunes from the EPs with a re-make of original tune 'Juno' from the Between Order And Model CD being renamed to 'Juneau' to fit the new sound for the album and the original version of 'She Drove Me To Daytime Television' which was first released on the 'Four Ways To Scream Your Name' EP. I was proud to consider myself a fan of both of these CDs after I had heard them and these two tracks were ones that really appealed to my taste at the time. It is not until you are a fan of the originals that you can really begin to appreciate the brilliance of the production and work that has gone in to changing them both. I may not be a fan of Major's, but they sure do have what it takes to refine and tweak a song in order to turn it in to something that a mass audience can enjoy and also appreciate. Funeral For a Friend's 'Casually Dressed And Deep... Read review

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Advantages: vocal varition, single strengths, lyrically sound
Disadvantages: at times, Richards' wailing screams...

...to shine through and Davies to use his full potential, as opposed to, at times, being drowned out by the volume. If there were a weak point to the album, then it (for me) would have to be the superbly titled, yet not wonderfully constructed 'She Drove Me To Daytime Television' - undoubtedly one of the loudest tracks present; the superb chorus doesn't really save the fact that it just doesn't seem to flow as well as the previous and latter tracks have done/will do ("I like the way you cry, Break my heart and break my hands and let me down / I want to snap your neck in two, And leave you dead, so dead"). Fortunately, the albums' weakest moment is followed by another of it's strongest, the chart single release, 'Red Is The New Black'. Again, another of the somewhat louder moments on 'Casually Dressed…', it's the track that broke the mainstream... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful