Not been on here for a long while - got some catching up to do...!
Not been on here for a long while - got some catching up to do...!
Member since:01.09.2004
Reviews:201
Members who trust:52
Rarely does an album catch my attention enough to make me write about it. The last one to inspire a review was Lily Allen’s “Alright Still”, with its evocative mix of styles and innovative lyrics and her beautiful, lilting voice. Mika’s “Life In Cartoon Motion” album, however, captured my imagination enough this morning to make me forget all about vacuuming the pub before opening and instead sat at the bar tapping my foot along to its upbeat, entertaining tracks.
To be fair, Mika almost didn’t make it in to my music collection thanks to Terry Wogan’s insistence that he play the hit single “Grace Kelly” repeatedly, every-single-bleeding-morning-at-7:30 when my alarm went off. Entertaining as that single is, it gets a bit tedious when heard repeatedly. Then I saw the album and thought ‘what the hell, it’s got a good title and I need something different for the pub – they’re getting a bit fed up of Lily Allen these days.’ And, to be blunt, I’m glad I bought it.
All albums, whether it be a Pink Floyd, Queen, Dire Straits or, if we’re honest with each other, a Now! Music compilation album will have its share of slightly dodgy tracks (Robbie Williams’s bonus track ‘Dickhead’ on
his “Rudebox” album is an abiding example) as well as a surfeit of classics that have made them household names and maybe Mika’s the same for some people. Personally, “Life In Cartoon Motion” doesn’t stand out to me as an album that will go down in history as an all-time great but I didn’t find it one with too many weak tracks either – for a debut album, I hope he hasn’t used all his talent in one go.
Mika’s voice is a little post-modern Freddie Mercury, with a lot of high octaves hit in each track, and some of the musical styles used in this album are very much 21st Century ‘Queen’, which is maybe why I like it so much. Like a lot of Queen’s hedonistic albums from the 70s there’s a big slice of piano used in the tracks mixed with modern synthesizer sounds and electronic percussion and other influences from the Glam Rock era can be felt throughout the album.
Most of the tracks on the album are upbeat and rhythmic, but there are a couple of slower songs that work well with Mika’s voice. ‘Any Other World’ is a slow moving ballad with lots of string accompaniment while ‘Happy Ending’, the last official track on the album, is one of my favourites. There’s a strong gospel sound to it and it steadily builds to a powerful, emotional ending – you can almost see it being the sort of track that will be used in a chick-flick movie when the luckless couple finally declare their love for each other.
‘Grace Kelly’ is still floating around the UK Top 40 chart and the equally upbeat ‘Love Today’ has now been released as the second single from the album.
For some reason, both ‘Any Other World’ and ‘Relax (Take It Easy)’ finish with the mad ramblings of a Russian woman that simply spoils the tracks, especially ‘Relax’, which is – for me – the weakest song on the album; it has the potential to be something more but doesn’t quite make it. ‘My Interpretation’ and ‘Stuck In The Middle’ both make good use of the high octave range of Mika’s voice and, although both could be excused for being a little mediocre and certainly not hit-single making tracks, they fit the theme of the album well.
‘Billy Brown’ and ‘Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)’ both take their influences heavily from the Freddie Mercury / Queen genre with a mottling of Elton John sprinkled in there for good effect too. ‘Billy Brown’ is a narrative following the story of a married man who suddenly discovers he’s gay while ‘Big Girl’ is a sort-of ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ for this generation.
There’s a bonus track, ‘Ring Ring’, that follows after ten minutes of silence at the end of ‘Happy Endings’ (why do music companies do that?), which starts with an annoying cacophony of telephone rings and then leads in to a song about how he’s fed up with constantly being called and is possibly the only song on the album where Mika actually lowers his voice somewhat and shows that he does have a bit of vocal range.
Undoubtedly, however, the best song on the album is ‘Lollipop’, which is catchy, cadenced and euphemistically written. Mika employs a child to sing one of the verses and this should really be the next single off the album. If nothing else, the lyric “sucking too hard on your lollipop cos love’s gonna get you down” surely guarantees Mika another number one hit… It’s the sort of track that has you stepping side-to-side clapping your hands above your head in a dad-can’t-dance-at-the-wedding-disco sort of way and makes everybody who listens to it smile.
I can see why many music websites state Mika’s influences as being the likes of Elton John, Scissor Sisters and Rufus Wainwright, not too mention Queen yet again, and I can also see why some people have been a bit negative about this album. It does seem to promise something more than it is simply because of the singles released so far – but, to be honest, how many other artistes have sold albums full of rubbish based on just one hit track? Gnarles Barkley springs to mind here…
It isn’t an album worthy of such derision though. If you’re looking for something that’s fun, upbeat, entertaining and a little bit different from modern mainstream pop, then “Life In Cartoon Motion” is one for the collection. It sounds good on the MP3 player and in the car CD system and is quirky enough to sit neatly on the shelf next to Miss Allen.
If nothing else, it’ll have you thinking about sucking on lollipops all day long…
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The pop world might be all cooing 'n' cross-eyed over this flamboyant elfin with extended ... more
tail-feathers, as if it were shaken suddenly from a slumber, but the arrival of such a character was in fact always inevitable. He's an unlikely but traceable ama...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: A wider range of music - amazing! Disadvantages: May not appeal to all tastes. Fantastic tracks mean that other 'not-so-great' songs (not many) are unfairly compared.
Advantages: A wider range of music - amazing! Disadvantages: May not appeal to all tastes. Fantastic tracks mean that other 'not-so-great' songs (not many) are unfairly compared.
Apr 22nd, 2007
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