Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Haven't been here for years... all new and shiny these days.
Member since:31.10.2000
Reviews:148
Members who trust:101
Music is a truly remarkable art form; it has the ability to enrapture and exhilarate, to sadden and depress and to stimulate every range of emotion in between. Perhaps its most amazing gift though is to transport us through time and space in an instant. Everyone has certain songs, albums or pieces of music that conjure up memories so vivid they are almost tangible. For me the Counting Crows album August and Everything After brings back the feelings and experiences of my mid-teens, Ocean Colour Scene’s Mosely Shoals my post A-level Summer and now this album, Powderfinger’s Odyssey Number Five has my remembering my time in Australia. Fantastic experiences in wonderful places with some great people all come flooding back at the touch of the button.
My idyllic reminiscing aside I thought I would continue on the theme of my last opinion, which was the beginning of my voyage into the undeservedly musically obscure. Powderfinger
are unsurprisingly, given my opening paragraph, an Australian band and, for some unfathomable reason, have not yet been introduced to the UK market. Odyssey Number Five is the bands fifth release and is a thoroughly impressive rock album characterised by tracks that are the equal of, if not better than, any of the bands currently at the fore of this genre.
The album opens very strongly with Waiting For the Sun, a track that is a superb marker for what is to come. Resounding guitar power chords ring out as we are quickly introduced to the powerful yet melodic voice of lead singer, Bernard Fanning. Soon another lead guitar, a tremendous bass line and drums all pitch in as the song surges to its catchy sing-along refrain. Towards the end the obligatory guitar solo demands some serious eyes-screwed-shut-air-guitar before an excellent finale.
Thankfully the opener is not a one-off but merely an aperitif for the even more impressive My Happiness, which scooped the prestigious ‘Best Song of the Year Award’ voted for by Australian Rolling Stone readers. It is certainly one of the outstanding songs on the album, a sparkling acoustic guitar line and a magnificent chorus make for a favourable comparison with all time great rock songs.
For me the albums most incredible track is These Days, a slow starter that is lyrically astute and demonstrates the bands musical creativity, generally more evident on the slower tracks, with an organ intermingling with the two lead guitar lines. Whilst usually I disagree with the writing of lyrics, as they tend to do little justice to the song, in this case I’m going to make an exception as I think they exemplify the quality of lyrical composition on this album.
‘It’s coming round again the slowly creeping hand of time and its command. Soon enough it comes And settles in its place It’s shadow in my face Undignified and lame
This life well, its slipping right through my hands These days turned out nothing like I had planned…’
Truly a stunning song. All this praise is beginning to sound a little sycophantic however, so it’s time to deliver my only criticism of the album, bar its brevity at only 45 minutes, and that is aimed squarely at songs 4 and 9, Like a Dog and We Should Be Together Now. These are the albums heavier songs and, whilst they are far from being weak songs, I find they are slightly out of kilter with the rest of the album, lacking the same nuance and subtlety of the other tracks. It is probably true that the album would be too samey in their absence but perhaps a different ordering of the songs might avoid the unwanted shift in mood of the album when they come on.
So onto my customery summing it all up, Powderfinger are as fine exponents of a guitar rock band as I’ve ever heard, so my advice is simple if you’re a fan of this type of music (think U2, REM, Stone Roses) do yourself a massive favour and buy Odyssey Number Five. It is a superb example of a talented rock band doing what they do best; making music that will get you tapping your feet, performing awful air guitar riffs and singing atrociously (well in my case anyway) to the infectious refrains. The usual price of £8.99 at www.cd-wow.com is the place to go if you’re interested.
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I've been in Oz since September now and they've become one of my favourite bands in a very short space of time... great review, I'm sure when I go home I'll be reminiscing with Powderfinger too... have you heard 'Sunset'?, it's sooooo going to remind you of Oz but 'On My Mind' is my fave for now :-)
a-true-ben 09.12.2002 15:43
I'm only familiar with Like A Dog, which I think rocks. I saw them at V2001 as well. I wonder if this is still at cd-wow...
marandina1 10.11.2002 12:17
Hmmm.....sounds like my kinda thang. I'll look out for 'em. Super op :O)
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