Scouting For Girls - Scouting For Girls

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Scouting For Girls has to be my favourite band at present. Their uplifting style of music really captured my imagination. They have been a definite favourite on Radio 1 and a personal favourite of Chris Moyles. Their songs are catchy, euphoric and great fun and this 3 piece band have had one hell of a year. -


Having formed in 2005, this London based Indie/pop band have had tremendous success since their ...
...which is produced for the Scouting association...


On my birthday I received a lovely message from the band on Myspace wishing me a 'Very Happy Birthday', which I thought was really sweet of them and absolutely made my day and this CD was one of my 'asked for' birthday gifts this year. They are great with their fans and are constantly aware and grateful who they owe a huge part of their fast success to-


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--SCOUTING FOR GIRLS--

Scouting For Girls has to be my favourite band at present. Their uplifting style of music really captured my imagination. They have been a definite favourite on Radio 1 and a personal favourite of Chris Moyles. Their songs are catchy, euphoric and great fun and this 3 piece band have had one hell of a year. -

Having formed in 2005, this London based Indie/pop band have had tremendous success since their debut, self titled album 'Scouting For Girls' sold over 500,000 copies and reached platinum status in January 2005. The band consists of: Roy Stride (Vocals, keyboards), Greg Churchouse (Bass Guitar) and Peter Ellard (Percussion. Roy Stride is the singer/songwriter of the band and produces songs that call on memories of childhood and adolescence. Songs of 'Innocence and Experience'. The band chose their unusual name from the 'Scouting for boy's handbook' which is produced for the Scouting association...

On my birthday I received a lovely message from the band on Myspace wishing me a 'Very Happy Birthday', which I thought was really sweet of them and absolutely made my day and this CD was one of my 'asked for' birthday gifts this year. They are great with their fans and are constantly aware and grateful who they owe a huge part of their fast success to-

-SCOUTING FOR GIRLS-

-KEEP ON WALKING-

The album kicks off with 'Keep on Walking' which is a really nice, fairly up-tempo song with accompaniment of keyboard, bass, and percussion. Though the lyrics are a little downbeat the tune is definitely uplifting and the song has a great melody and lyrics and a very catchy chorus. It's a great start to the album and really sets the mood for the remaining 9 tracks.

-SHE'S SO LUV-ER-LY-

The next track is 'She's So Lovely' which is a tremendous track and totally encapsulates the 'Scouting for girls' sound. I love this one. This is a really rousing number with great drumming. It has a brilliant beat, terrific lyrics and a good catchy chorus. It has a really lovely melody and brilliant harmonies too. I like the repeating of lines in this one and they are used to great effect, over and over again. This track has a great uplifting, euphoric feel to it and is very catchy. The lyrics are brilliant here and there are some great lines within this song. The harmonies are used to really good effect and the whole song is just great. The keyboard is fast and melodic and this track has a real 'sing along' feel to it. It really is an excellent track and I never tire of listening to it. -

-IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU-

The third track is 'It's Not About You'. It opens to strong drumming and has a fast even rhythm. I do like the lyrics to their songs they are always excellent and varied from track to track. This song uses the repeating of lines again quite a lot and normally I would get bored at listening to this process, but with Scouting For Girls, it works really well and just adds to the build up both musically and vocally, which produces this rousing, spirit lifting quality. This is another really strong track with excellent keyboard accompaniment.

-THE AEROPLANE SONG-

The fourth song on the album opens to a great display of Roy Strides keyboard talents. A slightly slower pace on this song, but once again the lyrics are excellent, with a real sense of the poetic here. The track possesses a nice catchy rhythm and strong chorus. I love the singer in this band and he really has great keyboard style. He usually plays standing up and puts everything into his playing. He is lively and cheeky and really fronts the band well. The songs always build vocally and in pace to a real crescendo and this bring that rousing happy quality to their songs which will get your toes tapping along with them.

-HEARTBEAT-

What a terrific song this is and their last single. I love this one and again really brilliant lyrics here and a great lively melody and chorus. Uplifting and great fun, their melodies have that 'sing a long' factor that makes you want to belt them out at the top of your voice. What a brilliant track Heartbeat is, fast and changing with great bass, keyboard and rhythmic drumming. This song contains brilliant lines: "I'll give you my jacket, I'll give you my heart", "Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse", everytime that we meet I skip a heartbeat" This is a vibrant, young and fun track and a real sing a long song too. This whole album is full of excellent tracks that really are very enjoyable to listen to.

-ELVIS AIN'T DEAD-

The next in the running order is 'Elvis Aint Dead', and this is probably my most favourite song on the album. They are all actually really good, but this is the first one that I heard and I immediately fell in love with their sound. I don't know what it means, just an observation of something that he heard on the radio, as the words tell. I just think it is a brilliant track; really strong and with unique lyrics. This track has a really lilting melody to it with quite a simple and repetitive musical accompaniment of keyboard, drums and bass, but there is just something about this track which is totally original. It is quite short but it's one I can happily hit the repeat button on.

-JAMES BOND-

This is the concluding track on the album and a real belter of a song it is. It is a real fun song with an arrangement of intrigue. Very tongue in cheek with a great sense of fun and a very fitting end to the album. Roy sings of how he would like to have been James Bond when he was younger and get all the girls. You have a bonus track entitled Michaela Strachen and Roy sings of how she broke his heart when he was 12. You get a sense that all his songs are drawing on real life events and influences and this just adds to their appeal for me.

-SUMMARY-

I think 'Scouting for Girls are great'. They don't take themselves too seriously and they produce a really uplifting and happy sound with their music. There is just something really positive and exuberant with their music and their head-spinning melodies always make me smile when they are played on radio 1, which is very often. Apparently they are really nice guys too. The album is impressive, track for track and an excellent debut album. The lyrics just seem to flow and I don't think they'll have any trouble in finding material for their second album. With influences such as: 'The Beach Boys', The Byrds', ' REM' and also, Thomas Hardy, Seanus Heany, and Dylan Thomas, you can also see where the poetical nature of their lyrics come from...

I have just looked on their Myspace page and I notice that they are playing the Brighton Centre in November, so I have just begged my Husband to go. He turned his nose up, but I think that secretly means he will get me tickets!:) It's been one hell of a year for 'Scouting for Girls' and I'm sure that their future is more than rosy. There's a lot of space on the music scene for positive, upbeat, feel good music. These boys have a great sound and I'm sure that their second album, when they bring it out, won't let us down one little bit. They are young, raw talent with a potential to stay around for quite some time. Their first single EP 'It's not about you', Keep on Walking, which was a clear green 7 inch, became the highest ever, charted, limited EP in chart history. Quite an impressive start to life of the excellent band that is, 'Scouting for Girls'. -

Thank you for reading.
Morning_Becomes_Electra
June 2008* 

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