... So 2 years down the line and Athlete returned with Tourist. The first single “Wires” provided an insight into the new albums more mature sound and early indications showed the album would be just as good as the debut effort.
No one expected that the boys from London could actually go and ... Read review
Tourist - Athlete
After their first album brought Athlete both commercial and critical success (including a ... more
Mercury Prize nomination), it was always going to be a tough act to follow. But on Tourist, the London four-piece have ditched the quirky pop of their debut and i...
Tourist - Athlete
After their first album brought Athlete both commercial and critical success (including a ... more
Mercury Prize nomination), it was always going to be a tough act to follow. But onTourist, the London four-piece have ditched the quirky pop of their debut and in...
A review by Andy.mack on Tourist - Athlete March 21st, 2005
Author's product rating:
Originality
Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics
Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Excellent follow up to the debut album . Joel Pott has got rid of the mockney accent
Disadvantages:
Will be too much like Coldplay for some people
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
It’s always hard to follow up a good debut album. In fact it’s a task some bands find totally impossible but Athlete were determined to succeed. Creating a follow up to Vehicles and Animals was always going to prove tough as although containing a few weaker tracks the album was excellent. So 2 years down the line and Athlete returned with Tourist. The first single “Wires” provided an insight into the new albums more mature sound and early indications showed the album would be just as good as the debut effort.
No one expected that the boys from London could actually go and better the excellent Vehicles and Animals but that’s exactly what they’ve done. The new album boasts a more mature sound from Athlete and they seem to have benefited from it. Gone is the simple melody from the first album to be replaced by a much deeper and slightly more haunting bass line. In fact the overall sound of the album has a more mature edge to it that makes all the tracks incredibly enjoyable.
The first single from the album set a precedent for the bands new sound and its something they can work from for the eventual third album. For the time being though this is a superb collection of songs, with slight changes in tempo that give the album quite a varied taste. In fact the album itself does enough to challenge for Coldplay’s title as one of Britain’s best exports. If the band are going to break the States then it’s fair to say that this is the album that will do it for them. The album is made largely of sweeping guitars and emotive melodies that make it such a success.
From the opening bars of the first track it easy to see that the band have grown up in a lot of ways. The synthesisers have almost totally gone but it’s the change in lead singer Joel Pott’s vocals that really makes the album. During the debut effort he seemed to have a mockney accent that stood out on just about every track. Now he seems to have dropped the accent and his vocals sound simply amazing. It gives the band as a whole a better sound and makes the mellower ballads on the album sound even better.
As a musical proposition Athlete are sounding even better. As I mentioned they have done away with the synthesiser that plagued the previous album and replaced it with a great deal of musical talent. Its lead on the whole by the guitars backed up sublimely by the drums. For long sections of the album the soaring melody’s take over and make it one of the better albums released so far this year. The album has a mixture of Indie pop songs that show Athlete have got what it takes to compete with the likes of Coldplay.
Unlike the last album it doesn’t tail off towards the end with no tracks really standing out as being weak. The songs are all enjoyable and the album can withstand multiple listens before you even realise it’s the third time you’ve heard a certain track. From the first time I heard the album a couple of tracks really stood out to me. The albums title track is certainly my favourite, “Tourist” offers a cross over between the last album and this. It’s quite similar in places but still shows the more mature sound of the band. The melody is fantastic and Pott’s voice certainly shows just how much his vocal talents have improved.
The other track that really stood out to me from the first time I listened to the album has to be “Street Map”. From the opening bars on the piano it sounds a little bit like Coldplay at their best. Pott and co have created a truly beautiful track in “Street Map” that will certainly make a great single. The mellow parts of the album really set the tone whilst tracks like “Modern Mafia” lift the pace a little and add the real variety into the album that “Out Of Nowhere” did for the debut album.
Overall this is an excellent return from Athlete. The debut album was good but had a couple of weak links that they needed to improve on for the follow up. They’ve done just that and created a much more mature sounding album that really shows a band coming of age. They’ve held on to the factors that made the first album such a joy to listen to and improved on it with a more personal touch. It’s lyrically a more moving and sublime album that really touches you while the music flows past. The biggest success though has to be the just how good the album is. It was a big ask of the band to improve on the debut effort and a task I’d say they met head on and successfully over came.
Advantages: Amazing lyrics Disadvantages: Sad songs
Tourist by Athlete is an amazing akbum filled with sad and emotional songs. The songs are slow and filled with emotion which makes it much more appealing. If sad songs arent your thing then this album is probably not going to interest you very much but I still think you should listen to it anyway to hear the amazing lyrics.
Track list:
Chances - 4.50
This song, like the rest of the album, is slow and meaningful. The lyrics ahve been carefully ... ...be extremely difficult. Tourist - 3.57
The album was named after this song. The tempo comes back down again with this song. The lyrics are sung more slowly again. There is more music without singing in this song than the previous ones. A story unravels throughout this song as well.
Trading Air - 4.27
The introduction is slow and sounds like something sad is happening. The lyrics are sung much more slowly and the sentences are more broken up. Wires ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Beautiful lyrics & Easy Listening Disadvantages: Begining to mutate into Coldplay
...was brilliant. Finally justice! Tourist offers a blend of Coldplay's calm and beauty with Embrace's choruses. This is an album for any music fan who says they like 'indie'.
Tourist is quite different to the previous album, aimed more towards the mainstream music fan. Which is a shame, cause in some senses this means that Athlete have sold out. The vague experimental songs such as 'Dungeness' are gone; this album is more Coldplay with out Chris Martin. ... ...song 'Wires' and 'Half Light' are the obvious headline songs on the album, but if you look beyond what you would hear on TMF this album is hiding some gems. 'Yesterday threw Everything at Me' is my personal favourite, it is by far the best song on the album. It really is a sensitive emotional song, with beautiful lyrics and great riffs. Song might ague that this Athlete are just catering for the growing market of Coldplay throw backs, who want to ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: An amazing album. Disadvantages: Not suited to all tastes.
Okay i cannot say enough good things about this album. i've listened to it so many times and i just cannot get enough. It was a hard job to top their original album but the guys have really pulled through this time.
Carey Willets (bass and vocals), Joel Pott (guitar and vocals),Steven V. Roberts Roberts was hired in 1964 by the New York Times as research assistant to James Reston, then the papers Washington bureau chief. He was a senior writer at ... ...is now a contributing editor. As... Steve Roberts (drums and vocals), and Tim Wanstall (keyboards and vocals). Their music is strongly influenced by classic Britpop bands, Coldplay, Oasis . Even vocalist Joel Pott ressembles in haircut and singing style to Oasis' frontman - Liam on the set of the Wonderwall video. There are none of their old songs on there and i love every track on it. This is a great buy for people who do not have the Vehicles and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Britpop's best Disadvantages: There are 3 Poor-Quality songs.
...Background:
Silent Cry is Welsh band Feeder's long-awaited album; following the hugely successful 2005 release "Pushing the Senses", which received mixed critical responses. The Guardian described the album as a "kind of emotional aural soup that will baffle the spikier members of their original punky fan base", whereas Q Magazine thought that the album would "Finally establish Feeder as major league players". I think the latter was definitely the more accurate review - as the album ended up at number 2 in the album charts; bettered only by Athlete's "Tourist". Nevertheless, this album seems to be a stepping-stone to success for the three-piece band; although admittedly I doubt that this album will surpass the sales of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" to clinch Feeder's first ever No.1.
Feeder have recorded an album that is...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Quirky, original & catchy Disadvantages: Raw vocals - odd sound effects
...Athlete are becoming better known nowadays. "Wires" is currently shooting up the charts and they're just released their second album entitled "Tourist". I therefore decided it was time to update my review on their first album "Vehicles & Animals". Athlete have been compared to Beck, Mercury Rev, The Beach Boys, XTC, Gomez and Turin Breaks to name but a few. However, I happen to think that their music is pretty much unique, even though it?s full of weird instruments and special effects. Out of all the CD?s in my (rather vast) collection, Vehicles and Animals is still a huge favourite. It?s a superb collection of 12 great songs all of which are infectious tunes that really get into you head. I?d be hard pushed to find a track I actively disliked.
Athlete hail from Deptford in South London and were formed at the start of 2000 by...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Good variation of artists! Disadvantages: Some songs stand weak! Quite expensive!
..., intro is too slow. Sounds the same all the way through. 3/10
Supergrass - St petersburg
Album - Road to Rouen
Soft and mellow great lyrics and a good tune! 9/10
Turin Brakes - Fishing for a dream
Album - Nice, mellow intro! Good gitarist, lyrics are soft. Nice track that is easy to listen to. 9/10
Radiohead - Fake plastic trees
Album - The bends
Easy listening although it is too slow and quite a depressing feel to it. 4/10
Embrace - A glorious day
Album - Out of nothing
Really good song, holds strong all the way through. Good tempo and lyrics. 9/10
Athlete - Half Light
Album - Tourist
Drummer is a legend! I like this so much! Different vibe to it! Recommended! 10/10
Elbow - Forget myself
Album - Leaders of the storm
Not very strong, lyrics and tune are weak. 2/10
Doves - Snowden
Album...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Album Notes: Following on the heels of the well-received 2003 release VEHICLES & ANIMALS comes 2005's TOURIST from London-based quartet Athlete. More ambitious and polished than its predecessor, TOURIST is full of the lush, melodic rock that earned Athlete comparisons to Coldplay. Yet the album is marked by a sonic and compositional sophistication that is difficult to ignore. The mixture of electric and acoustic instruments, keyboards and electronic textures, shifting rhythms, and layered vocals is perfectly articulated, creating an overall experience that is dreamy, intricate, and alluring. As impressive as the sound of TOURIST is the strength of frontman Joel Pott's songwriting. From the ballad-like opener "Chances" (which erupts into an epic, orchestral sweep) to the record's first single, "Wires" (a song written when Pott's daughter was born prematurely), to the lilting melodies of "Street Map," TOURIST is packed with memorable hooks. With the exception of the mid-tempo rock of "Modern Mafia," TOURIST is sedate and atmospheric, yet each track displays such craftsmanship that the album plays almost like a pop symphony.
Album Reviews: Rolling Stone (p.76) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]hey manage swooning song-poetry and Coldplay karaoke over electronics-tinged arrangements that sound very pro forma."
Titles on disc 1
1.: Chances
2.: Half Light
3.: Tourist
4.: Trading Air
5.: Wires
6.: If I Found Out
7.: Yesterday Threw Everything At Me
8.: Street Map
9.: Modern Mafia
10.: Twenty Four Hours
11.: I Love
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Listed on Ciao since : 21/03/2005
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