I don't want to lie
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.07.27 : How To Die In The North - BC Camplight (2015)
What an appropriately titled selection from one of our esteemed Northern colleagues - however, it was (obviously) one I'd never heard of, so was going in blind. And boy, was it an odd one. The vocals are generally pretty consistent - they reminded me of Fleet Foxes and Beach Boys (falsetto + harmonies) which isn't always my favourite style, but I can live with it. However, the musical style varies from track to track which is a curious decision - and meant that some tracks work (for me) better than others, and the whole album left me somewhat scratching my head. I really didn't like "Lay Me On The Floor" though!
Repeating the pattern seen for the previous album, the channel gave this 4 thumbs up and was tactfully silent otherwise, apart from one person who upped and left as a result. Wikipedia has nothing to say about the album, but does tell me that BC is just the one guy who's had a few issues in his life (including having to cancel his UK summer tour because he was deported from the country - oops). His Wikipedia entry pretty much stops 6 years ago, so I checked on the wider internet to see if he was OK and he recently tweeted how much he was looking forward to his "I'm Alright In The World" UK/Ireland tour this year, so that's a hopeful sign, I guess.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of - which did not surprise me. All in all, this was a puzzling one - not something I'll be rushing back to either.
20.07.28 : Olympian - Gene (1995)
Gene are (somewhat unfairly imho) viewed as one of the lesser lights of Britpop - personally, I think they managed to plough their own furrow reasonably well and I seem to recall enjoying this album, although I hadn't listened to it in many a long year. And yeah, there's nothing wrong with this - but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I was expecting to, so it felt like a bit of letdown. His voice doesn't always come across as the strongest, but when it works well (as it does on the title track particularly), it's effective. The Smiths are the obvious musical reference, but it also reminded me of My Life Story who were around at the same time and I have a soft spot for them (The Golden Mile is an album well worth checking out if you're not aware of it and like this sort of thing).
The channel was pleased to be reminded of the good old days and offered the controversial opinion that maybe, just maybe, Morrissey isn't a particularly nice person these days. It also managed to entice two people to join, partially balanced by one leaver. Wikipedia tells me the album is "frequently recognized as one of the crowning achievements of Britpop" - which I feel might be slightly overstating its position in the oeuvre, although it did get to #8 in the UK charts, so it did OK for itself.
"Customers also listened to" a proper 90s mix - Ride, Menswear, The Auteurs (I particularly like Now I'm A Cowboy), Dodgy, The Mock Turtles, etc, etc, etc. I was pleased to revisit this, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I was expecting to - like a trip back down memory lane only to find things weren't quite as great as you'd remembered.
20.07.29 : Dream Or Don't Dream - Kestrels (2020)
Another one I'd never heard of - for some strange reason, I was fearing some Idles post-punk nonsense but I'm pleased to say I couldn't have been more wrong. It's some fuzzy mid 90s style indie pop and I quite liked it - continuing the bird theme, Doves sprang to mind as a musical reference. I think we all know who'd win a fight between Doves and Kestrels though. I like the album cover as well!
The channel liked this a lot and picked up Teenage Fanclub and Silversun Pickups as musical references, which I also quite agree with (and I'm a big fan of SP, so I should have picked that up). It then held a poll as to what proportion of the albums people were listening to - most people that responded were managing to listen to over half of them, which seems like a decent effort to me. Wikipedia has no entry for the album or the band - although it does have an entry for The Kestrels, who apparently used to sing backing vocals for Benny Hill, which just boggles the mind. And, amusingly continuing the bird theme, The Kestrels released a double album with The Eagles - and, no, it's not those Eagles! I did however find some pictures of these Kestrels on tinternet and they were all wearing anoraks - which strikes me as a very Canadian indie band thing to do.
"Customers also listened to" a fine mix of band names - Dead Famous People, Preston School Of Industry and The Proper Ornaments. None of whom I can tell you the slightest thing about, obviously! But, along with the channel, I liked this one and will try to listen to it again at some point.
At the start of this, I only knew the Gene offering and would have expected it to be good enough to carry the round - but my disappointment in revisiting it, combined with my enjoyment of Kestrels means I'm giving this round to the birds.
Comments
Post a Comment