I've been listening to this album for the last few days, though not quite as insanely as I have done with previous OLP albums. It's a quality album, with no drop in the strength of the music anywhere. It's probably their most complete album since Happiness. It's a more mellow OLP with a bit more simplicity in the lyrics, but it's still conveys emotion.
Angels/Losing/Sleep: The chorus to this song has two words repeating over and over, yet it's brilliantly done. There's a neat little guitar riff that pops up through the song, it's an effect I can't really describe, but it's a neat sound.
Will The Future Blame Us: Destined to be the next great OLP hit in my opinion. I hope they choose this as the next single, it'll be a smash. It has the radio friendly feel of "Innocent" and "Life", but it's a better, more complete song.
Picture: The guitar lick that carries this song is simple yet catchy. Raine hits a note during the second chorus that's absolute perfection. It's a little bland lyrically, but the vocals are strong. It's also begging for a better guitar solo in the bridge, hopefully they do it live.
Where Are You: The first single off the album. It's good, but it's missing something. The little guitar licks in the background really pick it up, but I miss the chorus of the demo version I heard. It's still a good driving/singalong song.
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: I'm rather dense when it comes to lyrics, but I'm quite sure this is a knock at George Bush and his war in Iraq. Raine had a visit to Iraq during the making of the album. It's one of the best songs on the album, it has a distinctive feel, and it breaks into this killer riff that's completely unexpected yet very cool. It's nice to hear some classic falsettos too. Another song that's begging for a wicked solo during the bridge.
Love And Trust: This song has a great feel to it. It's almost ambient in the verses, yet the chorus is really engaging. Another song about the state of the world today. I'm digging this song more and more every time I hear it.
Boy: Strong U2 vibe from this song, I keep expecting "With or Without You" to break out. Great vocal range in the song, Raine doesn't use the deep part of his voice enough. Very uplifiting and inspiriational song.
Apology: Another mellow track. It's got haunting vocals, strong guitar, a just-hard-enough drum line, and just a great vibe to it. I'd expect a song like this from Incubus, but OLP do a fantastic job with it. This might be the best song on the album, but I can't decide.
The World On A String: The first time I heard this song, I was like "What the hell?". The opening guitar riff is so anti-OLP. It's this cheery, bouncy kinda sound. I get the vision of the band dancing around rainbows with goofy grins on their face. The chorus kicks it up a bit, and the bridge is very catchy. It's a catchy song overall, it's just that it's so different from anything else I've heard from OLP. But it's a good different.
Don't Stop: Very strong guitar in this song. The song doesn't do anything to stand out from the rest of the album, but it's a good song. The bridge/instrumental is strong, and it's where the album title comes from.
Walking In Circles: My other early favourite from the album. I like everything about this song. Bass, guitar, drums, and vocals all mesh perfectly. The verse builds up nicely to the chorus, which is the best part of the song. The "Cirrrr-cles" part is chilling.
Al Genina (Leave A Light On): A song about Raine's trip to Darfur. It's just him and a guitar, very mellow, very passionate, very powerful. My only complaint is that it's too short.
Overall I really dig this album. I have a feeling that this might be up there with Happiness as their best work yet, but it's too early. Quite a step from their last album which, despite it's commercial success, isn't as popular among traditional OLP fans. It's a completely new sound from them, and I think this is what Gravity was trying to be but never acheived.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
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2 comments:
Wow up there with Happiness. (Happiness and the fish being one of the best, yet most unapreciated songs ever.) I'll definately have to check this one out. When my car was broken into a few years ago my OLP albums dissappeared :( Time to rebuild me thinks.
I've actually got a spare copy here, if you want it. The CD had copy protection, so you could only rip to protected Windows Media format, which iTunes won't recognize. In order to get mp3s, you can burn the protected WMA files to a CD then rip that CD. I did that, so now I've got a spare copy lying around.
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