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Weekly Reviews For 17 December, 2006

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I am Managing Editor at Metal4Life

I also contribute reviews to getreadytorock

I am also featured reviewer at spacerock.co.uk

I was Editor & reviewer at MetalUK.

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The Zutons - It's The Little Things We Do

Fair play to The Zutons, they've managed ot have one great song on each of their albums to date, which is more than most bands can dream about. This isn't it, mind, rather it's an alright tune about having a hangover, with a thoroughly irritating saxophone refrain. Which I'm sure is deliberate if it's meant to replicate the mental agony of said hangover.

The proper B-side "Sometimes I'm So Polite" sounds like a La's cast off, which would actually make it a Cast off (cue Britpop induced laughter). It's rubbish. For your delectation they throw in a live version of "Valerie", which isn't this albums great track either, but might make folk forget the main track, the video for which is also included.

It's a neat enough single package but not even close to being the Zutons at their best.

The Corrs - Goodbye


Now then, now then (guys and gals). After a dreadful covers album, it's Greatest Hits time for everyones favourite three sisters / one brother, Irish faux rock combo.

And are they trying to tell us something by releasing "Goodbye" as a trailer track? Apparently it's a 2006 remix but I can't really tell the difference. As Corrs tracks go, it's one of their better ballads, with a nice violin break from the delightful Sharon, something that had virtually vanished over the last few years. They almost sounded Irish for a minute, there!

They probably don't have to work anymore, so why bother. I wouldn't. I'm sure Andrea will bung out a solo album sometime in the next few years before the inevitable reformation. A nice song, nicely done.

The Feeling - Love It When You Call

Even more soft rock and seventies than their last single, this is virtually clothed in a white suit whilst standing on a yacht looking pensively at a dusky maiden waving on shore.

It's more Cheap Trick than ELO or Supertramp this time, as they cut down on the orchestration and come up with a tune that would sit happily on the soundtrack to "That 70's Show". Which is a very good thing and to be encouraged at all time, especially when the lush harmonies dip in and out of the mix. Add in a few 'whoo's' and a tasteful guitar break, and Uncle Todd Rundgren would be a very happy man.

Jamelia - Beware Of The Dog

Quite possibly the pop single of the year. Who would have thought that anything by the deplorable Depeche Mode could be made into something so poptastically fantastic. Sure, Jamelia could be anybody, as it's the tune and the production that rule the roost here.

There's a (sssh) promo remix CD floating about which clocks in at about 30 minutes, and it's remarkable how addictive a tune it is, even in it's extended formats, something I normally avoid like the plague. We like Jamelia round our way, especially after her appearance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and would urge each and every one of you to buy the single now.

All Saints - Rocksteady

A very wise woman said to me that this would have been so much better were it performed by Girls Aloud. And as I know what side my bread is buttered on, I'm not likely to disagree.

For it is a rather sprightly tune, hook ridden and with a sneering vocal which makes up for the fact that seventy five percent of them can't actually carry a tune in a bucket. That says a lot for the song which makes you forget all about the limitations of the performers, despite the sterile rocksteady beat which the tune seems to be fighting shy of.

As comebacks go, it's alright, but I doubt they'll last much beyond it.

Fergie - Fergalicious


It took eight writers and two sampled songs to make this, the single most facile and annoying record of the year. There really is no excuse for this. It's the kind of record that should be hunted down and punished in the most brutal manner possible. Everyone concerned should be banished to a prison camp in the Arctic, and their 'work' expunged from the human consciousness.

There aren't enough adjectives in the dictionary to summon up how dreadful this is. Even the soft core cover offends me, as a woman more than old enough to know better tries to pander to the paedo market in a vain attempt to increase sales. This is why revolutions get strted, you know. Insult people long enough and they will overthrow you. Bring back Madame Guillotine, that's what I say. Let's see how fergalicious you feel then?

Sandi Thom - Lonely Girl


It's probably a boon to Sandi Thom that I listened to this immediately after listening to the disgusting abhorrence that is "Fergalicious" by Fergie, the worst record I have heard in years, a record so bad, it actually offends me. Which means that Sandi sounds like a paragon of all that is good and true in the world of music.

Of course, she isn't, but single number three is a rather pleasant ballad, which would sit easily in the back catalogue of many a seventies soft rock singer / songwriter. Even if it did make me want to play Dean Friedman records. And I don't own any Dean Friedman records. Odd.

There's a suitable swell to the music which suits the semi orchestrated arrangement, and Sandi gets to stretch out a bit vocally, something missing from her breakthrough hit. It's not going to change the world, but at least it's not three minutes of my life I regret spending.