Keane – Strangeland (Deluxe) Album Review (2012)

April 30, 2012 by 1 Comment

Strangeland Review

Keane – Strangeland. Album released May 4th (GR) 7th (UK) 8th (US)

Keane are set to release their forth studio album on May 7th in the UK, 8th in the US, but whats the album actually like. Well turns out RKUK Media have been listening to it and here’s our opinion of the album track by track.

You Are Young (4.5 / 5)

Strangeland kicks off with You Are Young instantly breaking in to Toms powerful vocals. The song really begins the feel for the entire album, the return of that melodic sound we knew Keane for all along, but something new added in there too, dare we say Coldplay like at the end but great for it, the Viva La Vida style chanting at the end will get everyone singing Oh oh oh ooohhhhhh oh …. you’ll get it when you hear it.

Silenced By The Night (3.5 / 5)

Next is the first single, Silenced By The Night. Now, I don’t know if its because I’ve heard this so much, but I personally never was, pardon the pun, keen on this song, maybe due to the consistent bellows in Toms voice from the Perfect Symmetry era, which I think we all want to forget. All in all it is a catchy tune, and like You Are Young before it, you will find yourself, atleast trying to, singing along to the end whooaaasss by Tom.

Disconnected (4.5 / 5)

Disconnected is the first single in Germany, and has been a victim of sir Internet leak, but what a treat it is. Disconnected may have an absolutely wrong in the head music video, but its an awesome song, and really brings us back to the Under The Iron Sea days of Keane, which is not a bad thing at all. The old Keane we all loved is back!

Watch How You Go (4 / 5)

Watch How You Go is one of those tear-jerkers, a song about leaving someone to live their life and, well, watch how they go. The songs not much at the start but once the chorus kicks in we’ve a song that really gets in you’re head. The harmonisation’s during “Behind now” are simply beautiful too.

Sovereign Light Cafe (5 / 5)

Sovereign Life Cafe was one of the first Strangeland songs we heard back on the Perfect Symmetry tour when it was tried out live and we were all annoyed when it didn’t make it to Night Train, but its here now and deservedly on an album. This is one of those rare songs by Keane that actually cheers you up, and the songs so catchy you forget its simply a song about peoples lives around a Cafe, but it is more than that, love the lyrics “you can get a big house and a faster car, you can run away boy but you won’t get far”, so true. One of our instant and still album favourites.

On Your Own (3 / 5)

When it comes to up tempo Keane songs none have really done that well, Put It Behind You was probably the worst song on UTIS, and sadly On Your Own is that one. Who knows, some may like it, I mean people liked Put It Behind You we’re not disputing that, but the song just whilst so fast and up tempo just feels empty for a Keane song.

The Starting Line (5 / 5)

The Starting Line is an awesome track, probably feels that way after following On Your Own, but we’ve played it without On Your Own and it still sounds as awesome. The Starting Line is a real Keane ballad, something you really have begun to expect from a Keane album, and as usual great lyrics “Drag your heart up to the starting line, forget the ghosts that make you old before your time”, such a powerful statement, powerful song, great job Keane.

Black Rain (5 / 5)

Black Rain in a word is absolutely beautiful. It takes a lot to call a song beautiful, but Black Rain really is. If its not the dreamy high pitch vocals from Tom, and Tim at the end, or the whirring synth that just makes this song literally the best song on the album, if I could do 6 out of 5 I would. Black Rain also features statements as usual, “if you’ve got love, you better hope that that’s enough”, does anything else need saying!

Neon River (4 / 5)

Kicking off with 80s style synths you’d think you were back in the old days, then we’re back. Neon River is one of the more personal songs on the album, but at the same time just an awesome track. We’re not particularly sure what the song is about, many mentions of locations on this and the entire album, but all in all this is another great song and we love the change in sound in the middle 8, could of been another song there!

Day With Come (3.5 / 5)

Early in the album reviewing On The Road I said I didn’t like it due to up tempo, well, welcome back to up tempo Keane and it doesn’t work again, this sounds more like Put It Behind You than anything. The song is a bit better than On The Road but not much. Personally I ignore these two songs on the album.

In Your Own Time (4.5 / 5)

(Note: this scored 3.5 on first listen) I love the sound of In Your Own Time and probably has the most addictive start of a song ever if that makes sense, everything just fits and I love that. The song is about someone trying to help someone along but in the end resulting in that person not been able to be helped in the end, but will be in time. This song is a grower, which not many Keane songs are, but after a few listens you’ll be playing it as mad as any other Keane classic.

Sea Fog (4.5 / 5)

Sea Fog is a term normally given to irregular weather conditions and in some terms thats what this song is about, but goes further than that. The song was apparently written whilst Tim stared in to the sky, and we can see that resemblance. The result an incredible song, and vocally Tom never fails to pump out those big notes!

Strangeland (4 / 5)

Strangeland is a self titled album track which was given away early on Keane’s FaceBook Page. The song itself to us does feel a bit like a b-side, but actually after a few listens it does get in to you’re head which has to be good. We hope that the b-side sounding feel is not one for all the bonus tracks on the Deluxe Version.

Run With Me (4/5)

They’ve done it, Keane have made a uptempo song thats actually good. With a poppy sound reminiscent of something you’d expect in the 90s but that certainly doesn’t make this a bad song, and we have to say these extra songs on the Deluxe version are completely worth it, we’re loving these. Run With Me is one of those songs with such a melodic rhythm you won’t be able to get it our of your head, from the “baby” in the chorus to the end.

The Boys (5/5)

Instantly and still is our number 1 favourite song on the album, I love it. It it usual Keane? No, but my god we love it. Such a cheeky song too, but the most catchiest Keane song I think there’s ever been and if you don’t have the chorus going through your head constantly weeks after hearing it you’re mad, this has to be our favourite by far.

It’s Not True (4.5/5)

A beautiful melodic ballad to finish off the deluxe version of the album, at the start of the track it doesn’t seem like much, but give it time and you’ve got yourself one of those little Keane classics, love the harmonisation’s!

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Album Overview (4.5 / 5)

We love Strangeland, does it beat Hopes and Fears, well we’re old fashioned and think you can never beat the original, but it does stand right up there with Under The Iron Sea and some could argue better than Under The Iron Sea, so thats pretty much the middle ground. We heartedly recommend this album on release date, or if you haven’t already pre-order it, its a great album. We gave the album 4.5 out of 5, which literally could of been 5 out of 5 if they cut out On The Road and Day Will Come, but still an incredible album.
If you are pre-ordering the album bare in mind its released on a Bank Holiday in the UK so unless you get it digitally you won’t see it until the Americans do on the 8th May.

Check back to this review on the 7th May for the Deluxe Album Review.

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Ghosts Album 2 Teaser

August 10, 2011 by 3 Comments

Ghosts are an English band from London that made fame in 2007 with the release of their debut album The World Is Outside with singles ‘Stay The Night’, ‘The World Is Outside’ and ‘Ghosts’. Now it seems they’re suddenly back after releasing two songs on MySpace, now adding another two to the collection it seems album 2 shouldn’t be that long away.

Well, when Ghosts released Say You’re Mine and Never Too Late, many were asking, where can I buy them, well it turns out you can buy them below for 99p each. But thats not all, you can also buy two more new songs called Strawberry Smile and a Ghosts demo called The Edge Of Love.

Downloads provided by Bandcamp.com and hosted by Simon Pettigrew.

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Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans Album Review

December 15, 2010 by Leave a comment

Its been a very interesting year for music this year and if one artist has shone throughout the year its definitely been Bruno Mars and in January his debut album will finally hit UK shores, so is it any good, lets have a look shall we.

Grenade (7/10)

The album kicks off with Grenade, classic Bruno Mars anthem song. Not the strongest on the album and very cheesy desperate lyrics, but is an instant hit from the first time you hear it, although we found it gets old and boring quite quickly.

Just The Way You Are (10/10)

This is the anthem on the album, the song that put Bruno Mars to our ears. With its consistent women complimenting lyrics to die for, this is the ultimate song that all women want singing to them. The song, like most on this album is yet again cheesy, but this is song is just pure gold. Bruno Mars’ voice also completely shines throughout this song especially in the high middle 8 towards the end. I also recommend if you haven’t already to check out the music video as it just completely matches the song perfectly, something that unfortunately can’t really be said for the ‘Grenade’ music video. From the first piano rift to the “Yeaahhh!!!” at the end, this song is just 10/10.

Our First Time (5/10)

The next track is a slow mover track with what can only be described as a bit of a reggae drum and bass around it. The “Go with it” and “Slow with it” chorus repeat is one that you’ll be singing along to as the second and last chorus arrive. Whilst the song is alright, its one of the weakest songs on the album and kinda reminds us of some 90s Peter Andre, so err… yeah.

Runaway Baby (6/10)

Runaway Baby brings the album back to choppy speed. This is the song on the album you can dance to, a real fast moving beat to the track with pretty much rapping from Bruno Mars. This is a little pop number just to get up and dance to, but unfortunately thats as far as the song goes.

The Lazy Song (4/10)

The Lazy Song is one great song about the way we all feel now and then, just the ‘I can’t be bothered’ moment, I chuckled when I heard “in my castle, I’m the fricking man”. The song essentially is simple as what it sounds, a lazy song with the occasional dream going on as well.

Marry You (8/10)

“Its a beautiful night we’re looking for something dumb to do, hey baby I think I wanna marry you”. What more needs to be said, this is one hell of a track this, this is the best unreleased song on the album in our opinion, has a funky dancy beat and has that ‘Just The Way You Are’ type lyric-ness, unfortunately in many areas it sounds a bit like a copy of that song especially the ‘Just say you do’ part sounds and is incredibly similar to ‘The way you are’ part of ‘Just The Way You Are’ with the same high pitch note on the last notes etc, just saying, its a bit repetitive, but hey its a great song none the less.

Talking to The Moon (9/10)

Talking To The Moon is an anthem in itself, the song derives around the feeling of losing someone in a relationship and well, not getting over them so ending up talking to the moon. The song is a truly beautiful number and nothing much can be said, just a really great song.

Liquor Store Blues (feat. Damian Marley) (3/10

This is the worst track on the record in our opinion, nothing in this song works for us, its not bad, but when you play it following the last few tracks it seems really out of place. Sorry, even with Damian Marley not convinced.

Count On Me (8/10)

Count On Me is a little melodic number, acoustic beat singing about simply life and what not. The song has a real nursery-rhime feel to it, and Bruno Mars’ voice really does shine throughout this song. “You can count on me like 1 2 3″ and “I can count on you like 4 3 2″ is so simple but fits in perfectly, another great song and makes up for the disastrous previous track.

The Other Side (feat. B.o.B and Cee Lo Green) (8/10)

This was a great single when it came out and if you ask me didn’t get deserved airplay when it was released, really great song and features Gnarls Barkley vocalist now solo singer Cee Lo Green and fellow Bruno Mars collaborator B.o.B. “You know I, I’ll be waiting on the other side, and you all you’ve got to do is cross the line”, the chorus either when sung by Bruno Mars himself (all but second chorus) or by Cee Lo Green it sounds awesome, and B.o.B’s rap also fits in perfectly and for a rap actually has some pretty great lyrics which perfectly fit the mood of the song.

Somewhere In Brooklyn [10/10]

Somewhere In Brooklyn is probably my favourite song on the album, keeping the nusery-rhyme type song like on Count On Me but with added effects of ‘Just The Way You Are’ great. “She was covered in leather and gold, 21 years old, I lost her in the cold, its unfair she’s out there, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in Brooklyn …”, the lyrics really speak for themselves. A song about a man trying to find the true love out there, in this case, in Brooklyn.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: This song is a bonus track and may not feature on all formats of the album]

Nothin’ On You (feat. B.o.B.) [9/10]

Nothin’ On You was released by B.o.B and featured Bruno Mars but we can’t do a review of Bruno Mars and not mention this song. This is a fantastic release by the two and went to number 1 here and across the pond and how couldn’t it with lyrics like “Beautiful girls all over the world, I could be searching but my time would be wasted, cause they got nothing on you …”. The only reason this song doesn’t get a 10/10 is probably due to B.o.B’s rapping, its not bad but I do feel in some areas it ruins the songs potential, but hey, it was supposed to be a B.o.B song so who am I to judge.

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OVERVIEW

The album has some absolutely fantastic songs on it, some I’ve even rated at 10/10 which is rare for my reviews, but then again the album contrains some in my opinion poisonous songs which really ruin the album and its annoying as there is only 10 tracks if you get the album on CD (bonus track download only) it can be annoying having to skip. Why ‘Somewhere In Brooklyn’ is just a bonus is a mystery to me as that was actually my favourite song. Like I said, great album, but man there is the odd couple of rubbish added to it that really are the only things stopping it from being a 5/5.

© Atlantic Records 2010

© Elektra 2011

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Keane – My Shadow Danny Dance Remix Review

June 6, 2010 by Leave a comment


With great music comes great remixes, and Keane are definitely no exception. My Shadow is a song made as an extra for ‘Perfect Symmetry’ album for Keane as an iTunes exclusive, and released fully through the ‘Night Train’ EP.

The remix for My Shadow has been created by DannyDance
The remix starts off with a nice edgy quick beginning which fills the song througout which has a dancy repetitive effect through the lyrics “see my shadow”. The remix itself throughout is not a bad remix of My Shadow, the repetitive “see my shadow” does get old rather quickly though and the song in general does feel like its been pushed in to the 5 minute length it takes up, but putting that aside the result is a very effective remix to one of my favourite Keane tracks from ‘Night Train’. One thing that would of been nice would be a great mix on to the massive rock out at the end of My Shadow which is asking to be pumped up, neither way, great remix from a promising remixer!

- Not a bad remix, not perfect, but a great first remix of My Shadow from a very promising remixer.
Check out more remixes by DannyDance at the below links:
Website : http://danceisafeeling.com
YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/DJDannyDance
Download .mp3 : DOWNLOAD LINK (Right click)

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Keane – Night Train EP Review

May 3, 2010 by 2 Comments

Keane – Night Train EP Review
House Lights
- House Lights is a short intro track, which features alot of influences from Black Burning Heart, in fact if you played this before Black Burning Heart, it would probably sound like the same song, not too keen on this as I don’t think it should be counted as 1 of the 8 tracks on the “8 Track EP”, alright but pointless.
Back In Time
- If Keane were to do a James Bond theme tune it would probably sound like this, epic music intro and ending with powerful vocals from lead singer Tom Chaplin. However if this was a lyric competition the song would get probably 1 out of 5, the chorus just contains the repeated lyrics “She goes back in time”, but seen as the song results in such epicness, the lyrics don’t matter, this song is obviously more of a crowd rocker song than a lyrical song, similar to the rocky feel of ‘Playing Along’. The song also features vocals from all members of the bank in the sort of middle 8 of the song, which follows in to an epic filled drive to the last chorus, with Tim’s vocals echoing the chorus after Tom which gives an amazing effect to the song which makes us so excited to see them play live.
Stop For a Minute (featuring K’naan)
- Stop For a Minute is the single for the album Night Train, and based on the track list size probably the only single from the album. Stop For a Minute features a lot of input from rapper K’naan (website link) who has his own verse, a rap sequence and joins Tom in the chorus’ after the first. The result actually is not that bad, the only problem with this single is the failure of promotion, everyone who I’ve shown this song to say they love it but haven’t heard of it, a real fail in sales from Island Records there. Unlike the radio edit, this features a more polished version of the rap sequence with two extra lines in the rap which kinda make it make sense more. The song itself is a great sing-a-long single from Keane and K’naan input definitely makes for a great track. We particularly love the final lyrics from K’naan, “the stage in the scene, where its just me and Keane”, classic!

Clear Skies
- Clear Skies is polite quiet little jingle from Keane, a first surprise is the claps, which personally I would prefer without, but I suppose live it gives the audience something to do. The song is a beautiful song with a calming acoutic guitar driven melody, yeah I know weren’t Keane the piano band a minute ago? The song also has a lovely fitting xylophone backing, which will be interesting to see who plays that live. The song, whilst a great song, does feel to be building up to something that never arrives, and the ending, sort of loud rocking sound after the mid part of the song doesn’t work for us. Apart from that this is sure to be a fan favourite from the EP.

Ishin Denshin (You’ve Got To Help Yourself) (featuring Tigarah)
– “See how the world goes round, you’ve got to help yourself, see how the world goes round, and you help someone else”. Under the knowledge that this song was going to be driven by japanese lyrics, which are sung by Tigarah, we didn’t have much hopes for this song, and, whilst it has quite a funky beat and starts with quite a funky drum beat, that’s about it for this song. If you’re japanese you can probably appreciate this song more than us, but for me its nothing more than a big disappointment and a song that, after time, you skip rather than listen to.

Your Love
- Where did this come from, a beautiful love song and sung by Tim, with no input from Tom what-so-ever! Like with Ishin Denshin, on paper this shouldn’t work, but this works brilliantly and the result is the best song on the EP and based on Perfect Symmetry, the best Keane song in a long time. The song has a calming dance beat to it and the lyrics are just beautiful, we can imagine Tim singing this to his wife after an argument, oh and the movie continues! We can’t imagine any Keane fan who doesn’t like this song, its brilliant, keep up the good work Tim, and to be perfectly honest I don’t think Tom could have sung it better.

Looking Back (featuring K’naan)
- Looking Back is the last of the two songs that feature rapper K’naan (website link), but to be honest we’re rather disappointed with K’naans input especially “how could you separate milk from lime …”, WAAT! Anyway, oddly the random outbursts that K’naan brings to this track just work together, and to be frank the song wouldn’t be itself without it. The song itself is, in our opinion better than Stop For a Minute, but we can completely understand why they chose that as the single. Like Stop For a Minute, K’naan does have his own verse towards the last chorus. But all-in-all a great song.

My Shadow
- My Shadow was on my Perfect Symmetry, what’s it doing here? Anyway, we will continue our review anyway. Like I thought before, My Shadow is a great song for playing live, which Keane have actually proved by playing the song live in multiple venues in late 2009. The song itself was only available legally! through the iTunes pre-order of Perfect Symmetry, so many don’t have it yet. With iTunes Pre-order you get a remix with Night Train which we’re not gonna review. My Shadow is a great song to rock out to and is a rarety for Keane to have a song that has a hint of piano in it, so it maybe a good thing for people who haven’t heard My Shadow to include it.

Overview

- The Night Train is a nice collection of songs to fit Keane’s classic eco-system of 2 years per record (Hopes and Fears ’04, Under The Iron Sea ’06, Perfect Symmetry ’08, and now Night Train ’10) Keane, or should I say Tim, has promised a full blown album is in the making.
The album is definitely not an album, the songs are kind of mixed up, unfortunately let down by quite a few down parts of the record, notably House Lights and Ishin Denshin, but thats mainly because I hate songs I can’t sing to. Overall the EP will definitely be a nice fix to Keane fans, however people waiting for the “old Keane” to return will be disappointed as its all new experimental stuff.

Night Train is released 10th May (UK) and 11th May (US and Worldwide)

Review by Ben Hanson

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Gorillaz – Plastic Beach Album Review

March 5, 2010 by Leave a comment

Welcome to Plastic Beach, the new album by Gorillaz released next Monday 8th March 2010, but why not check out our review of it first.


Orchestral Intro (bit too short to rate)

A short 1 minute orchestral intro, says it as it is, a lot more calming than the ‘Intro’ in Demon Days, in fact makes you rather sleepy until track 2 starts.

Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (3 / 10)

Starting of with a bunch of trumpets then in to the gangster scene with Snoop Dogg, a newby to the Gorillaz contribution artists. Like many other songs on the album, this features some orchestras, this features the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Orchestra. The song, in our opinion, is one of the few weaker songs on the album, Snoop Doggs input just makes you instantly want to press the ‘Next’ button. Its not terrible but its not one of the best in any fashion. Snoops lyrics are also very weak, using ‘Mirror mirror on the wall’ just did it for us to be honest.

White Flag (6 / 10)

White Flag starts off with a lovely calming note playing with some bongos, and some orchestral sound, this time from the National Orchestra for Arabic Music, bit odd but we’ll go with it for now. It seems Gorillaz are highly in to the orchestral feel for Plastic Beach. Unfortunately thats when the song gets rather disappointing. The song also features Kano, which actually has quite a good input, but as soon as Bashy, the other featured rapper it all just fails for us, and its really a shame. Like Snoop on WttWotPB (track 2) the lyrics are just ridiculous, the song is lead by the notes coming from the flute and the bongos which are really the only thing that keep you listening.

Rhinestone Eyes (8 / 10)

Rhinestone Eyes is the first song on the album that has no featured act, just 2D on vocals similar to ‘Feel Good Inc’ with the megaphone styled vocals. The lyrics are beautiful in this song, the song is such a relief for us as we we’re just about to say the album is a big disappointment. The song also has a nice poppy feel to it, for instance the ‘electric, beep … beep … beep … beep’ on the chorus works perfectly and is something you guaranteed to be singing on the way out of hearing this song. Although no featured acts are mentioned their are some backing vocals which does perfect the song. The background rift on the chorus also matches it perfectly leaving a fantastic song, well done Gorillaz.

Stylo (7 / 10) >Watch music video on Selection 82

Stylo is the first single released by the Gorillaz and the first song anyone has probably heard from the album, starting with the fast rapping from 2D to start the song off. The bass rift does get rather repetitive after a while but its such a catchy song overall, ‘…overload, overload, coming up to the overload…’ is something I couldn’t stop singing after the first listen. Stylo does return Gorillaz back to that darker sound which we haven’t really seen for a while. The song suddenly lifts up thanks to the powerful voice of Bobby Womack which in our opinion just makes everything that so much better, once you hear the ‘If its love!!!!!!’ for the first time your just like, oh yeah, rock on. Stylo isn’t the strongest song on the album, but is a perfect single in our opinion, you just can’t get it out of your head.

Superfast Jellyfish (7 / 10)

The song starts with a weird sounding childrens TV ad, then gets in to the song, not sure why, but fair enough. Superfast Jellyfish sees the return of De La Soul to Gorillaz, with Gruff Rhys as well. Unfortunately unlike ‘Feel Good Inc’ this just doesn’t work for us. The chorus however is so cheesy that you actually start to love it, the way they sing ‘Aluminum, aluminium’ just did it for us, well done. The song whilst sounding like a childrens nursery rhyme does take a bit of listening before you start liking it, on first listen alone I would have given this a 1/5, but the chorus and the high pitch talking background vocals and everything just captivates this song enough to make it all just oddly work!

Empire Ants (9 / 10)

Empire Ants starts very retro with a calming piano and soft drum beat that keeps the song going. This is probably the first beautiful song on the album, we don’t quite understand what the song is all about but the first half just sounds so soothing, ‘And if the whole world is crashing down’, the vocals are just so relaxing, you can probably play this to a child to get them to sleep its lovely, something rarely said about a Gorillaz song. The second half of the song is filled by drums and a lovely 80s sounding back rift, then the vocals of Little Dragon appear just perfect the song completely. Little Dragon features on two of the songs on the album, her input in this song turn a relaxing song into a dance song but without any complaints or interruption, its all done so right, we love it.

Glitter Freeze (7 / 10)

‘Where’s north from here’, we’re not quite sure why that is the first thing you here, but hey, we continue. Glitter Freeze has a very Scissor Sisters sounding sound to it which actually grows on you after time, especially the powerful siren sounding tone in the background that fill the song up till the end, some could consider it annoying or love it, this song is a bit marmite in our research. Mark E Smith is the random guy who makes random comments throughout the song, not something I would of though as a good idea, but it weirdly enough works, why, we don’t know, it just does. But the song instruments together may become annoying to most, so like we said this song is a hit or a miss for whoevers taste gets the pleasure of hearing it.

Some Kind of Nature (4 / 10)

Starting instantly with a piano driven vocals of Lou Reed, Some Kind of Nature begins. This is probably, in our opinion, another one of the worsted song on the album, nothing works for us. Lou Reeds vocals are so plain and remind me of an office party when the boss starts singing and your forced to smile and enjoy the vocals. Whats a shame about this song is the parts with 2D singing actually don’t sound too bad. Using someone who lets face it can’t sing worked as a risk with ‘Dare’, but with this is just fails, which is a shame as it could be such a good song.

On Melancholy Hill (9 / 10)

This song doesn’t sound like much, starts off with a very standalone poppy beat, then comes the vocals, then you hear such a beautiful vocals and the lyrics are just so cliché but lovely at the same time. ‘When you can’t get what you want, but you can get me’, the lyric is cheeky in a way but sang in such a beautiful form. If your not in to lyrics this song may not work for you, but for us this is just absolutely lovely. Lovely is a word your probably gonna see on a few songs on this album, the album has two main genres, beautiful pop sound, and rap. On Melancholy Hill was an instant favourite for us.

Broken (9 / 10)

Worried a lovely song would be followed by a bad one, we we’re given yet another good song indeed, they have indeed left some greats at the end. Broken is a very slow sounding pop song with some strong drums that work for some reason, whilst the vocals of 2D aren’t the best in this, they for some reason work for the song and in a way if vocal ability was better the song wouldn’t be, only Gorillaz can you say that. “Its broken, our love, is broken”, the chorus is so simple meaning rememberable, and we had another line to sing for Broken. Like Melancholy Hill, Broken has no featured acts which we are so happy about, this is a classic Gorillaz by themselves classic, pity the same couldn’t of been done to Some Kind of Nature, shame. But hey, Broken is awesome that all that matters.

Sweepstakes (1 / 10)

Sweepstakes features Mos Def and another orchestra this time the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, yes the same one from the song with Snoop. Unfortunately the song just has the most awful of starts, an awkward beat, with rappers that even sound like they are struggling for the next line. To us this is the worst song on the album bar none, nothing in this song works, I recommend skipping this one, just to resist getting put off.

Plastic Beach (7 / 10)

Like on the ‘Demon Days’ album ‘Plastic Beach’ has a title track, it starts very movie-like mysterious song which gets you very excited to hear what it sounds, kind of reminds me of a Muse song when the drums and the notes kick in. The song features Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, unfortunately I’ve no idea which is which in the song so I can’t judge them by name. This is probably the first dual collaboration on the album that actually works. The song is in no ways the strongest but beats a lot of songs on the album.

To Binge (9 / 10)

To Binge starts off like some broadway song in a 70s musical, this mood continues in what sounds like a duo with Little Dragon, who also sings in ‘Empire Ants’ and 2D, the collaboration with Little Dragon is probably the best on the album, all songs with Little Dragon are just perfect and beautiful and we can’t get enough of her and Gorillaz. The song is very hard to explain any further than we have really, its just another very beautiful we’ve been ‘Ca … Ca … Ca … Caught again’, love it. ‘My heart is in economy’, I mean the lyrics, plus the weird 70s vibe make this song probably our favourite on the album, and we hate the 70s, but hey!

Cloud of Unknowing (5 / 10)

Cloud of Unknowing features Bobby Womack who does the strong vocals in ‘Stylo’, but in this song he’s more acoustic. Unfortunately the song sounds like some failure Live Aid single. The song also features Sinfonia ViVA, who also features on the intro, if you noticed, we didn’t even notice them in this, but hey. I think its fair to say Bobby Womacks voice is more suited for a burst of brilliance like in ‘Stylo’, his vocals symbolise many songs from the likes of ‘Frankie goes to Hollywood’, which is strange. This is probably another marmite song from the album, except we aren’t a fan this time.

Pirate Jet (6 / 10)

Pirate Jet is almost like a jokey song to finish off the album on a happy note, this song is a rather funny song and no doubt a funny video could be made for this song. The song is a bit of a gimmick but it makes for quite a nice ending to the album, unlike ‘Demon Days’ that left you depressed and feeling rather sad at the end, this makes you feel rather uplifting which I like, but the song is nothing to get excited about either tho.

OVERVIEW 

The album is let down by a lot of weak songs, unfortunately out of the 16 tracks on the album we only truly like around 9 of them if we’re been nice, don’t get me wrong the rest maybe your favourites instead, but the songs that are good are very good and to be honest you can get albums with 9 tracks for the same price, so the album is value for money for nothing for 16 tracks. Does this beat Demon Days? I don’t think I can say, for me, kinda, the songs that are good are very good and that is whats going to keep the album going, the other songs do grow on you though.

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Nessun Dorma English Lyrics

May 11, 2009 by 2 Comments

None must sleep! None must sleep!
And you, too, Princess,
in your cold room,
gaze at the stars
which tremble with love
and hope!

But my mystery is locked within me,
no-one shall know my name!
No, no, I shall say it as my mouth
meets yours when the dawn is breaking!

And my kiss will break the silence
which makes you mine!

(No-one shall know his name,
and we, alas, shall die!)

Vanish, o night!
Fade, stars!
At dawn I shall win

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Keane – Better Than This

March 5, 2009 by Leave a comment

As you know I’m a Keane fan, and it was recently announced that Keane’s forth single from their Perfect Symmetry album will be Better Than This. Now to be honest I couldn’t stand this song when I heard it exclusively on Radio 1, then I got the album, it grew a bit, and now it’s in the top 5 for the most Perfect Symmetry songs I listen to, and I think that is Keane’s problem with this album, all their songs need time to be grown on which is why I think it’s their weakest album yet. Hopes & Fears was a fantastic debut, I mean Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody’s Changing, Bedshaped, god, people are still listening to them today. Then Under The Iron Sea came out, Is It Any Wonder was number 1, then the rest where great, bit of a dark album but it was alright, since The Lovers Are Losing single Keane have gone a bit downhill and I hope their forth album will be a bit better because it’s a bit poor this one.
Hopes
If Keane are wondering why Perfect Symmetry didn’t chart far, well, it’s because of B-Sides, this is another thing that seems to have gone wrong with this album, their two previous albums had singles with straight two b-sides, now it’s either none, meaning some sort of crap remix, or just the one, I mean come on, so yeh hopefully they’re a bit of B-Sides in this one, they owe us four!!!

Tracklistings are yet to be announced, you can pre-order Better Than This from HMV.

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Keane – Perfect Symmetry Music Video Review

November 19, 2008 by Leave a comment

PerfectSymmetrySingle_HiRes1

View the video by clicking here!

Yesterday RKUK recieved the music video for the next upcoming single which is of course ‘Perfect Symmetry’, since the video for ‘Spiralling’ being pretty poor, and no one actually knowing what the hell was going on on the video for ‘The Lovers Are Losing’, you’ll be happy to know that the new music video for the next single ‘Perfect Symmetry’ is actually quite good, it starts of with Tom doing his normal frontman band thingy, we also see the return of the TV from the video to ‘Spiralling’, as well as appearances also from the rest of the band, yep that right, Tim and Richard also feature in the music video. Obviously it is a cut-down version of the album version of ‘Perfect Symmetry’, but its definately the best single to be released so far and has always been stated the best song from the album. What maybe a disappointment is the time it is released, it is released the 28th December, yeh … quite a while from now, and seen as the music video is already on the airways of a few music music channels and soon to be all of them, its a pretty tall order, having said that Take That have done the same with their new song ‘Greatest Day’, by releasing it late November when the video debued in October.

Chart Prediction
Keane have never completly dominated the charts, apart from ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ and ‘Spiralling’ that reached number 1 in the download chart, ‘Perfect Symmetry’ as it is the third single it probably won’t go to number 1 but it should go to atleast the top 10 as it is an awesome song, but it will probably go into the top 20 knowing the UK charts, if you get to number 1 now in my opinion you are rubbish.

Anyway thats it for the mo’

E-Ya Later

Ben

http://www.keanemusic.com

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