Wednesday 19 January 2011

Album Review: McFly – Above The Noise

I think the popular phrase ‘Never judge a CD by its cover’ is pretty relevant to this album. When I first saw the album art work, my initial thoughts were ‘Oh dear, what a shame’. It doesn’t give the impression of a classic McFly album, but you know what; it isn’t actually that bad.

If I were to instead judge the album by the first twenty seconds, I would tell you not to waste your time listening to it. Anything that has a ‘robotic’ female voice introducing a song is usually crap. However, I persisted, partly due to having nothing else to do, but that is not the point.

Forgetting that voice, the first song, ‘End Of The World’, is alright. It is nothing special, but okay. The song to me sounds somewhat reminiscent of the riff and whatnot of The War of the Worlds soundtrack, with its slightly apocalyptic sound (not surprisingly considering the name). Slightly catchy, then the song ends with that bloody woman again. The second song is their first single from this album, ‘Party Girl’ which also starts with that woman yet again introducing the song. I didn’t really like the song when I first heard it on YouTube some months ago, and still don’t but I am more accepting of it now I’m used to its modern pop sound.

The first two songs do not feel like introductory songs to a McFly album, with them taking a slightly more JLS/Lady Gaga sound. There is nothing wrong with that, but I’m just not used to that kind of behaviour from them.

The third song ‘If U C Kate’ has already annoyed me by looking at the track name. No, I think you’ll find its ‘If You See Kate’. Anyway, the song is reasonably acceptable. It’s catchy. It has decent lyrics. It has a decent sound and decent singing. Slightly techno if anything. Actually, you may remember a guy called David Jordon who was relatively popular a few years ago. If you know who I’m talking about, this song sounds slightly reminiscent of him. Also, there is no sign of that woman talking, so all is fine. Maybe she is called Kate and she walked off and left them…

The next song, ‘Shine A Light’ is the first actually quite good song that is worth listening to. This is the second single from the album, and when I first heard it, I was pretty against it, but something changed, and I’ve now actually listened to this single a fair few times, I really like it. I don’t think much on the lyrics ‘eh, eh, eh’ being repeated, but it is otherwise fine. It also includes some guy who is apparently popular called ‘Taio Cruz’. He’s alright.

The fifth song, ‘I’ll Be Your Man’ is rather lovely. A slow sound and it’s nothing too overpowering. It has quite good lyrics and actually rather heartfelt. It does have an electric guitar solo in the middle, which I’m not so sure about. It’s as if Slash walked into the recording studio and played a basic, yet annoying, riff over the top. Either way, the song is actually quite good, despite my negative criticism. The sixth song, ‘Nowhere Left To Run’, has a slightly techno vibe to it, which I’m not keen on, and again seems like a crossbreed between Westlife and JLS actually (I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or not really). Again, it is pretty good though, despite my comments.

Now, I think the album takes a third turn, and I like the direction. The seventh song, ‘I Need A Woman’, is very catchy and actually slightly excites me. It has a decent beat and decent people playing instruments. The lyrics are great and actually is very uplifting I think. I can feel my head swaying from side to side when I listen to this song. The added finger clicking works a real treat too. ’That’s The Truth’ is very JLS-y (a new verb for you). However, once the song gains momentum, it is fantastic. A powerful beat which actually takes you slightly by surprise and gives you another lift. The drum and guitar pieces have actually been pieced together pretty well with the nicely sung lyrics neatly placed on top.

The ninth song, ‘Take Me There’ is again a JLS-y song, but I’m not so impressed by this song as the previous two. It has those pretty decent lyrics and it has an okay beat to it. I feel like it could have been made slightly more powerful to echo the previous songs, but it works reasonably well. ‘This Song’ is the tenth song. It has an introduction which grabs your attention with what sounds like a Sitar, which seems to be occasionally added. It’s a pretty decent song which seems to have been composed quite well and has, yet again, pretty good lyrics. It also has bursts of power, which improves the song.

The eleventh, and last, song, ‘Foolish’, is quite a nice song, and quite a contrast to the beginning sound of the album. It has that JLS-y sound again and the beat is pretty repetitive and slow. The lyrics are alright. It isn’t anything spectacular, but it is rather a lovely song, and that’s good enough for me. I was expecting the album to end with that woman saying something again, but she didn’t, so that pleased me.

I think this album works well as a collection of songs, but as eleven cohesive tracks, I think it fails. Every few songs, it seems to change its sound, and you don’t even recognise them being the same band throughout. Maybe that is a credit to McFly’s ability to have a variety, but I don’t personally think it works properly. It has those few songs which I think to be absolutely brilliant, like ‘Shine A Light’, ‘I Need A Woman’ and ‘That’s The Truth’, but I just wish the whole album was like that. I particularly dislike the first two songs, and I think they are possibly the songs which feel most out of place on this album.

My overall opinion? It’s alright. If you like occasionally brilliant songs, you’re in for a treat, but if you are like me and like your albums to be cohesively sounding, then you will be disappointed, but persist none-the-less.

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