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love rock n roll?!


		if you want to submit me a review of a recent album, email me on yeeharcowgirl@breathe.com ...unless stated otherwise all reviews are by me! ____________________________________________________

the strokes... room on fire


		to start with, it has to be said the the strokes first album is this it? is one of my favourite albums of all time, and one of the albums that has shaped my views on music, as im sure it has for many others. And that is very hard to match. Room on fire is a good album, there are lots of great tracks, it works well together. The band have matured, they are showing a little more of their soul, they are still damn cool. but they are also a little more boring, and a little bit too professional. Some tracks like ?between love and hate? leave you with the feeling you have just listened to the template of a typical strokes song ? nothing new, nothing inventive, pretty good but it dosnt make you laugh or cry or sing along in a new york accent like most tracks on is this it? did. Having said that, the album starts brilliantly, with ?whatever happened?? as a very strong opening track, followed by the second single ?reptilia? which is possibly the best track on here. Other highlights include the first single ?12:51? which I am still not sick of, ?meet me in the bathroom? and the soulful ?under control.? ?the end has no end? is pretty good as well. The album finishes in a prompt 35 minutes, but continues to leave me with the feeling of ?was that it?? ____________________________________________________

JET... get born


		About a year ago, NME hailed Jet as the next big thing. They were right. I never heard the ?Dirty Sweet? EP, but I bought this album almost as soon as I heard the first single ?are you gone be my girl? on the radio, and it is fantastic. Jet are Australian, which draws them some automatic comparisons with The Vines, and they do sound quite similar at time. However, when I first heard The Vines ?Get Free? (see, another similarity!) I was quite disappointed. ?Get Born? is the album The Vines should have made. ?Get Born? bounces in with a frantic 3 tracks; Last Chance, Are you Gona be My Girl, and Rollover DJ (the second single.) It then drops down to Look What You?ve Done, which is a vines-esque slow song, but it doesn?t drag and has truly melancholy beautiful lyrics. It then picks up again to Get What You Need, which is packed full of rock n roll attitude. Move On is another beautiful slowie, but Radio Song is a bit of a let down, as is the finishing track Timothy. The other 5 tracks are awesome, with the album getting more mature as it progresses. The thing I like most about this album, is that it really is an album, not just a collection of songs. It progresses, it links and it works as a whole not just 13 single songs. Most of all it just makes you smile. Jet seem immune to the pressure of expectation on them? this is rock and roll that makes all right with the world. ____________________________________________________

starsailor...silence is easy


		Silence is Easy was perhaps one of my favourite songs this year. However, the album is not full of Silence is Easy?s! Having said that, it is still lovely. It is what I expected really ? Love is Here but more mature. The addition of strings has made a few tracks really special, the lyrics are powerful but sensitve and heartfelt. The album opens with Music was Saved, which is quite an upbeat track. Fidelity is the second, it is gentle and beautiful, setting the tone for many of the other songs, including Some of Us, which follows it. Then comes the single Silence is easy, and then a couple other quiet but gently epic tracks. The next four tracks (Bring my Love, White Dove, Four to the Floor and Born again ? the second single) are my favourite, and really make this CD what it is. Restless heart is similar to the closing track on Love is Here ? short, simple and meaningful. This album is still growing on me, and will continue to. It is going down with as one of those albums I put on when I have a free afternoon to read and fall asleep in, alongside Norah Jones, Dido and Feeder?s Comfort in Sound. Very nice indeed? ____________________________________________________

The cooper temple clause... kick up the fires and let the flames break loose


		The cooper temple clause are a little hard to grasp. I saw them supporting feeder at the beginning of December, having only heard three of their songs ? ?who needs enemies? from their first album and the two singles ?blind pilots? and ?promises promises? from this album. However, I was quite impressed, if a little confused at their strange mix of guitars and synths, garage rock, punk and drum and bass. Kick up the fire and let the flames break loose is a very good album. Or at least 8 tenths of it is a very good album. The last two tracks don?t really do it for me ? a quiet and vaugly creepy voice over a piano, followed by a 10 minute drum and bass fest. However, the first 8 tracks are great. The lyrics are meaningful without being trite, they leap between dance and rock as if it were nothing; some tracks being quite punky, others being positively electronic. Highlights are the two singles, along with ?AIM? and ?talking to a brick wall?, my personal favourite, whose lyrics I leave you with? ?its in the way that you look its in the books that won?t read it comes and goes like a friend its with me right to the end its in the memories ive lost its concentrating too much its in the breaking down of relations and it?s the beat of the clock its not being able to explain or get your feelings across its in the pain that won?t leave you its coming straight back for us its in the new lease of life and the search that ends well its in finding that change its being happy again.? ____________________________________________________

stereophonics... you gotta go there to come back


		This was always going to be crunch time for the phonics ? after the commercially-sucessful-but-highly-critisised Just Enough Education To Perform their new album will determine whether they become pop artists for good, fade into obscurity as a band who made a couple good albums then lost the plot, remain a criticised ?meat and two veg dad rock? band, or actually regain their musical credibility. I think, and hope that this album will produce the latter. However, so far it has not been received well, and I can see why. On first listen I was deeply disappointed; You Gotta Go There To Come Back is quite slow ? in the same was Just Enough Education to Perform was. The only rockers on there are the first track Help Me (shes outta her mind), the single Madame Helga, and the B-side to Madame Helga; High as the Ceiling. There are a couple mid-tempo such as Jealousy and Nothing Precious At All, but everything else is very mellow and not quite the ?return to rock? we were promised. I can see how after listening to this album once, or, worse, skipping thru the tracks listening to a minute of each, would lead you to believe the phonics really are past their prime. However, after a couple days I was absolutely hooked on this album. The upbeat songs are back in the roots of Bartender and the slower ones are absolutely beautiful, with a lot deeper and more personal lyrics then we have ever seen from Kelly Jones before. In addition to this, the whole album is much more mature. The band have branched out and although at times there is an overkill on backing singers or percussion, the deeper sound they have tried to achieve really works and shows how they have moved on from a simple 3 piece band formula. The bluesy and jazz influence on certain tracks also sounds a lot more mature. Everyone would love the Stereophonics would love to be the 3 boys from Cwanman forever, but this album allows me to accept that the days of the small town tales in their debut album Word Gets Around are over. What we have now is much more exciting and possibly their best work yet. The Stereophonics have definitely come back. 1. Help Me (shes out of her mind) Sounds like: a rocky, upbeat, sophisticated track that grows on you! Reminds me of: T-shirt suntan, but improved. Top Lyric: ?laughing all night, she could tell a funny story, she could stay up all night. She was someone to remember, she was black and white, we did it on a sunbed, and she did it right?.? 2. Maybe Tomorrow Sounds like: very mellow, bluesy summer tune Reminds me of: A Minute Longer Top Lyric: ?I look around at a beautiful life, I?ve been the upperside of down, I?ve been the inside of out but we breathe, we breathe.? 3. Madame Helga Sounds like: a rocky old-style phonics tune. Reminds me of: Vegas 2 Times Top Lyric: ?been dancing in the hills of a place I know, that?s the place where the fireflies glow? 4. You Stole my Money Honey Sounds like: a gentle bit-of-a-nothing track Reminds me of: Everyday I think of money Top Lyric: ?I?m a giver taker; you loved your cocaine chaser?.? 5. Getaway Sounds like: another gentle, dreamy track Reminds me of: have a nice day, but toned down. Top Lyric: ?it?s not the days in your life, its how much life in your days.? 6. Climbing the Wall Sounds like: the albums weak spot. An absolutely dire song. Reminds me of: goldfish bowl Top Lyric: I actually can?t find one? 7. Jealousy Sounds like: a dirty rock and roll track. Takes a bit of getting used to. Reminds me of: Mr Writer Top Lyric: ?jealousy...insomnia?jealousy?sleep well.? 8. I?m Alright Sounds like: My favourite. Very dark, very different. Sophisticated. Reminds me of: nothing the phonics have ever done before. Top Lyric: ?I?ll draw another line for you, that way you?ll know I?m hip, that way you?ll know I?m cool. I?ll smoke another smoke for you. I?ll blow back in your mouth and you can blow back too.? 9. Nothing Precious At All Sounds like: a lighthearted but beautiful song Reminds me of: Traffic Top Lyric: ?look around to see what?s left, its nothing much, its nothing precious at all? 10. Rainbows and Pots of Gold Sounds like: obviously a very personal song to Kelly, beautiful lyrics and simple arrangement. Reminds me of: Lying in the sun Top Lyric: ?I really hope your happy, both of you, and maybe sometime you?ll miss me too.? 11. I Miss You Now Sounds like: again, personal lyrics, very mellow Reminds me of: Billy Davey?s daughter. Top Lyric: ?wana hold you, wana tell you?..you?ll be alright? 12. High as the Ceiling Sounds like: a quality rock track, makes you wanna dance! Reminds me of: a sophisticated Roll up and Shine. Top Lyric: ?find my way! free my soul!? 13. Since I told you its over Sounds like: beautiful, soulful ballard Reminds me of: Step on my Old size Nines, but much better. Top Lyric: ?I?ve been, I?ve been around, but I?ve fallen on my own two feet?..? ____________________________________________________

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