Rapid Fire Reviews: Specter Of The Pop Rock Bands
On todays edition of rapid fire reviews we are giving in to our simple side and indulging on some plain old pop rock. Bands that won't test you with complicated things, but try to lull you in with measured pleasures. Does it work? Rarely. But they continue trying.
Music Of The Spheres - Coldplay
"Coldplay averages out to be a pretty good band". That was always my line. I'm an adamant defender of the bands first three records and I really enjoyed their last album Everyday Life in 2019. So yeah when you average everything out, the good outweighs the bad. They are stretching that formula to its absolute limit here. Believe it or not this isn't the worst album Coldplay has ever released which I promise you is not a compliment directed at Spheres. Believe it or not I didn't even approach this album with the critical cynicism that most do for a new Coldplay release. I thought the lead single Higher Power was actually one of their more tasteful pop crossovers and I still enjoy the expansive finale to the record Coloratura. While the unbelievably half-assed BTS collaboration did leave a bad taste in my mouth I was still excited to see the band engage on an ELOish concept album about spheres, or space, or whatever. Strangely I sort of find this record to have the inverse issue of many a bad Coldplay project. I've always felt like they had a good command of balladry and created some really beautiful moments when they dialed it back, only to pair them alongside obnoxiously bombastic and self-indulgent pop mistakes. The records more reserved tracks are in the midst of a high stakes shootout to see which one can be the cringiest and the features are an absolute mess through and through. Despite all my complaints, and believe me I could go on there is a chipmunked auto-tune track on the record, there really are some exciting moments of Coldplay's trademark ability to make grandeur feel intimate. But believe me they are few and far between on the record. I don't know what I was expecting but this is just not very good. 4/10
FUTURE PAST - Duran Duran
It's common to look back on Duran Duran as one of the 80's most hated successes, new wave's least ambitious and poorest aging act. I disagree. Not only does their most popular material hold up pretty well despite the unmistakably 80's sheen stretched over it, but I would even call some of their early projects underrated in the retrospective lens of 80's new wave. This is all on top of Rio being one of my favorite pop rock records of the entire 1980's. Even in the third wave of their career the band has proven plenty capable of taking their pop songwriting chops and applying them to all kinds of new and even contemporary stylings like we saw on 2015's Paper Gods. This is all to set up for the fact that yes, I know most people weren't excited about this record, but I was. Despite some unexpected collaborators like pop star Tove Lo, Japanese pop rockers CHAI and even Blur's Graham Coxon the sound of this album is pretty familiar for those who enjoy the modern reimagining of 80's synthesizer music. It's also familiar in the sense that Duran Duran can still write arena sized hooks that stick into your head and camp out there for days. This certainly isn't a record that I see making a lot of new fans out of previous nonbelievers but if you've enjoyed their work in the past there's absolute no reason why FUTURE PAST shouldn't translate for you. Yes this record certainly has it's flaws. A few of these hooks are so flat and uninspired I can't even remember them while they're still going on and others are so overbearing and overblown that I can't imagine anyone being able to enjoy them. Songwriting is probably the achilles heel of the deep cuts here with songs that tread on extremely similar ground as others. Regardless I was surprised every time I finished a listen through of the record how much I enjoyed it's simple, bright and fun pop songs. 6/10
Back In Love City - The Vaccines
Twice this year when I was taking a look back at 2011 I had to mention just how much The Vaccines debut album What Else Did You Expect From The Vaccines? impacted that music scene when it dropped. Their tight, hooky songwriting and youthful punky spirit made for an irresistible mix. Since then however it's been, well not exactly that. Now on their 5th album they have failed to maintain that same level of appeal and certainly have never come close to that level of critical acclaim, which is why I was kind of surprised to see how many people were streaming and talking about Back In Love City. There is one reason right off the top that I think you should listen to this album, it has some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard. Seriously there is nothing to embarrassingly first draft for this band to sing in one of their songs. Even going beyond the platitude rich and painfully generic kind of bad lyrics you hear on some generic pop albums if you pay attention to the lyrics here the band rarely goes even a full minute without saying something so bad it's funny. That is admittedly a huge hurtle when it comes to genuinely enjoying the music here, though I'll admit some of these tracks are pretty sticky. If you accept that the album is going to fail pretty badly to engage you on any kind of deep level it can be a decent experience but there are just a lot of hoops to jump through. Ultimately I have no idea if I'll stick around for the next Vaccines album, this seems to be their most popular release in years but it certainly didn't do much to warrant giving them another shot. Sometimes it's hard to believe this is the band that made If You Wanna. 4.5/10
