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It's a very strange twist of luck. In the past Samurai Seven songs seemed to work better live than on record, but this time round, the single seems better than the live shows. Maybe it's just that live, the melodies gets hidden in the mix under the guitars, but the balance can be just right on record. It's a strange time for the Samurai Seven to return. While they've stayed silent, post rock has taken over Oxford, and there aren't that many jangly indiepop guitar bands around. However they've seemed to pick up exactly where they've stopped, the style hasn't changed. Still their trademark high harmonies, and speedpop guitars, and the melodies. There is the danger of overproduction though, such as on the final track, To the nth degree. It worked well enough without the slow intro, and it just seemed a bit unneccessary. But as long as they stick to the high harmonies, and the high speed guitars, the album should be worth the wait.
This single just epitomises what's wrong with the music business today. Record labels are now so worried about ventures that would not end in high profits, that they would only release overproduced pap like this. There is nothing wrong with the single itself, if you like this sort of music. There's the unchallenging rhythm, and Ambrosia's voice that sounds so innocent, that the aim is to probably make blokes go weak at the knees. But her voice sounds so pathetic, that someone should give her a slap, to wake her from her daydream.
Admittedly if you like music by Texas, Travis, and all those other MOR artists, this song is pretty good. There is more invention in here, the change of dynamics, speed, etc, than in your average Texas record. And it is also one of the better tracks off the album. But it's just not interesting enough.
Stars of Aviation are a gentle little band. Snow On Snow builds up slowly, starting a bit lo-fi ish, builds up to a little crescendo, and almost as if it's too much effort, fades away again. All the other tracks follow in a similar vein. They sound like the shy sort of band who will look meekly out from under their fringe when they more, and even a little yell would scare them back into their shell. However by the end of this CD, (on the 4th track Love Is Only In Your Mind) they've lightened up with a brighter feel, and electronicy bits, but still with a very gentle overall feel.
Can the Super Furry Animals get any better? Their previous albums are hidden gems, full of tunes and creativity, and now they return with another excellent track. This time it is a love ballad with swirling strings behind. Of course they had to give it an SFA twist, distorting their voices in the verses, and adding electronic bleeps. These oddities just make the song even more special.
The opening track sounds like Placebo, while the 2nd track has the same dynamics and screaching as Muse. This is the problem with this band. Although they play well and in tune, all the spikey guitar bits are where they should, there's nothing special about them. They don't even have their own sound, since both tracks on this CD sounds like carbo copies of other bands. The only redeeming point is the nice gatefold packing of the 7" and CD together.
Sometimes you just get a feeling a band are trying too hard. The Supernaturals want to grow up, but what they did best were the happy pop songs. This song is not one of those, and it seems to be an odd combination of Supernatural's 'wackyness' and Supernaturals settling down. Just wished they went back to the chirpy songs they were good at.
The Supernaturals may have been looking a bit too hard to find that key to pure pop. Life is a Motorway features that great pop tool, as featured in great song such as In the Navy by the Village People and Go West by the Pet Shop Boys, yup, the male choir. Are they trying to tell us something? Somehow it does work, it's silly enough just for you to accept the song as disposable pop. A reminder that pop music doesn't really have to mean anything at all, and sometimes we are just looking that little bit too hard.