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The Bluetones
The Bluetones
Cooking Vinyl
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Article
written by Micky K
Nov 6, 2006.
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We all have our guilty little musical pleasures, and I for my sins have to confess a long time (concealed to be honest) admiration of The Bluetones. Rarely do you hear of a band that generate such a polarised opinion, either being loved or despised by people, and even now I find it hard to understand why anybody could find a reason not to like them. Maybe it’s their apparently nice and inoffensive music and appearance that turns people away from them, but from my experience they are disliked by people who have never heard more than a couple of their singles or seen them live. If you fall into this category this album could be your chance to finally introduce yourself to their music and form your own independent opinion. This eponymous titled fifth album is a return to form following their last two lukewarmly received efforts, and has all the best elements of their first brace of frankly fine albums.
Singer Mark Morrison’s voice has matured well in the time since “Return To The Last Chance Saloon” and has a more soulful depth to it whilst still retaining his unique signature, and in Adam Devlin they have a guitarist who should be talked of in the same reverent tones that are reserved for the Marrs and Butlers of this world. Formerly, Bluetones songs seemed heavily reliant on a guitar hook to hold them together, but now the years of song writing have developed their songs into multi-layered pieces, lush with harmonics and tone. That’s not to say that the guitar doesn’t have a place in this album - far from it. In “My Neighbours House” Devlin’s axe is allowed to soar and the tempo is upped to epic rock out proportions to the point that it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Definitely Maybe.
However, it is in the lyrical department that The Bluetones really do excel. Underneath every sweet couplet there lurks wry barbed underscores of lost love, apathy and missed opportunities, and the feeling that Morrison is finally getting something personal off his chest that’s been there for quite some time.
With this album, The Bluetones have probably produced their best body of work to date, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination as there are a couple of samey tracks lurking within and it does feel like it ends with a sigh instead of a roar, but this is scant criticism for an album that in the whole is a pleasure to listen to. If you don’t have any ‘Tones albums on your shelf you could do a lot worse than starting here. Forget your preconceptions and enjoy a band who knows how to write a great pop song. Who knows, you could just discover a new guilty little pleasure for yourself.
Link:
Untitled Document
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