The Ordinary Boys – How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps
At the beginning of the year, rumours began to circulate that The Ordinary Boys had been dropped by their record label, B-Unique. Although these rumours were dismissed by the band and their management, it was shortly after these rumours came about that Preston would enter into the Big Brother house. Call me a cynic, but as I see it, The Ordinary Boys probably were going to get dropped by their label, however Preston entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, therefore lifting their profile and so selling more records meaning that they never were dropped in the end. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there any more as they are still with the label and have now come up this their third full length release ‘How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps’.
Having been the subject of great media attention over the last few months due to his appearance in the Big Brother house, this is Preston’s ode to being in the spotlight as the album deals with life at the top, and the fickleness of fame. If you listened to the bands first two albums then you’ll notice a change with this one – there is still the odd spattering and nod towards The Specials-esque Ska sound of old, however a lot of the time the band are far more poppy sounding than they have ever come across as before. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing as the band seem to do this extremely well, however if you’re expecting more of the same from the band then you may have to think again as this is really not what you get here. The bands new sound is more reminiscent of early Blur than what we have had in the past and although it has been done well and as a result this is a fairly decent album, it’s quite hard to get used to at first as whereas in the past the bands strength has been in their rough and edgy sound, this time round the production is a lot more cleaner sounding.
The album opens nicely with the recent single ‘Lonely At The Top’, introducing us to the bands new sound nicely I feel. I quite like this one and although it is a far cry from the bands earlier sound, it sets the mood nicely and gives us a fair expectation of what the rest of the album is going to be like. ‘The Great Big Rip Off’ follows on nicely and is another catchy track that you can easily find yourself singing along to after a couple of listens. It is a track which has great pop sensibilities and the band really show their strength of character here. Other than a rather cringe worthy final cry of ‘It’s the great big rip off!’ by Preston at the end of the record, this one works really well as a catchy pop track. Next track ‘Club Chez-Moi’ fails to buck the trend and is yet another strong offering from the band which is extremely catchy with a fun feel to it.
The first ugly moment we come across on this album is ‘I Luv U’, a track that has obviously been written about Chantelle and is really quite an embarrassing little number. He states that he’s trying to avoid the use of clichés in this one, however with such a sappy love song of this sort is that really possible? In my opinion this is one to avoid. The first half of the album climaxes with the Lady Sovereign collaboration ‘Nine2Five’, a track that I have always loved. With the dual vocals of Preston and Lady Sovereign offering such a contrast of sounds, it really does sound great and in my opinion works extremely well. This is the last track we get before the ‘Commercial Breakdown’ which is a somewhat awful skit which lasts for just over a minute.
After a promising first half of the album, from here on in there is not really much to write home about as there are a number of rather bland offerings that although are not bad tracks, are really nothing particularly interesting. Although the Ska vibe of ‘Shut Your Mouth’ will put a smile on the face of all the Ordinary Boys die-hard’s out there, even this is not enough to save the flailing second half of the album and lacks any sense of real bite that the band once had with their sound of old. ‘Walking On The Faultlines’ is another track that has some real promise but just never seems to get going, meaning that by about halfway through you’ll already have got bored and skipped onto the next. The album does however end on somewhat of a high as we get bonus track ‘Who’s That Boy’ which has a fast and furious feel about it. Another decent track had been a long time coming here, however we are finally provided with it as the album climaxes, but you just get the feeling that it has been too little too late.
Although not a bad album, I just feel that ‘How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps’ lacks the wow-factor that was needed from the band and although they are obviously trying to reinvent themselves, it hasn’t really worked. Although the first half of the album here is extremely promising, as we progress into the second half you just get the feeling that the band can do a lot better than this. They are better than the blandness that haunts the second half of the album and I just feel that they’ve crammed all of the best songs into the first half without really worrying about how people would perceive the second as frrom ‘Commercial Breakdown’ onwards, with the exception of bonus track ‘Who’s That Boy’, the album lacks any sort of strength or excitement. If you’re a die hard fan of the band then by all means check this album out – however for everyone else I would think twice before spending your money on this one as it is probably never going to be one of your favourites. By all means there are a good few decent tracks on display here, however the album lacks the consistency to ever go down as a classic or even as one of the stand out albums of the year. ‘How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps’ is billed by the band as “the real follow-up to the first album” however I just don’t see where the band are coming from on this as ‘Brassbound’ is just as good an album as this if not better.
Label: B-Unique/Polydor
Release Date: 23rd October 2006
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Lil Chris – Checkin It Out
When Chris Hardman appeared on Gene Simmons ‘Rock School’ earlier this year it was obvious that he was set to become somewhat of a celebrity. Although only 15 at the time, the little guy in the Hoax skate shop cap had charisma in abundance and was thirsty for musical success. Out of all the people in the class, it seemed that it was he that wanted it most and so it’s only fair that he be the one that has had the most success out of the TV show. At the end of the final programme, Chris Hardman, or Lil Chris as he wass often nicknamed and which has now become his musical alias was shown recording the track ‘Checkin It Out’ and since then I have truly been looking forward to it’s release.
‘Checkin It Out’ is a fun pop rock song seemingly bringing in a number of popular songs into the mix, with a drum beat comparable to that used in ‘Song 2′ by Blur, and a guitar breakdown halfway through reminiscent of that of The Dandy Warhols ‘Bohemian Like You’, it was obvious that this track was going to be a success. Having entered the charts at number 3, Lil Chris may well go down as just another one hit wonder as ‘Checkin It Out’ is a cleverly written, catchy pop song and I think he’ll struggle to follow it up with anything anyway near as catchy as this. With great pop sensibilities and a driving guitar riff, it is hard to forget this one once you’ve heard it and already in it’s fourth week in the top ten, I think that ‘Checkin It Out’ will be sticking around for a lot longer yet.
B-Side ‘Me and My Life (Acoustic)’ however doesn’t fair quite as well as the A-Side, in fact it’s a complete disappointment really. Rhythmically kicking off in a similar fashion to the version he played to Gene Simmons on Rock School, ‘Me and My Life (Acoustic)’ soon turns ugly and is really all a bit embarrassing. If he had stuck to the original formula then this could have been a good little B-Side, however through entirely changing the feel of the track he seems to have ruined it a bit really and listening to it makes for a painful experience.
So, a decent first release from the recently turned 16 year old, and with an album to back it up, Lil Chris could well fill the void that was left when Busted went their separate ways. Whether or not Lil Chris will stand the test of time and release another successful track remains to be seen, however for the moment his music is fun to listen to and is good catchy music that will get stuck in your head for weeks whether you like it or not.
Label: RCA
Release Date: 25th September 2006
Rating:
Prospect Lane – Ghosts
For all those of you not in the know; Prospect Lane are a great Birmingham based Indie/Rock band and although they have not yet released a CD, they have already successfully recorded a number of tracks and posted them on their myspace page, the latest of these being ‘Ghosts.’ The last track they posted was ‘Tear Me To Pieces’, a strong Rock tune with a fast pace to it, a really ballsy offering. Produced by Gavin Monaghan (The Smiths, Massive Attack, Editors), ‘Tear Me To Pieces’ was a great effort and was even chosen as the theme track to indie horror flick ‘M.U.D’. With ‘Ghosts’ the band have decided to go it alone and self produced this one but don’t let this put you off – ‘Ghosts’ is a fantastically written track and certainly does not suffer from it’s lack of studio production.
While previous track ‘Tear Me To Pieces’ showed the bands harder edge, ‘Ghosts’ shows that they also have a softer side and can do this just as well. It’s a tough one to call, but I think I probably prefer this side of the band – it’s not what I was expecting when I first listened to the track as on the basis of ‘Tear Me To Pieces’ I was expecting another harder hitting song, but once I got over the initial shock of what I found here, I discovered that ‘Ghosts’ really is a terrific, mellow track which has been beautifully created and crafted. Clocking in at just under 5 minutes, ‘Ghosts’ should keep you captivated throughout as although mellow, it is an extremely strong track with phenomenal vocals and the keyboard shining through superbly. ‘Ghosts’ is a track of epic proportions and should put a smile on the face of many.
With things only really being at a developmental stage at the moment, I think we’ll be hearing plenty more from Prospect Lane in the future. Already the band are showing signs of great promise and I’m sure that with time they will only go from strength to strength. Those I’ve introduced to the bands music have been impressed with what they’ve heard so far and I think that it’s only a matter of time before the band start causing a stir in the national music press. One of the bands to watch out for in 2007 I reckon, we might just see Prospect Lane hit the big time.
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