SECOND SPIN
Yes, it's been a while since I first decided to grab a random number generator and see what album in my collection it turned up, and then review that album, be it good, bad or indifferent. My first shot ended up being one of my not-exactly-favourite-bands, the Moody Blues. This time it's a little different.
Songs for polar bears --- Snow Patrol --- 1998 (Jeepster)
The debut album from those guys who made “Chasing cars” a real anthem, or a pain in the whole, whichever way you view it, this did not do well on its initial release though predictably, once they had made a big splash with “Eyes open”, it was re-released and went gold. Now, Snow Patrol are not a band I know anything about, other than my brother once had the opportunity to support them here in Ireland --- fell through, I believe --- and of course, the song mentioned above. So let's have a little listen and see what we got, hey?
Opening with “Downhill from here” (not a great sentiment to put on your debut album!), it sounds a little raw to me. Production not too great, drums very brash, guitar a little too much up in the mix, but the vocals of Gary Lightbody (who also plays guitar
and keys, whereas the bass player plays just bass and keys...!) is clear and distinctive, sounding somewhat a little at odds to me with the kind of rough-and-ready edge of the music itself. Not a bad opener, but nothing that has me sitting up and taking notice. Yet.
“Starfighter pilot” is a bit more like it. Squeaky keyboards, almost-punk guitar and a decent lyric with some okay backing vocals, and you have to give kudos to any band who title a song “Get balsamic vinegar --- quick, you fool!” The song is not bad, mostly driven on kind of feedback guitar, and follow-up “Mahogany” is a nice acoustic ballad, but the general feel of this album to me so far is of a demo tape, and a pretty rough one at that. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them --- it
is their first album, after all, but come on: I've heard better produced debuts than this!
Man, I'm really not feeling it with this album! At least “Make up” has a bit of identity, even if that identity is somewhere between the Buzzcocks and the Clash! --- and “Velocity girl” gives the very first hints of how big they were to become, presaging “Chasing cars”, with some nice jazzy guitar and a laid-back beat, nice melody and understated vocals. There's a nice “hidden track” after the closer, the pretty standard “One hundred things you should have done in bed”, called “Marketplace”, an instrumental and far better than the song in which it's hidden.
My main problem, I now see, with this album is that not only does it seem boring, but the band seem bored. For a debut, they just don't seem interested in putting their music across to a new audience. And they have, at this point, no clear sound of their own. Sometimes they're a step away from Punk, sometimes they're emo and sometimes indie rock. They can come across as a hybrid of Coldplay and Travis, without the talent or hooks of either band. A quick look at how many tracks I haven't even commented on will show you my own level of interest in and appreciation of this album. I often leave out one or two, but here it's nearly half the album.
It's not surprising at all that this album flopped on its initial release, and I guess it's a good job that they became famous and the album was reissued and sold much better, but on the strength of this I can only think it was bought by people expecting songs of the calibre of “Eyes open”. They would have been sorely disappointed. I guess completist fans would want the album, but much like Kamelot's first two, this bears no resemblance to later releases.
Ah, maybe polar bears like it.
TRACKLISTING
1. Downhill frome here
2. Starfighter pilot
3. The last shot ringing in my ears
4. Absolute gravity
5. Get balsamic vinegar --- quick, you fool!
6. Mahogany
7. NYC
8. Little hide
9. Make up
10. Velocity girl
11. Days without paracetemol
12. Fifteen minutes old
13. Favourite friend
14. One hundred things you should have done in bed