This is gonna sound really harsh.
Album: Foreign Water
Artist: George Byrne
Genre: Country Rock
Suggested by: Ilistentoeverything
Familiarity: None.
1. Foreign Water - I hear wispy indie rock. Sometimes this stuff annoys me. This seems to be pretty good though. Guitar and piano instrumentation with drums in the back. Very laid back, with a bit of country underpinnings. Vocals are good enough. A Nashville sort of thing. Beatles-like cello usage. Yeah, I could see this getting stuck in my head. Great start.
2. Goldmine - Lots of guitar. Very country feel on here. Twangy and harmonious. Loving the vocals. Some space rock noises mixed in towards the end. Weird, but great song.
3. Paralysed - Good song, but pretty generic. I hate those weird noises that show up in every country song. I don't even know how they make them. I just know I hate them. Hmm. I think this song is good, but it's regretably generic. Keep getting caught up in this guy's voice, though. Mostly bad writing, a couple magical moments, but great performance.
4. Already There - It's a simple song, but it's really well executed. Another quiet guitar and vocals track. I don't know why they put those weird backwards notes in there. They ruin the sentimentality of it. Especially during the harmonica solo, which is excellent, by the way. Yeah, I don't know who thought the backwards notes were a good idea. They're just awkward and disjointed. Everything else is perfect.
5. Everybody Hides - WHERE ARE THE WEIRD COUNTRY NOISES COMING FROM?! KILL THEM WITH FIRE! Whatever they are, this track is stuffed with them. I really don't know who likes those things. Song would be a green, but the damned country noises are insufferable.
6. Light Years - Vocals are undoubtedly the best part of these. They're the only thing keeping this one from going red. Just a generic country song that's really slow and boring.
7. Tongue Tied - Shorter than the last one. Still pretty uninteresting. And even annoying. Jesus, this is getting bad.
8. We'll Come Around - Even the vocals are wearing a bit. Lyrics are bad, music is bad, everything is so generic and glossed over. I absolutely hate this album at this point. Alright, maybe this one isn't that bad. It's the last song still in my head. Not completely though.
9. High and Wide - Kill me, please. Bad. Bad. Bad.
10. On My Mind - Another really generic and bad song. Help me.
11. Up in Ova - It's all boring, slow guitar tracks. Come on, there has to be something good to finish it off!
12. Paint It Grey - Boring, slow, generic, all of these put together... no matter how you put it, this song is still really bad. Maybe a bit better than the other ones. Yeah, I can get with this, at least.
The country noises are those awkward tones that work sort of like guitars, often coming in so that they can start on a high note, and then go a half note above that. Hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about and can explain it to me. Either way, the majority of this album is generic and formulaic, and mostly really, really forgettable. Listen to the first few songs and then stop, because after that it just feels like he crammed a bunch of bad material in to make a complete album. And that's a bad idea.
OVERALL RATING: 5/10