Albums listened to on the journey to Cornwall we made recently.
Florence + The Machine: Lungs
I can sum up my thoughts on this album in just one word: hype. I tend to have an aversion to anything that's critically acclaimed by all quarters as it just seems too good to be true, and Lungs - so named because Brit-award winning Florence is obsessed with them; weird - is no exception. I just can't work out what all the fuss is about.
Florence's voice is too shouty for my tastes (it reminds me of the comparatively genteel, and infinitely preferable, Beth Orton only through a megaphone) and the sporadic use of glissando harp reminds me of Enya.
The track 'Howl' and the opener 'Dog Days Are Over' are pop highlights, but I'm at best indifferent on the rest. I'll conclude using a quote from the song 'Swimming': 'Your songs remind me of swimming / But I can't swim anymore.' In other words I've tried to like this, really I have, but I can't be bothered to try any longer as it's too much like hard work.
Albert Hammond Jr.: ¿Cómo Te Llama?
I guess I could look up what this album's title means fairly easily but I can't be arsed. Instead I'll surmise instead that it means 'What do I do next now that it looks like my band, The Strokes, are on a lengthening hiatus?'
The second album from guitarist / beardmeister Hammond Jr. is a much less instant affair than his debut Yours To Keep, but it's certainly a grower. Tracks like the quiet fuzz rock of 'Rocket' or the poppy, preppy 'GfC' prove once again that Hammond Jr. is much more than the long-faced dude next to Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas.
The version I have includes four live tracks, three of which are taken from his debut and sadly point to the fact that those songs were somewhat better crafted than these. Still, in the absence of another Strokes album, this will have to suffice.
Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
If I was baffled by the Albert Hammond Jr. title, I am yet more confused by the title of Kasabian's third album. I've tried really hard to detest Kasabian - anything that is likened to Oasis, a band I've always disliked, is always going to get my goat - but actually can't deny that they're excellent, and this new album abundantly confirms it.
Arguably a much more consistent affair than their second, and only the briefest traces of the instrumental excesses (also known as 'filler') from their debut remain in the track 'Swarfiga', probably the weakest song on the entire album.
I'm a big fan of this album's loud, stompy numbers - 'Where Did All The Love Go?', 'Vlad The Impaler' and the glam-influenced single 'Free'.
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