Sunday, July 30, 2006
Razorlight, ULU, 25th July 2006
After slating them just last week, we managed to get hold of a couple of writbands to see Razorlight at ULU.
So some of the new songs suck (Tonight in LA) and there aren't any songs as good as Vice or Golden Touch, but they are a great live band. And, we got to see them play a really small venue - there is just no way I'm going to pay to see a band at Wembley, not even one as good as Razorlight.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Two months off
It's been a funny couple of months. We spoilt ourselves in May with far too many gigs (over 2 a week) and I really could'nt find the time to update this blog. And then June had the world cup and we had a server failure at home and house guests, so again no updates.
But after a few weeks off of live music we jumped back in again last week with The Spinto Band, whi reaffarmed my love of live music. Everyone should see this band live at least once - they have so much fun and it's truely infectious.
Anyway, I feel compelled to speak out about the Razorlight album. Have you heard it ? It's a bit (whisper it) weak isn't it ? Have we listened to mouth almighty Borrel and wait for 2 years for this ?
My first gripe, there isn't much of it - 35 minutes / 10 tracks. And if you take away Kirby's House, which was on the Help album, then that's just 9 tracks. Oh, andthe version of Kirby's House on the Help album was much better IMO.
So I know you should judge by Quality rather than Quantity, so on to my second gripe, it's a bit MOR isn't it ? I'd say it plodded along, but can an ablum of 35 mnutes plod ? Have Razorlight written an album to appeal to the US radio format ? I suspect this is the album they will use to try an break America, but really it's not the band that wrote Up All Night.
Now, if you're looking for the album of this week, possibly of the summer then look no further than Lily Allen, who like Johnny, could be called mouthy. Her album is everything that the Razorlight record should be - it's fun, its witty, it's full of catchy songs. Most importantly it doesn't strive to be "a classic", but then anyone who strives to create a classic is surely setting themselves up for failure. Just ask Johnny B.
