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Musing on music again....
Jul. 28th, 2010 10:08 amAdding to what I said elsewhere....
I've fallen deeply in love with the Pet Shop Boys again since seeing them live the other night. It occurs to me that if you crossed New Order with Pet Shop Boys you'd have an almost perfect synth pop band. New Order always had the indie credibility and Pet Shop Boys have the tunes. Mind you, despite having one of the coolest men in pop in the duo, Pet Shop Boys distinct lack of street credibility was always one of their most endearing features when they played the whole ironic detachment card. I'm kinda glad that they embraced the theatrical aspect over trying to be relevant.
On the other hand, I admit to being disappointed with the new Divine Comedy album. It contains flashes of genius, but where previous albums had balanced the whimsical humour and tongue-in-cheekness with solid tunesmithery, Bang Goes the Knighthood is almost exclusively humour based tracks without any solid base. It's fun and funny, but more like listening to a Flight of the Conchords album than anything remotely serious.
Hannon still retains some of the ability to pick a tune up by the scruff of the neck and shake it, but there's none of the epicness or tunes-from-a-Broadway-show of previous albums. It's interesting to contrast it with Regeneration, which was the Divine Comedy album that downplayed the comedy.
This album goes to the opposite extreme, with a large number of Noel Coward-esque spoofs like The Complete Banker, Can You Stand Upon One Leg or the title track. There's some gold in them thar hills, but what's entirely lacking is Hannon's razor sharp wit - instead it's the rambunctious and bumptious japester that's on display. Which works wonderfully for a sing-a-long party song like their biggest hit, National Express, but becomes an irritant when it's the tone for an entire album. Instead of perceptive humor, it's cheap laughs and it's hard not to feel disappointed when you know what Hannon is capable of in his perceptive moments.
That said, the comedy songs are still a step above most efforts and if you're looking for an album that's essentially just a series of harmless spoofs, you could do a lot worse. In amongst it there's tracks like When a Man Cries, Down in the Street Below or Have You Ever Been in Love? to raise the tone, but a lot of the album remains trite and lacks the potency of his best work. Hannon seems a little too content with what he's doing and himself and it was the slight bitterness mixed with the sweet that always made his earlier works stronger.
The new single, I Like, pretty much sums up what's great and also a little irritating about the album. It's genuinely funny and entertainingly ridiculous in parts, lacks a focused tune and is ultimately forgettable. But still endearing enough that you can't write it off entirely.
I've fallen deeply in love with the Pet Shop Boys again since seeing them live the other night. It occurs to me that if you crossed New Order with Pet Shop Boys you'd have an almost perfect synth pop band. New Order always had the indie credibility and Pet Shop Boys have the tunes. Mind you, despite having one of the coolest men in pop in the duo, Pet Shop Boys distinct lack of street credibility was always one of their most endearing features when they played the whole ironic detachment card. I'm kinda glad that they embraced the theatrical aspect over trying to be relevant.
On the other hand, I admit to being disappointed with the new Divine Comedy album. It contains flashes of genius, but where previous albums had balanced the whimsical humour and tongue-in-cheekness with solid tunesmithery, Bang Goes the Knighthood is almost exclusively humour based tracks without any solid base. It's fun and funny, but more like listening to a Flight of the Conchords album than anything remotely serious.
Hannon still retains some of the ability to pick a tune up by the scruff of the neck and shake it, but there's none of the epicness or tunes-from-a-Broadway-show of previous albums. It's interesting to contrast it with Regeneration, which was the Divine Comedy album that downplayed the comedy.
This album goes to the opposite extreme, with a large number of Noel Coward-esque spoofs like The Complete Banker, Can You Stand Upon One Leg or the title track. There's some gold in them thar hills, but what's entirely lacking is Hannon's razor sharp wit - instead it's the rambunctious and bumptious japester that's on display. Which works wonderfully for a sing-a-long party song like their biggest hit, National Express, but becomes an irritant when it's the tone for an entire album. Instead of perceptive humor, it's cheap laughs and it's hard not to feel disappointed when you know what Hannon is capable of in his perceptive moments.
That said, the comedy songs are still a step above most efforts and if you're looking for an album that's essentially just a series of harmless spoofs, you could do a lot worse. In amongst it there's tracks like When a Man Cries, Down in the Street Below or Have You Ever Been in Love? to raise the tone, but a lot of the album remains trite and lacks the potency of his best work. Hannon seems a little too content with what he's doing and himself and it was the slight bitterness mixed with the sweet that always made his earlier works stronger.
The new single, I Like, pretty much sums up what's great and also a little irritating about the album. It's genuinely funny and entertainingly ridiculous in parts, lacks a focused tune and is ultimately forgettable. But still endearing enough that you can't write it off entirely.
