Bitter Sweet Return

So today I ran in the Nike+ Human Race, not really a race as a mobilization of hundreds of thousands of runners around the world getting out and running in the biggest organized single day event ever. It was pouring rain, but I was able to run with people I have never run with and was able to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. It was a slow run coming in at 56mins but lucky for me during the shuffling of songs on my iPod I was getting a lot of Weezer and Cool Kids so it was certainly good tunage for the run. But, that's not what anyone who actually reads this thing cares about here is what I got for you this week; The Verve have returned, my vinyl collection has grown and bands I love have released some new songs.

CD REVIEW:

Ahh, Richard Ashcroft and the gang are back together. Perhaps another stone faced walk down the street being very cool and running into people along the way??? Well, perhaps they have grown up a little and have more to offer. It has been a decade since "Bittersweet Symphony" was released and marked the Verve into our lives forever, because seriously that song is great and people loved it and still do. Well after a long long hiatus the gang are back with a follow up to Urban Hymns titled Forth. The entire band worked on various degrees of successful side projects, most notable was Richard Ashcroft's fantastic release Keys to the World.

The songs on Forth are epic, not necessarily in the it's epic therefore it's great. I mean like Dave Matthews kind of epic in that the songs are long the shortest track is 5min 29 seconds long...come on. The average music listener nowadays does not have the patience to listen to long songs no matter how good they may be. I always like to read reviews that others have written before I write mine. Some inspire my own opinion and others make me think critics are idiots. With an established band like The Verve people will naturally compare their previous releases to this one and those that gave this album a poor or mediocre review did not hide the fact that they don't like Richard Ashcroft. Biased reviews are always going to occur, but for Forth I tried to be impartial and look at it from an new listeners point of view.

The first 6 tracks were great, a menacing, psychedelic guitar coupled with Ashcroft's non-caring British vocals made for some very enjoyable listening. Then we hit "Noise Epic"... what can I say - it's just not good. It is like reading Charles Dickens and halfway through "A Tale of Two Cities" he writes "I like cotton candy" and then continues an otherwise fantastic novel. This is what occurs in Forth because after this bizarre little track they go right back to having great songs. Maybe "Noise Epic" will somehow grow on me like some weird fungus, but to be honest I will listen to this album a fair amount over the next year and I will certain press skip to avoid that track. But, 9/10 tracks being good makes for a solid purchase - Buy It! If you liked their previous releases you will certainly enjoy this album.


MUSIC NEWS:

Stars - Canada's favorite indie pop band Stars created a website last week www.sadrobots.ca to announce their upcoming EP which is to be released tomorrow. It is an odd little website with no information other then an animated heart and the title of the website saying an EP will be released. Go figure they are doing something artsy...well, digital releases will be available tomorrow and if you go see them live word is as reported by Pitchfork is that a physical copy will be available. www.sadrobots.ca

The Streets - Mike Skinner is an quirky individual, I am pretty sure there are only two people in Canada who actually like this band, me and my friend Diana. The Streets spoken-word/rap is unorthodox style and can take a while to get used to. They have a new release prepped and ready to go, being released at the end of September they have already released two tracks and two videos. Check out Pitchfork's Forkcast section for their latest, sounds like it could possibly be their best release to date, from the singles they have released anyway. www.myspace.com/thestreets

Tilly and the Wall - One of my favorite new bands over the last few weeks, I just picked up their 2006 release Bottoms of Barrels on vinyl which is great. They will be appearing on an episode of Sesame Street in the coming weeks and for those eagerly waiting for the start of the new 90210 (don't kid yourselves I know there are a few of you out there who love that crap) keep your eyes peeled for Tilly and the Wall performing in an episode. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be an O.C link to fame for bands showcased on the show. www.tillyandthewall.com

Till Next Time

- Dave