Wednesday, December 31, 2008

And now it seems as though we're disappearing

Soooooo, its been a while. Does anybody read this blog anymore? :)

Every once in a while, you get tasked with something at work that is pretty much impossible, but you have to do it anyway. That's where I've been. Enough said.

Anyway, 2 posts ago (sept 10th) I made reference to the fact I was very wrong about something music wise. The last couple of posts have had some obscure lyric titles as a promise to myself that I would keep quoting the album until I came clean. So here we go.

I'm usually very open minded music wise, but there are a couple of guidelines I apply to music before I listen to it that have served me pretty well

1) A drum machine should be done only by a drummer, otherwise it will suck.
2) Covers of a song to put them to a dance beat, will suck.
3) Children of successful musicians will usually be mediocre, if not outright bad, and are best avoided.
4) Trance music sucks unless you are dancing.

It is with rule #3 that I openly responded "no interest" when queried about a certain artist, on 4 separate occasions, and one of them being my wife. In fact, I got quite irritated when asked why I had no interest in the son of an artist I was known to admire. I openly scoffed at the potential of his career. Especially when I heard his first album was dealing with some trance music in his early days.

To those people, I apologize. I was wrong. Very wrong.

The artist is Simon Collins, the album is U-Catastrophe (his 3rd album). And its my pick for the best album of 2008.

It's rare to come across an album with this much variety in it. The first 3 songs are a definite picks for rock fans, while the next 4 will please those who range more towards pop. Then we start getting progressive & experimental. If you're a person who picks just a couple of songs off an album, you'll like at least one or two things here. No only is the music good, but the lyrics are fantastic.

The biggest surprise for me was the RANGE of Simon's vocals. Hitting hard rock with screaming intensity, then softer more emotional range.

Simon also does the drums on the album, it surprised me he was more of a rock drummer than the jazz/fusion that his father is.

With my last review I mentioned going away from talking about individual songs too much, but with the variety on this album, its hard not too.


U-Catastrophe (****) - Frankly this is one of the best album openers I've ever heard. You can envision this opening a set in an arena concert. It really gets the blood pumping to start the album.

All I've Left to Lose (****) - The most hard rock type song on the album, with a surprising melodic bridge. Simon really lets it loose on the vocals here. Rock out in your car with this one.

Disappearing (****) - Simon's angry about a couple of things, and it really comes through on this song. The lyrics on this song are incredible, and the music takes you on a roller coaster of different paces. The rhythmic delivery of the 2ndary verses is hypnotizing.

Powerless (*****) - Best song of 2008. You may disagree, but you're wrong. Many songs out there about drug addiction, this one is a haunting honest look at the addict (unfortunately from personal experience). The beautiful melody is counterpointed by the subtle drums that drive make the song feel like it might go out of control at any moment. The pure crafting work put into the details of this song is breathtaking. You will sing along, you just can't help yourself.

Go (Only One I Know) (***) - The weakest song on the album, back to the rock vein. The verses are good, but the chorus just disappoints for some reason. It seems as if this song still needs some polishing, which is strange considering the rest of the album. Still a fun song though.

The Good Son (****) - The song structure on this is quite interesting, it flirts with pop at times, then breaks away with some surprises in instrumentation. The verses are the highlight of the song, while the choruses fill their assigned spot without taking away from the song, but not really adding anything to it either. The lyrics again are fantastic.

Unconditional (***) - Pure pop fans, this one is for you. This love song is as close to pop as you can get. Upbeat, fun, good lyrics that are easy to sing along with. Its a setup though, because as you finish listing to this song, you would never expect what comes next.

The Big Bang (*****) - Wow. This is an instrumental drum duet with some music in the background. Simon drums with his dad, and the surprising thing is, it doesn't SOUND like Phil. Phil's always been a jazz/fusion guy, I've never heard him do rock drumming like this. If you like drums and rock, you will love this. The rhythms and fills are incredible.

Eco (****) - This is an environmental protest song that causes my son Gavin to ask lots of questions about the lyrics. He starts introducing some electronic sampling elements into the song that incredibly done to accentuate the music without detracting from it. This song will shift gears on you with angry verses to an incredibly beautiful melodic chorus.

US (****) - Soft love song, that started out at 3 stars, but grew on me. Romantic, elegant.

Between I & E (***) - Religious protest song. I love the lyrics on this, but for some reason I just can't get into this song as much as the others. Its got a good rock feel to it, but doesn't grab you in like Eco did.

Fast Forward the Future (*****) - Simon drops the drums for a drum machine here, but that's ok because of rule #1 above. Its hard to define this song. It starts off with some trance elements, but includes rock and progressive as well. It grinds together a lot of genders and comes up with a gem. The bridge on this song is well....luminous. With all the gear shifting, and variety on this album, this was the perfect ending song.

There is also an extra remix song of the Big Bang. But if you have the Big Bang, you don't need this remix, it just doesn't compare.

So, for those of you who cherry pick songs instead of picking up albums, here's how I would recommend.

Rockers: U-Catastrophe, All I've Left To Lose, Disappearing, The Big Bang
Poppers: Powerless, Unconditional, US, The Good Son
Progressive: Powerless, The Big Bang, Eco, Fast Forward The Future, U-Catastrophe

Everyone: Powerless

No comments: