U2start.com | Album of the Week

LikeASong

9 years

Nice review, although I need something stronger than your fav. track

Lame joke I know!

Welsh_Edge

9 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:Nice review, although I need something stronger than your fav. track Lame joke I know!

Your turn to choose an album now!

Looking forward to it.

LikeASong

9 years

Yep!

Originally posted by iTim:Week: April 6-10
User: LikeASong
Album:

I guess Tim meant April 4-10 but I hadn't thought about it until now - I was planning to announce the album on Wednesday. Oh well, I will do it in the next few hours - hopefully some other UNKLE reviews will surface by then!

Alvin

9 years

I'll review UNKLE tomorrow (hopefuly) or tuesday

Alvin

9 years

UNKLE - Never Never Land

I knew a few of their songs, I think almost everyone knows "Rabbit In Your Headlights" with Tom Yorke, I also like Be There with Ian Brown. So nothing new to me, just a good chance to discover never never heard album

of known artist. There are many guest musicians on this album which alway puts .

Back And Forth - just an intro with Black Sabbath sample of "Changes". Interesting to hear Ozzy :-)
Eye for an Eye - Acoustic guitar starts very nice track, this really has an athmosphere. Like it!
In A State - Nice soft song with strings in second half. Starts and ends with piano.
Safe in Mind (Please Get This Gun From Out My Face) nice vocal performance by Josh Homme of QOTSA and finally something more electronic. Like it!
I Need Something Stronger Yeah, Brian Eno - you could feel him here, this really could have been on Passengers

Electronic sounds and samples, second half is almost totally different than the first half. Like it.
What Are You To Me? Ok, this is not my cup of coffe... voice of singer is not bad, but overall it is too soft and without strong melody. The beat and some electronics don't save the song. A little kitch to me.
Panic Attack - interesting track - a little darker. Really like it.
Invasion - not a bad song, maybe will grow on me. I can find interesting parts in it, but for the first listen it doesn't do it for me. But definitely there is potential
Reign - I like Stone Roses and I like UNKLE song Be There where also sings Ian Brown. This song is really nice trip hop, love strings in it and singing part is amazing.
Glow Ok, another let down, really don't like it
Inside Not a bad song. But would be better if there is some musical climax. It looks it goes stronger in the second part, but never explodes. Not bad, but after expectation part there is a little dissapointment.

bonus track
Awake The Unkind - maybe would be better way to end the album with this one. Nice

Really good album and definitely will return to it. Great guests, mix of electronica, trip-hop and ambient makes it really enjoyable listen. Only bad parts are those two songs with Joel Cadbury. Btw. cover art is really interesting :-)
7,5/10 (could have been 8,5/10 if there were no "What are you to me" and "Glow")

Top tracks:
Eye for an Eye
Safe in Mind
Panic Attack
Reign

I hope for more reviews and looking forward to Sergio's album choice

thefly108

9 years

Originally posted by thefly108:I'll be listening to this in the next couple of days

Look at the liar I am. I'll be home in a few hours and review this.

iTim

9 years

UNKLE - Never, Never, Land

Back and Forth is a little intro to the album. A fairly accurate portrayal of life, nobody spends their whole life on top. I like how the title of the album is included at the end, sort of saying that despite the changes in life, never stand still, don't give in when it gets tough. A shame that it doesn't have a nice transition into Eye For An Eye though. This is where things really kick off. I adore the sample from The Undisputed Truth's "Ball of Confusion" which is a great track by itself, particularly the version recorded by The Temptations. It sounds like a chase and you can't outrun it. Dark lyrics too, I love it. In A State is a stark contrast to the opening track, it starts off with a piano piece that slows right down to a brief moment of silence before the acoustic guitar hits. To me, this reminds me a little bit of Radiohead, even vocally it has that kind of feel. Perhaps UNKLE took something from working with Thom Yorke on their first album? As the song progresses, more electronic elements are added to the acoustic guitar. It has a real pulsating beat to it this one. The final stages of this song are absolutely magnificent once the strings come in. Lyrically, I like the line "And I know there's fear to face / But happiness is firm in its embrace". Safe In Mind is constantly switching pace. Slow verses explode into pacey choruses. It's a descent into madness. I can't say that I'm a fan of Queens of the Stone Age (in that I have not listened to them), but I do like the vocals here.

Much has already been said about I Need Something Stronger, but nobody has yet mentioned the short sample taken from William Blake's Songs of Innocence: "And I wrote my happy songs / Every child may joy to hear". I can definitely hear the comparisons to Zooropa in this as well as Paul pointed out. What Are You To Me? sounds like it could be a cover of an early Oasis B-side, I can imagine Noel Gallagher singing this. Similar to In A State in that the song is built around the vocals and acoustic guitar with the remaining elements coming and going throughout the song. Very light sounding. It flows into Panic Attack with this Sonic the Hedgehog sound before introducing a sample of the percussive parts of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control". Very electronic and very 80's sounding to my ear. Invasion starts off with a very amateurish sounding guitar, I don't like the opening and I don't particularly like the song that much. Let's move on to Reign, quickly. As I said when I introduced the album, I discovered UNKLE through a remix they did of Ian Brown's F.E.A.R (check it out) and I can certainly hear similarities between that remix in Reign. the strings are actually from a Scott Walker song. I really like this song though. I'm a big Stone Roses fan so it's great to have Ian Brown and Mani involved. Mani of course the bassist for both The Stone Roses and you spend most of the song wondering where he is...and then you hear it. Very good song all around, all the elements come together nicely. Glow sees the return of Joel Cadbury on vocals. It's a nice song, but never really goes anywhere as In A State and What Are You To Me? do. Final song now, unless you live in Japan or listen on Spotify, Inside. The longest track on the album, just. It's very well composed and it really draws you in. An excellent closing track.

Overall, a very enjoyable album

I rarely listen to this in full, so it was quite refreshing to do so for this review. It's not an overbearing electronic album, I think most people will find something in this that they like and it seems that from the reviews, this holds true.

Top 3 tracks:
- Eye For An Eye
- Reign
- Inside

Rating: 7 out of 10

thefly108

9 years

I'm listening now

and my review will be up tomorrow if not tonight. Sorry for just now getting to this, it's been a hectic week.

iTim

9 years

No problem, Dane. I look forward to reading your thoughts!

Sergio...you're next I believe?

LikeASong

9 years

Yes I am! Posting the album tonight.

iTim

9 years