So I write this after two listens only, but I feel with this record another ten plays will not make a great deal of difference.
01:
Flick Of The FingerWell what can I say? My eyebrows were raised when they picked Sitek, it seemed a ballsy move. When I finally heard the pairing together it seemed a stroke of genius.
Four Letter Word &
Sons Of The Stage were my favourites from the first BDI era &
Flick Of The Finger sits comfortably up there with them. It's not so much the production which makes it, but the arrangements used, having the band branch out from what we have predictably come to expect from them seems fresh & exciting. As a taster of the record this had me even more excited than
Bring The Light had on the first record.
8.5
02:
Soul LovePlods along aimlessly, musically never goes
anywhere interesting. I don't mind the melody or even the lyrics, but to drag a song like this over the 5 minute mark is an absolute sin. Surely Andy & Gem could of come up with something interesting musically here? Decent at best & I think I'm probably being a little bit generous with it.
6/10
03:
Face The CrowdThrowaway rock tune. It reminds me of one of those really shit Jonestown ripoff bands like Sky Parade mixed with some 2nd rate glam-rock shit like Wizard. Who wrote it? I'd guess it was Gem, it has a Heavy Stereo vibe, which is never a good thing. I like Liam's vocals & that lead guitar part around the 3 minute mark, but the song as a whole is completely average.
5/10
04:
Second Bite Of The AppleI don't think I have commented on this tune on here since hearing it. Basically, I don't think it is anything special, especially for a single. The lyrics are atrocious, made worse by the nursery rhyme style delivery of the melody. It does come to life on the
"Come On!" part but it isn't enough to make this anything other than a slightly better than decent tune
6.5/10
05:
Soon Come TomorrowDecent melody, half decent lyrics yet completely unremarkable. For me this sounds more like a Noel Gallagher song than something BDI would of come up with. Though, had Noel wrote it it'd of probably of been slightly better
6/10
06:
Iz RightErrrrrghhh. This is fucking embarrassing. They've attempted The Byrds & ended up sounding like a leftover from Robbie William's
life thru a lens.
4/10
07:
I'm Just SayingThe tune isn't too shabby minus the "
123 - you & me!" A part of me will die each time I hear that.
6.5/10
08:
Don't Brother MeReally average ballad. Literally nothing worthwhile in the entire song from the lazy arrangements to the shitty Lennonisms. To make matters worse, we have the almost four minute(!!!) outro to the track which goes absolutely nowhere. Once again, Gem, Andy & Sitek surely could of thought of a way of taking this song somewhere else? Either do something exciting with the track or just cut it short. A complete waste of time.
4.5/10
09:
Shine A LightThe song feels like it should be a lot bigger than it actually is. I suppose we had to have a Shine song included. I fucking hate the backing vocals & once again, a boring, repetitive & over-long ending to the song.
5/10
10:
Ballroom FiguredSee, at this point I'd expect to hate an acoustic ballad that sounds like one of a million other songs. That said, I think it's one of the best songs on the record. Lyrically its not too shabby, nice melody, a charming little tune. Liam sounds wonderful too.
7.25/10
11:
Start AnewIt feels really weird that I'm bigging up the two ballads at the end of the record but once again, I like the minimal approach to this & the delicate vocals of Liam are just superb. It certainly is nothing special & reminds me of something like
Let There Be Love but it's a well crafted song, doesn't outstay its welcome & at least builds towards the end rather than meandering out like so many other tracks on the record.
7.5
Overall, I am genuinely surprised that anybody on here would actually rate this. In all honesty I'd have this down there with
Heathen Chemistry as the worst Oasis related release. Seriously, listen to this & then Noel's solo record, Noel's wasn't very good at least it's better than what BDI have come up with here. Also, after all the bigging up of Sitek (which was completely justified for
Flick Of The Finger) he really hasn't done enough to bring this record to life. I know the old saying "you can't polish a turd" springs to mind but still, I've heard other records he's worked on & he tends to have a knack of making moments in songs which could feel plodding worthwhile. Did he produce the entire thing? Because if he has then I'd accuse him of going through the motions and not being creative enough, especially as from what we've been told/read that the band essentially green-lighted him to be more hands on.
Though the people to blame most of course are Liam, Andy & Gem. They've simply come up with a bunch of shit tunes. Deep down I kind of guessed that song-wise this would be a step down from Different Gear. The songs they had first time had mostly been written over the course of a few years, this definitely is second album syndrome. I'd of honestly settled for an album of
Meaning Of Soul/
Eyeball Ticker's than what we've got here. Too many mid tempo songs which never take off.
I am handing back my Team BDI badge. Different Gear I still think is a genuinely good record, which while patchy in places had some terrific moments. The new record has a classic opener & a couple of good ballads. The rest I wouldn't care if I never heard again.
5.75/10
As for the bonus tracks:
Dreaming Of Some Space, I have a soft spot for backwards shit, this is alright for what it is. 6/10
The World's Not Set In Stone, sounded great at Heaton Park last year, the BDI version & the Magneto version. This is nowhere near as good as either. 6/10
Back After The Break, boring mid-tempo bullshit. 5/10
Off At The Next Exit, bland. 4/10
Girls In Uniform Mid tempo plodder, over baked, uninspired 5/10
Evil Eye I really love Liam's vocals on this. Maybe his best vocal for BDI? I really don't know why but once a-fucking-gain i am drawn to the ballady type shit on this record which I'd usually be the first to slate. Probably because song-writing wise they are the highlights this time around. It's very predictable & I can't put my finger on what song this reminds me of (the melody is lifted from another song for sure!), either way, I really like this song.
7.75
The best thing that can happen now is that the record completely flops & Noel realises playing arena's makes him less £££ than stadium's & that his songs are twice as good when Liam belts them out. The next Oasis record should be 11 Noel penned songs with Liam doing vocals on every one of them. Oh & Gem can just fuck off.
