Album Results
Album Reviews
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the sons of Jimmy Webb ("The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress") have an affinity for emotional bombast and Baroque flourishes. Their second album is full of soaring choruses and orchestral backdrops that might as well have been inspired by Tunesmith, Webb the Elder's giant treatise on the art of song. Less predictable are the steps the brothers take toward forging their own distinctively contemporary voice. Their subject matter is the lifestyle of carefree (and careless) swingers, and they capture it in spare, acidic lyrics that are almost the opposite of their father's grandiloquence. "Fluorescent Lights" is typical: "It's three in the morning she's lovely/But ugly to me/In fluorescent lights we'd be sickening to see." "All the Cocaine in the World" takes the strategy to an extreme. It's built on a single line, repeated in pretty harmony: "All the cocaine in the world/Can't bring back the girl." While the themes remain constant, musical styles fly fast and furious. Jangly guitar and kitschy synthesizers power "Summer People," horns and rolling piano take over for the cha cha "Intermission," and "Fluorescent Lights" is a strings-heavy waltz. The eclecticism, along with the jaded, wasted character of the lyrics, makes Maroon a cousin to Rufus Wainwright's Poses, another breakthrough album by a second-generation songwriter. The marriage of sophisticated, catchy melodies and cynical sentiments also brings to mind the work of Joe Pernice. That's impressive company for a couple of young talents still skulking in the shadows of "MacArthur Park." ~ Daniel Browne, All Music Guide
Track Listing
| 1. The Liar's Club |
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| 2. I Can't Believe You're Gone |
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| 3. All The Cocaine In The World |
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| 4. Summer People |
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| 5. Low Grade Fever |
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| 6. Marooned |
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| 7. Intermission |
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| 8. Fluorescent Lights |
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| 9. In A Fashion |
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| 10. Suddenly Awake |
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| 11. Powder Pale |
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| 12. Are You Happy Now? |
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| 13. Sleep If you Can |
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| Featured Review | |
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Human The Killers |
| Before Stuart Price and The Killers originally hooked up in 2004 the worlds of dance and indie were often mutually exclusive with dance remixes of indie tracks, despite a few notable exceptions, often no more than mismanaged afterthoughts. However, when the Thin White Duke remix of 'Mr Brightside' burst on the scene it captured the imagination of both the indie kids and the clubbing masses and became one of the most talked about tracks on both the pages of NME and Mixmag. Fast forward four years and post Klaxons indie dance has almost become a cliché with every new band and its dog incorporating synthesizers and drum machines. Still, this hasn't deterred The Killers reuniting with Mr Price to produce their third album, 'Day & Age'. Production wise The Killers latest offering, 'Human', takes plenty of cues from synth pop and nu-wave as well as Stuart Price's earlier work as Zoot Woman. All in all the track works pretty efficiently with a big electronic sounding drum kit pushing the song along to its dance infused instrumental outro. However on closer inspection of Brandon Flower's nonsensical lyrics seems to let all the shiny production down. Take the grammatically incredulous chorus line of 'Are we human or are we dancer' which simply begs the question, "What does he mean?!" Like The Killer's live performance at the European Music Awards that was all at once motionless and spectacular thanks to the use of Fifty foot LCD screens, 'Human' may well be a case of style over substance. | |
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