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ACTING VERY STRANGEMike RutherfordProg Related1.69 | 96 ratings |
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
| 7headedchicken like |
An underrated album, but almost understandably so. Mike sings the lead vocals, and while
his vocals have many strengths, they are an aquired taste. Very scratchy, and occasionally out
of tune, but also very aggressive and heartfelt, and on most of the songs that is a plus. The
only song that I can easily imagine being improved by someone with a more experienced
voice is "Who's Fooling Who" (I'm thinking Noel McCalla, or someone of a similar timbre), but
then it doesn't sound that bad with Mike singing either. His voice seems most suited to the
catchy power pop of "Maxine." The only thing is, after a whole album, the vocals do wear a little
thin, and it's not something I could listen to on a regular basis, but thanks to a good amount of
the songs being very, very good songs, I could put to this album on somewhat of a 2nd tier
medium rotation. The first two songs don't really grab my attention much, although "A Day To
Remember" does have very interesting lyrics. Actually, pretty much all the lyrics on this album
are very clever and intelligently written. ("Couldn't Get Arrested" is supposedly about having a
diffucult time making a mark on the music industry.) Musically, the album is very upbeat and
spirited, with heavy doses of energetic, trebbly distorted guitar and synths (yes, those
adjectives apply to both instruments), and Stuart Copeland sounding very much like himself
does a fine job drumming on this one. As for melodies, hooks, and songwriting in general,
well, you can't ask for a better hook than the ones in "Halfway There" and "I Don't Wanna
Know", and that inlcudes the latter's very Police-like outro refrain "I don't wanna be another
fool... " I think the album slopes down a little bit at the end, with the slow ballad "Hideaway"
sounding a little genericky, but Rutherford's vocals on the chorus are very touching, so that
helps. Add everything up, and you have a very exotic and unexpectedly different album of
energetic pop/rock with plently of great music to jump over coffee tables to.
7headedchicken |
3/5 |
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