Slow Club – Yeah So
I like Slow Club. I love them live, I love their previous single and EP releases, and they are truly lovely people, but unfortunately I just don’t like this album very much. It’s just sort of… sluggish, I think.
It’s taken me ages to review it because I just don’t know entirely what to say. Large portions of the album have the full rock ‘n’ roll treatment and in doing this they seem to have lost a lot of the quirks which made them such a charismatic and idiosyncratic band in the first place. Their sound does tempt this sort of approach. Charles’ guitar has always seemed like it was stuck in the 50s (in a good way) and the whip-crack beat of the drumming and the use of boy-girl vocal harmonies makes the kind of music which can be added to pretty much ad infinitum.
This doesn’t really seem to benefit most bands, though, especially not when faced with their first full album and often their first proper, full-on studio project as well. This is where a sympathetic producer who understands the music and who understands and gets on well with the band becomes crucial, particularly on a debut album where the band are often still inexperienced and in need of a little guidance.
Basically, I think this album should have been de-tuned slightly. Having spoken to the band at Homegame, I get the impression they have perhaps thrown a bit too much at the recording, simply because toys were there to use rather than because they were compellingly necessary, and I also think the producer – or maybe not the producer, but someone at least – should have reigned them in a little.
The main issue though – and this might be the harshest criticism of all and I do not like making it – is that I am not all that convinced by the songwriting. The highlights of this album for me are still the older songs like When I Go and the brilliant Because We’re Dead. It Doesn’t Have to Be Beautiful is a cracker as well, and a couple of the slow songs are lovely. But this just feels like an album which never quite gets going, one which lacks a real catalyst somehow, and never really catches fire. I am really sorry to say it, but I think Yeah So is very disappointing.
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Slow Club – It Doesn’t Have to Be Beautiful
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I very much concur. The changes made to ‘Dance to the Morning Light’ — a favorite of mine from their ‘Let’s Fall Back in Love’ EP — epitomize (for me) the backwards step made with all the extra production.
this is a shame. i loved them to bits at homegame but the releases ive heard so far have done nothing for me. maybe they are destined to be a live band. not a bad thing after all.
I seem to recall they produced it didn’t they? The sound is a little muggy, I admit, but it’s no worse than a great deal of albums & records you’ve reviewed in these pages.
There’s certainly an issue with sequencing of the tracks, I’d say, the flow of the album is interrupted as a result, but I don’t think it’s a bad effort, songwriting-wise, at all: Apples & Pairs, When I Go, There Is No Good Way To Say I Am Leaving You are all really nice numbers. My favourite has to be Our Most Brilliant Friends. That’s just a cracking song.
I do think that When I Go is a brilliant opener but the whole album just doesn’t flow that well which is a total shame, they were amazing at Homgame.
I think it’d be sad to write them off as just an ace live band though, not that I’m saying there is anything wrong with that, but this is just their first album and it does have some ace tracks.
I think they may have lost just a smidgeon of the knockabout exuberance of the live show, although that often seems to be an inevitable result of the studio.
Nevertheless, there’s not a lot to fault in these two tracks.
I do wonder, however, if recording like this might backfire on them in terms of the live show; where those of us who are lucky enough to have already seen them perform know they’re enchanting and effervescent live, the legions of new fans they may well win with this album may be disappointed with the stripped-back live sound when they get to hear it.
I really hope that doesn’t turn out to be the case, though.
yeah dont get me wrong compared with a lot of other bands the recorded stuff is very good.its just nowhere near as good as their live sound. i wish it was not the case but in my opinion it is.
I think you’ve hit on a few of the key things there, NineBall: ‘knockabout exuberance’ and ‘effervescence’ sum up a little of what it missing here, for me anyway. Like you say, though, maybe the deliberate nature of studio recording just makes that an inevitable sacrifice most of the time.
I should clarify, also, that when I say that I am not sure about some of the songwriting I mean that straightforward, superficial catchiness seems to be missing in a few too many cases – again just my personal instinctive reaction of course.
DC – you’re right about the sequencing I think, and certainly about the fact that there are still some terrific songs on the album. Still really leaves me feeling a bit deflated though.
I’ve never seen them live, except for the video from Homegame (which I liked), and I’ve never heard their EP or singles, so it’s all new to me. That said, these two songs sound just OK. Not bad, but not exciting to listen to either.
Oh sod it they can have a tenner off me just so I can disagree with the whole miserable lot of you.
I’m off to develop an opinion.
Yikes shock avatar……….hell where did that land from……Damn, more beard required.
I didn’t do that, Cogstar, that’s something you’ve brought on yourself.
I do like them, but honestly all their songs seem indistinguishable to me. (Here I speak of the ‘Let’s Fall Back In Love EP) Discrepancies between the old and new records are lost on me. (Probably haven’t listened to either enough. Not overly inclined to. They are cute, but slightly impact-less, if I can say so without sounding horribly harsh and generally horrible.)
Christmas TV is the one song I can concretely think of when I call to mind Slow Club.
Also, where does ‘Thinking, Drinking, Sinking, Feeling’ fit in? According to wikipedia, nowhere.
There are a lot of things I’ve done to myself over the years that have caused the Avatar to look like that Matthew.
Sadly not many are reversible.
The BBC liked it.
That’s as maybe, but they didn’t listen properly. The lyrics they quote at the end of the review are not part of the song they attribute it to. It is in the hidden track at the end of the album.
Haha! Is it?!
Numpties.
Cogstar – that black rubber duckie is brilliant.
DC – oooh, nice one. Mind you, I announced the death of Jay Farrar on a podcast recently, instead of Jay Bennett, so I am in the most delicate and brittle of glass houses as far as that is concerned.
I only know that because Rebecca brilliantly did the song almost solo at the secret tea shop gig at Homegame & I remember the very clever lyrics quite distinctly.
Ah. They were so nice. I hate myself a little bit for not liking this album.
I have an opinion …eventually…. I really like 9 out of the 12 (or maybe13) songs on this album. I’ve had the CD in the car for a good 6 weeks and haven’t become bored with it yet. I think that’s down to the variety within each of the songs which isn’t immediately obvious on first listen. A casual listen will lead to a memorable melody or a hook in a chorus and this album is choc full of chorus’. I think the real beauty of this album though is in the over clunky guitar in the slow song or the misplaced verse ot the very odd Rhyme (the Rio one is inspired). It’s a neat trick bringing quirkiness without interrupting the flow of the songs.
I may also have benefited from not seeing them live yet and maybe you had raised and possibly unfair expectations of for this first album.
So you miserable buggers give it another go and look on the bright side at least we’ll be able to get tickets to future gigs.
I went to see them live last night in Leeds and I now understand your comments. It was a fantastic gig, particularly when they hit curfew time so just went outside and carried on.
Still love the album though
Absolutely, I would definitely always recommend seeing them live, to anyone.
Still don’t like the album though, unfortunately.