Album Review: Jedward – Young Love ★★★

June 28, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 7 Comments

The John and Edward Grimes Phenomenon is a curious beast. They are lively to the point of annoying during TV appearances; their image eye-catchingly bizarre and their larger-than-life personalities grating to anyone who doesn’t consider themselves a full-time resident of Planet Jedward. And yet their music is completely different.

Basically, they are a rare example of a pop act whose image and persona is completely mismatched to the musical styling – at least on this third (yes third) album. You look at the way Lana Del Rey is packaged and you can take a pretty accurate guess at what her music sounds like. Same for Rihanna, same for Conor Maynard, same for The Saturdays, same for JLS, same for Ed Sheeran… the list goes on.

But with Jedward, Young Love is almost boring when you weigh it up against what you would expect. I went into it predicting it to be lively, sporadically likeable but ultimately, over the course of 12 tracks, a bit on the irritating side. I was wrong. This album really took me by surprise – in some ways negatively, in some ways pleasantly.

Ultimately Young Love is a solid album of breezy pop music. Not a classic by any means, but pretty decent.  The ballad-ish title track, the slow-building ‘Luminous’ and the superbly catchy ‘Happens In The Dark’ are the strongest tracks; whilst the more pop-rock focussed inclusions like ‘All I Want Is You’ fall pretty flat.

But even at its most pedestrian points, the album is so damn hard to dislike. There’s an innocence to it that’s missing from a lot of pop these days – you get so swept up in the cock-hungry horniness of the Rihannas and the forced sheen of the One Directions that it’s easy to forget how pop sounds at its most (for lack of a better word) ‘basic’. The obvious downside is that it does, at times, sound a little dated – but the huge upside is that it’s incredibly amiable. If only the boys had the budget for some slightly better writers and producers, they’d really be on to something big.

★★★

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Album Review: Cheryl – A Million Lights ★★★★★

June 15, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 0 Comments

On the face of it, Cheryl’s indestructible star has been fading. Her National Sweetheart tag began to look a little weary on the 2010 season of The X Factor when she sent home Gamu in favour of Katie Waissel and Cher Lloyd, and then, when she was faced with a media circus following her departure from the US edition, critics became a hell of a lot more vocal and declared that, without that huge platform, her solo career was basically finished.

And if you’re a regular reader of the showbiz pages of the melodramatic British tabloids, you probably thought the same. You’d have believed that her fans (yes, her fans) were “FURIOUS” with her for allegedly miming on The Voice, or that her fans (again, her fans) had turned their backs on her when she halted her performance on The Graham Norton Show mid-recording because she’d fluffed the dancing. But then she released ‘Call My Name’, it sold 97,000 copies in three days, and will very possibly go on to become the fastest-selling single of 2012. The moral of the story? Don’t let a ludicrously excessive amount of bad press distract from A) how popular someone is; and B), in the case of new album A Million Lights, how good a popstar they are.

Said she recently: “I am very aware of my ability, I know I’m no Mariah Carey but I think the emotion in the song is what matters. It’s making people feel what you’re singing about. My new album is designed to entertain… I’ve grown as a person and an artist, you can hear that in my music. I feel brand new.” And AML is SUCH a progression over 2009′s 3 Words and 2010′s Messy Little Raindrops.

But trailed by Grower Of The Century ‘Call My Name’, it’s surprisingly sparse on the dance-pop rave anthem front. Midtempo dub-ballads are the order of the day; the best of which is the previously teased ‘Love Killer’, the worst of which is the LP’s weakest song full-stop ‘Craziest Things’, courtesy of – GUESS WHO – will.i.am. Elsewhere ‘Ghetto Baby’ sounds exactly like you think it does when you hear that Lana Del Rey wrote it, and Cheryl sounds great on it, and even the bizarrely-titled ‘Sexy Den A Mutha’ sounds right at home.

The traditional ballads are a lot better this time, too. Whilst 3 Words‘ ‘Don’t Talk About This Love’ just sounded out of place and Messy Little Raindrops‘ ‘The Flood’ didn’t make for that good a choice of single, this record’s title track is incredibly powerful and late-album bombastoballad ‘Mechanics Of A Heart’, written by Loick Essien and Taio Cruz, is also a triumph despite its slightly cringey lyrics.

But if you ask me (and I’ll take the fact that you’re even reading this as a green-light that you did), the very best tracks bookend the set. ‘Under The Sun’ at the beginning, produced by Alex Da Kid (Eminem, Rihanna) and co-written by Cole, and ‘All Is Fair’ at the end, produced by Jim Beanz (Nelly Furtado, Britney Spears) are both exceptional. The former is just a fantastic pop song with a hook more infectious than the common cold, and the latter is an understated, slow-building chant that just about sums up the whole record perfectly. Cheryl may not be perfect and she may have more than her fair share of critics, but she’s still one of our country’s finest popstars.

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Album Review: Alexandra Burke – Heartbreak On Hold ★★★★

June 4, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 0 Comments

Forced to draw up a (brief) list of X Factor winners who’ve gone on to enjoy successful careers, we would almost certainly include Alexandra Burke. Three of her first five singles went to Number One, ‘Hallelujah’ is the second fastest-selling winners’ single to date and she even got invited back to be a guest judge during last year’s run.

And yet, despite the success of Overcome, her second album campaign has been fraught with blunder after blunder. For a start, June 2012 is quite a while after the October 2009 debut, and in that time JLS, who of course Alexandra beat in the 2008 final, have released no less than three LPs themselves. Then, once the billion-year wait finally culminated in the premiere of trailer single ‘Elephant’, we were met with a Grower That Never Was. A euphoric dance-pop track without any euphoria. The titular elephant in the room was, unfortunately, that the early signs of Album No. 2 weren’t too good at all.

‘Let It Go’, the second single from Heartbreak On Hold, is much stronger, but by now radio playlisters have made their stance on this campaign pretty clear – there will be no airplay for it whatsoever. The track limped to No. 33 on a meagre 11,000 sales, and suddenly the importance of this album doing well has gone from solidifying what Overcome started to saving her career altogether.

The good and frustrating news is that ‘Elephant’ is comfortably the weakest song on Heartbreak On Hold, and I’m not just saying that for the sake of being dramatic. Whilst the album is generally as original as ending a text message with an X, it is produced and sung to a  pleasingly high standard – note especially the stereo-hogging opener (the title track), the gloriously camp ‘This Love Will Survive’ and Euro-friendly late-album blaster ‘Ooh La La’. Oh, and the Kylie-like ‘Love You That Much’. OH, and the relatively dark ‘Daylight Robbery’. Basically there are a lot of very good pop songs on here.

The production may thrive when the tempo is up and the hands are aloft, but Alexandra’s powerful voice flaunts its colour a lot more on the slower tracks. ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’ is restrained and beautiful, and has a slight whiff of Robyn’s ‘With Every Heartbeat’ about it, and closing piano ballad ‘What Money Can’t By’, though not particularly strong as an actual song, reminds us why we voted for her over JLS and Eoghan Quigg in the first place – she’s got a bloody big set of lungs on her. And whilst Heartbreak On Hold may not be the most groundbreaking release of the year, it deserves to make a much bigger impact than I fear it might.

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Album Review: Cover Drive – Bajan Style ★★★★

May 4, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 0 Comments

Label: Polydor

UK Release: 7 May 2012

Cover Drive’s brand of sun-soaked, dancehall-esque carib-pop hasn’t particularly been explored by the mainstream UK market since the early days of Rihanna; and now that she’s evolved into an electro-raving love-in-a-hopeless-place-finder, Karen ‘Amanda’ Reifer, Barry ‘Bar-Man’ Hill, Jamar ‘Toast’ Harding and Thomas-Ray ‘T-Ray’ Armstrong have jumped in to fill the void.

This means that the obvious plus point of debut album Bajan Style is it’s a refreshing change from most of pop’s current trends, but – thanks to industry-standard hitmakers like Stargate and Steve Mac – not so different that the everyday Capital FM listener can’t still bop along.  First single ‘Lick Ya Down’ is a good example – loaded with fast percussion, steel drums and an infectiously catchy chorus, it sets the standard for the rest of the album fairly well, most notably the reggae-tinged ‘Headphones’ and Euro-pop chart-topper ‘Twilight’.

Current release ‘Sparks’ and late-album semiballad ‘Can’t Live In A World’ are as downtempo as it gets, meaning the energy rarely slacks. Generally this is as solid a pop album as you could want, rammed with radio-ready energy and very little by the way of filler. Likeable, uplifting and incredibly hard to sit still to, it’ll make for quite the soundtrack if you have any plans to hit the beach this summer.


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Film Review: American Reunion ★★★★

April 30, 2012 in Film, Reviews with 0 Comments

UK Release: Wednesday 2 May 2012

Back in 1999, the very first American Pie outing managed to tick boxes that not every teen comedy could tick. Not only was it hilarious for viewers of all ages (well, most ages), but it also had a real sense of friendship and heart at the centre of it that was actually just a lil’ bit touching.

Miraculously, the quality was more-or-less seamlessly replicated for the 2001 sequel… but then it all went out of the window. By the time American Pie: The Wedding rolled around in 2003, several cast members had bailed out and the mix of cheap gags and genuine gravitas was thrown wildly off-balance. Throw in a countless number of straight-t0-DVD spin-offs and the perfection of the original became harder and harder to recall.

It’s only been three years since the godawful American Pie: The Book Of Love, but a lot has changed in time for American Reunion. All of the original cast is back, but they’re all in very different places to when we last left them. Jim and Michelle (Jason Biggs and Alysson Hannigan) are sexlessly married with a young son, Kev (Thomas Ian Nicholas) has settled down with a reality TV addict, Oz (Chris Klein) is a D-list celebrity and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) has all kinds of stories from his global travels. The four of them slip into their old roles with little difficulty, and it’s heartwarming to see. In fact, aside from Nicholas’ added facial hair, they don’t even look that different.

They’re all back in town for their high school reunion, and as well as being reunited with the rest of the awesome foursome, they have a lot of other ex-classmates to catch up with as well – not least Stifler (Sean William Scott), who, as far as the gags are concerned, pretty much steals the show. Introduced with the same kind of shot that bought us to his house party back in 1999 (you know, the one where the camera follows him around the room), he hasn’t grown up one bit. From trying to pull high school-age girls to taking a particularly unpleasant dump, he is the life and soul of the movie and takes credit for the lion’s share of the laughs.

As far as the others go, the film focusses so exclusively on the boys (and, bizarrely, a new and slightly annoying 18-year-old girl) that many familiar faces are pushed majorly to the sidelines. Heather (Mena Suvari) and Vicky (Tara Reid) are particularly under-used considering how important they are to their respective sub-plots, and old favourites Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) and Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) are genuinely only seen for about a minute, tops. But their loss is Eugene Levy’s gain, and in his hands Jim’s Dad is an unexpected highlight of the whole film. With his character now widowed, his scenes prove his unforeseen versatility as an actor – disarmingly strong at the touching stuff, and unsurprisingly hysterical at the awkward father-son gags.

Does Reunion have the same warmth as the original? Not quite. But then these characters aren’t the same naive kids they were back in 1999, and writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have done a decent job of weaving a story that keeps most of their endearing character traits in tact. The humour is in tip-top shape (even if it does do absolutely no favours for feminism), and anyone who grew up   with a great fondness for Jim and co. will lap up this bonus slice of Pie.


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Album Review: Marina & The Diamonds – Electra Heart ★★★★★

April 26, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 0 Comments

Label: 679/Atlantic

UK Release: Monday, April 30

“My first album wasn’t a flop, but it wasn’t a wild success,” said Marina Diamondis recently. “This one is more assured, and I feel it will come to define my career.”

It’s been two years since she, under her stage-name Marina & The Diamonds, broke onto the mainstream pop landscape with LP The Family Jewels, and with sophomore collection Electra Heartshe’s grabbing the opportunity to make her mark with both hands. Electra, though not technically an alter-ego, is a “Homewrecker, Beauty queen, Primadonna, Idle Teen”, and the goal is to turn the Adele strand of breakup-pop on its head. “I didn’t want to come across as a victim,” she told the Daily Mail. “I’m not a bitch, but I wanted to expose that side of my character. I wanted to address the things that women don’t usually talk about. Nobody will admit to playing power games in relationships, but they do.”

She’s been partnered with some of the industry’s most popular (and expensive) producers and co-writers – including, oddly, Dr Luke (‘My Life Would Suck Without You’, ‘Teenage Dream’, ‘Tik Tok’, ‘Girlfriend’) – but Electra Heart is not a hands-in-the-air, euphoric pop record. What Marina does is take the standard Katy Perry style of electro-driven commercial thumpers and turn them into something much darker; something that’s still very ‘pop’ but has so much more than usual to say. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Perry brand – ‘Teenage Dream’ was our favourite song of 2010, lest we forget – but there’s a real sense on Electra Heart of Diamondis carving out her own brand of ever-so-slightly-indie-friendly electro-pop, and it’s a brand that really works.

No lyric is thrown away, no chorus is under-cooked and, especially on ‘Primadonna’, no “YEAH!” or “WOW!” is thrown in just for the sake of it – or rather, they are, but that’s part of the purpose. And aside from making comment about what she calls “the corrupt side of American ideology”, the emotions are coming from a very real place. ‘Fear And Loathing’, ‘Lies’, ‘Teen Idle’… these are amazing songs with the power to provoke both thought and feeling; a double-whammy that’s no common achievement in modern pop.


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TV Review: Steps: On The Road Again – Episode 1 ★★

April 23, 2012 in Reviews, TV with 0 Comments

Steps Reunion was undoubtedly a pop highlight of 2011, bringing back our favourite 90s/00s quintet and forcing them to kiss and make-up after a split that was so much messier than any of us ever really realised.

It was a hit with fans, it was a hit with critics, and it was also a hit in the ratings. So it’s unsurprising that SkyLiving are striking while the iron’s hot and giving us a second dosage; following Lisa, H, Claire, Lee and Faye as they prepare to hit the road on their Ultimate Tour.

Is it just as magical as last time? Not really. The truth is that the way the last series ended – the fivesome being jubilant at the warm reception to their return – was such a neat conclusion and a such a fitting re-introduction to Planet Steps that it seems a shame to go through the drama and tensions all over again. Lisa is in Dubai and missing some of the tour rehearsals! Claire’s writing a secret autobiography! The spouses aren’t entirely sure what any of them are thinking! Obviously it was far from healthy putting a glossy sheen on all the hidden friction ten years ago, but letting us in on every petty squabble is hardly endearing. Why create villains and show everyone at their most stressed if you want us as fans to fall in love with them again?

And why – good God why – did we need to see a poor 5 ft 2 dancer in floods of tears at the realisation she wasn’t tall enough? And why did we then need to see her struggle with the choreography? In all genuine seriousness, why was that included? To make her look like a dick? To make us point and laugh? To humiliate her? If there was a good intention behind that particular scene, it was completely missed.

But it’s not all bad. When it pulled its focus off the in-fighting, Steps: On The Road Again really hit its stride. Following Faye around her home-town was a lovely insight, seeing the band (minus Lisa) introduced to their set design was exciting, and any time Claire made a joke it was hilarious. But there were times when it was worth questioning why exactly any of them were even touring again when they all seemed so bloody miserable about it – and whilst the blame for that probably falls in the lap of editors and producers rather than the band themselves, it was the latter who came off looking the worse for it. And as a long-term fan, I for one was unimpressed.


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Mixtape Review: Jay Norton – Spare Room Sessions ★★★★

April 23, 2012 in Music, Reviews with 0 Comments

It says something about the talent level on The Voice UK that will.i.am can earnestly say someone is better than Justin Timberlake, and then in the next breath eliminate them from the competition.

The guy earning such high acclaim was of course Jay Norton, the Liverpudlian 24-year-old who ultimately lost out to the equally amazing Jaz Ellington on Saturday night’s episode of the singing contest.

But Norton has clearly realised the advantage of being knocked out two months before any viewers would know about it, and has armed himself with a mixtape, the Spare Room Sessions, in time for the inevitable outcry from fans that he should have stayed in the running. And it’s a cracker – not to mention a free cracker – that comes packed with all sorts of popular covers, previously unheard gems and genius mash-ups.

Production is generally sparse, giving the voice a chance to generate all the emotion by itself without the help of studio trickery; but when the extra frills are added on they are generally effective (note ‘I Don’t Know’ especially). There are a couple of left-field “mash-ups” that are worth the download by themselves – the merging of Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Black and Yellow’ with James Blake’s ‘Limit To Your Love’ is especially brilliant – and the piano cover of Robyn’s ‘Call Your Girlfriend’ (‘Boyfriend’ in this case, natch) is particularly haunting.

Whether or not there’s any truth to reports that will.i.am will sign Jay regardless of The Voice result remains to be seen, but if the objective of Spare Room Sessions  is to persuade him, then it’s hard to imagine him saying no.


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TV Review: The Only Way Is Essex – Season 5 Episode 1 ★★

April 15, 2012 in Reviews, TV with 0 Comments

The Only Way Is Essex blasted so quickly into viewers’ hearts that it was only natural for it to feel very tired very quickly. Amy Childs left, Mark Wright left, Harry Derbidge, Kirk Norcross and Maria Fowler were chucked, and Season 4 had been broadcast when the show was still just over a year old. Was it good? I couldn’t tell you, I stopped watching it half-way through.

And now, after just two months away, it’s back for its FIFTH season. A couple of people have been axed (Dino, Georgio) and Joan Collins has joined the ranks. Gemma’s mum, that is.

Truthfully, the show still feels as tired as it did towards the end of season four. Lucy’s eye-rollingly predictable strop when Mario “bid” for Cara, Lydia’s stress over Arg, and Lauren Goodger being generally dry are just three of the things that didn’t help in the slightest.

The decision to push Gemma to the front is certainly a good one, and her new romance with Charlie threw up the main storyline of the night. “I feel like one of them pigs in blankets you eat before Christmas” for one was a priceless quote. Will Chemma be the new Lauren and Mark? Of course not. But they’ll do for now. The older characters are also pulling their weight in spades. Nanna Pat’s awkward look to the ceiling when Lauren Goodger arrived to wish Deb a happy birthday was priceless, and she needs far more airtime.

What will it take for TOWIE to pull itself back on track? Has it lost too many key characters, or is it just running out of ideas? Who knows. But I really do hope it regains its mojo over the coming weeks before it passes the point of no return. It’s a cracking show, but tonight was not a classic.

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Film Review: The Hunger Games ★★★★

April 2, 2012 in Film, Reviews with 0 Comments

It seems like everything these days has to be “the next” something. The Voice is the next X Factor. Facebook was the next MySpace. Twilight was the next Harry Potter. And now The Hunger Games is the next Twilight.

But in reality they are totally different products, and in so many ways. Twilight’s about vampires, The Hunger Games is about a dystopian society. Twilight‘s for younger females, The Hunger Games has something for everyone. Twilight is shit (SORRY), The Hunger Games is good.

OK, it’s not perfect. Those familiar with Suzanne Collins’ novels and those going in without any prior knowledge will both find flaw, and judging by all the hype it’s had in the press you’d be forgiven for feeling short-changed for not getting Film Of The Century. You could argue that Gale and Peeta are too two-dimensional, that the ending is a little hasty, that there’s not enough time dedicated to the actual Games or that the violent scenes aren’t graphic enough, and you’d have a point. For the record I disagree on the fourth count, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Let’s go back a step. If you’ve been hiding in the deserted wasteland District 13 for the last few months (inside joke) and have no idea what’s going on, here’s the jist: Post-uprising, it’s become a regular ‘thing’ in Panem that, in order to keep the public in line, every year one 12-18 year-old male and one 12-18 year-old female from each of the twelve districts will go head-to-head in a televised battle to the death. Only one will go home alive.

Despite its shortcomings, it is without question the best adaptation of a popular novel for a very, very long time. Of course you’re not going to get the same intricacy to the characters or depth of storytelling without A) the author’s narration or B) a seven-hour running time, but Gary Ross has a damn good attempt. Visually, it’s flawless. The lavishness of the Capitol and the contrasting emptiness of District 12 are both brilliant, and whoever was in charge of costume design deserves some serious recognition come 2013 awards season.

Some of the set-pieces are adapted to perfection. The “reaping” is just brilliant, from Elizabeth Banks’ unsettling enthusiasm to the handheld-style camerawork and the complete omission of music. Similarly the first couple of minutes of the actual Hunger Games, where the number of contestants is instantly halved, is powerfully brutal even without the 7 seconds of gore shaved off to obtain a 12A rating. When the ruthless Cato goes in to stab a tiny pubescent boy to death, you don’t need to see his blood and guts shooting all over the place to feel the force of it, and though the camerawork is a little too shaky at times, it’s a damn hard-hitting sequence.

Jennifer Lawrence (as heroine Katniss) is incredible. Previously little-known despite her Oscar nod for Winter’s Bone, she is tasked with carrying the entire film on her relatively inexperienced shoulders, and she does it with very little room for improvement. Stanley Tucci is (as is now standard) pitch-perfect as the TV host, Woody Harrelson does a great job as mentor Haymitch and Banks comes closest out of anyone to stealing Lawrence’s thunder.

As for the boys, it’s a tough one to call. Josh Hutcherson is good as Katniss’ fellow District 12 competitor Peeta, but, be it the fault of screenwriter, director or actor, the character’s motives are noticeably lacking the same unpredictable ambiguity they had in the novel. As for Liam Hemsworth as Katniss’ BFF Gale, he doesn’t have a great deal of screentime in this first film but he does the smouldering, brooding look to a good standard. The only drawback is that there’s no way in hell he can pass for a teenager.

The higher a pedestal you put something on, the easier it is to be critical, and The Hunger Games has been hyped up to the max. In my opinion, despite its flaws, it’s worthy of the acclaim. It’s been a long time since a film of this nature has come around and actually been good. It’s got that same, grand epicness of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy or the better Harry Potter films, and it lays the groundwork for a potentially game-changing trilogy. Perfect? No. Unmissable? Yes.

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