The Splendour
The Best Way to Make Money - The Splendour Album Review
Album Review
The Splendour! Quite a good band making some OK music! The album, 'Best Way To Make Money' hits the shelves on the 18th of August, and they've got some fierce competition from bands such as Nickelback and Funeral For A Friend etc. It's being released by Tinyclan Records. There isn't much download wise that I can see although there's an acoustic version of the track 'Money' available for download on their myspace (myspace.com/thesplendourband).
The 13 track album kicks off with 'Put Me Into Bed' a great track with a stunning intro. Vocals courtesy of Justin Gourlay and I can hear a hint of Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos in his voice, which actually sounds quite good. The album also has some guest appearances in some of the tracks, which I'll talk about in the next few paragraphs.
The second track 'Wrong', with a stolen intro from The Fratellis' record 'Got ma nuts from a Hippy' (tut tut tut) but it's only a little bit at the start and it actually sounds quite good! The track also has a guest appearance from Rob Quickenden who's on the good old keyboard. Moving on to 'Language of a Lady' which also has Rob Quickenden on the keyboard. Quite a simple but catchy song, but the vocals are getting a bit boring, as it gets quite monotonous. But, this is soon resolved with the next track, which is my favourite from the album. The track is called 'Audio' and this is the real start of the album in my opinion. It's one of those songs, which you're unsure of when you first listen to it, but after listening to it again, you get to appreciate the song a bit more. It's the same for the album really, when I first listened to the album, I couldn't think about what to say in this review. But after a second listen, I got to know the band and their ways of making music a bit more, and it has definitely grown on me.
So we're almost half way through the album, and the fifth track is 'One Finger'. It reminds me of another record, but I can't think what it is (I'm having one of those moments). It has a cracking drum solo intro that really sets the track off with a bang. But towards the end, it does get slightly monotonous again. 'Money', the next track, with feminine vocals by the lead and backing vocals. They've had the Quantica Soul Orchestra in for this one and they've pulled it off quite well it must be said.
We've just passed half way now, and we move on to the seventh track which is 'Missus'. It's a slow and calm track and thankfully the vocals are much better than the previous track. 'Hope You're Alright' is up next on the bill, a powerful and emotional track. This track really shows the bands full potential, and it's in my top three tracksof the album. An organ shows the way into the next song, 'Fantasy Girl'. It reminds me of the music you hear in old films in scenes of fairgrounds. 'Deli' follows, a simple track, with some great backing vocals.
We're getting to the end of the album. Verdict so far then? Well, it's getting the lead vocalist is getting monotonous and is getting quite boring. I just hope that the final three make me change my mind!
'Anytime' is the next track, and I think they were listening to the Fratellis when writing these songs, the intro is very similar to 'Whistle for a Choir', but been tweeked slightly. Unfortunately though, his voice is just getting more boring. 'Saturday Night', the shortest and penultimate track in the album, is one of the more up-beat tracks in the album. The start reminds me of The Black Eyed Peas' song 'Pump It', but anyway, I'll move away now from them copying other bands music. It's an OK track really, nothing fantastic about it. So the end of the album is upon us! They finish the album with the slow 'Big America'. Not a big fan of the song, and a poor end to the album. Quite disappointed really! Overall then, I'd stamp it with the two letters, 'OK'. Nothing special about the album, and I can't see it doing very well when it's released.
