View The Review
7 out of 10
I've got an old Living Daylights EP kicking around that I really like, and I've seen them live a few times too, where they're really good. So it was with some excitement that I closed the CD tray with this album in it. I was rather looking forward to discovering what some decent production (I think the EP I have was self recorded) and a few more tracks for the band to play with would result in. So was I disappointed?
Yes and no. The older recorded material and - to a point - live shows have a certain raw power, to paraphrase one Mr Iggy Pop. The recording is very rough around the edges, but there's an urgency to the music that seems to have been lost a little in the studio. The Living Daylights are at their best playing mile-a-minute power pop punk, and the songs on this LP where they do that are up with their best, fusing elements of Rise Against (when they were good!) and Hot Water Music at their best. However, interspersed with the faster songs are a number of slower, almost ballady numbers which, to be honest don't really suit the bands style, or do a lot for me as listener. I don't know whether the band got carried away in the studio, or ran out of material for a full length or what. Maybe they like the more "epic" tracks, who knows.
In Summary: Kid Dynamite from Lincoln = Good. Loved Ones from Lincoln = Not so good. It's not a bad album, but it could have been so much more.
Listen: www.myspace.com/thelivingdaylightsuk
Tracklist:
1. Carve it Out
2. Dead as Mine
3. Searching for Disaster
4. Maps
5. Let Me Loose
6. My Return
7. In Between
8. Wasted on the Rain
9. Frustration and Releases
10. Melancholy
11. Undertow the Sleeping
No comments:
Post a Comment