More new single reviews for you from Philip Lickley, who runs music blog Wav Goodbye. To contribute to All-Noise yourself, send your music news, reviews and views to [email protected].
Ed Sheeran – ‘Drunk’
[rating:3/5]
Buy Drunk
Ed Sheeran is an artist I can take or leave. I hated ‘The A Team’, loved ‘Lego House’ –but what about ‘Drunk’? Well it’s a very similar sound to his previous singles so you can’t say he’s trying much different and it falls somewhere between them both: faster paced than ‘The A Team’ but without the emotive lyrics of ‘Lego House’. Not a bad follow-up and the rap-like bridge is catchy but it’s a drop in quality after the last track. The video’s hilarious, however, so definitely watch that.
Gym Class Hereoes feat. Neon Hitch – ‘Ass Back Home’
[rating:3/5]
Buy Ass Back Home (Feat. Neon Hitch) [Explicit]
If you’ve heard any recent GCH song you’ll be familiar with the set-up here: a catchy, hook-based chorus that starts the song and appears scattered through the running time, bridging sections of Travie McCoy rapping about his life. The chorus of ‘Ass Back Home’, aside from the final line, doesn’t compare to the Adam Levine-sampling previous track with the vocals sounding a little half-hearted, and the rap is nothing that we haven’t heard before and isn’t as exciting to listen to as on ‘Stereo Hearts’. A perfectly good track but sticks very much to their established formula but delivers a less interesting end result.
Kasabian – ‘Goodbye Kiss’
[rating:2.5/5]
Buy Goodbye Kiss
The third cut from their latest, dinosaur-name-checking album, certainly doesn’t compare to their earlier, bigger, hits but it’s not entirely bad. There’s certainly something there as each verse builds up but it seems like there’s something missing to make this worthy of a single release. ‘Goodbye Kiss’ has a pleasant enough chorus and a nice enough verse, but ‘pleasant’ and ‘nice’ aren’t the words you associate with a download-worthy single, which this isn’t. Middle of the road fare from the Kasabian lads, saved by some interesting guitar work and strings.
Matt Cardle – ‘Amazing’
[rating:3.5/5]
Buy Amazing
Matt Cardle once more bucks the trend of X Factor winners with another great co-written song. Though not as immediately exciting as ‘Starlight’ and ‘Run For Your Life’, this definitely is the weakest of his releases so far, it’s still worth being a single. Sure, it’s not a particularly revolutionary track and conforms to the usual singer-songwriter clichés, but it’s a great slice of guitar pop if a little airy fairy and disposable.
Mindless Behaviour ft Chipmunk – ‘Mrs Right’
[rating:1/5]
Speaking of clichés, this remix of ‘Mrs Right’ is full of them. After a quarter of its running time you’ve pretty much heard all you need to do of the track. Built over some out-of-the-box beats and more autotune than a Ke$ha convention, this is the first song in a long time where I’ve wanted to switch it off mid-song through a mixture of boredom and the sound of the production. A mess of a track that only really shines when the rapping comes in, mainly because it means a break from the main backing track. And the shining is relative.
Reba McEntire – ‘Turn On The Radio
[rating:3.5/5]
Buy Turn on the Radio
At last, something a little bit more enjoyable to listen to. Mixing up country with soft rock, the balance between a mix of musical styles, with some more traditional country instruments with guitar, and the catchy vocals of McEntire, this is a great listen, even if the lyrics do sound like they’ve tried to shoehorn modern conceits such as Twitter into a more traditional song about surviving after splitting with an ex and being heard on the radio. If you enjoy modern country with rock stylings then there’s much to enjoy here.
Reverend And The Makers – Bassline
[rating:4/5]
Buy Bassline
There is clearly something in the saying ‘save the best for last’ as this first release from the Sheffield group’s upcoming third album, originally released for free on their Facebook page but now available to buy, is by far the highlight of the week. Managing to sound much clubbier than their earlier material, with a lot of the hallmarks of club tracks, whilst also keeping the familiar Reverend sound, it manages to pack a lot into its two-and-a-half minutes, with some fantastic electronic and synth production, catchy and singable lyrics, and a tongue-in-cheek look at the “trendy” music genre. Throw in some stuttering hooks and a familiar keyboard loop then if this is a sample of what’s to come I look forward to their album release in May.
Buy Turn on the Radio
Buy Bassline
