Customer Reviews

Hal

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How to describe this music? I'd say: Brian Wilson meets the Beatles. It is clear that the Allen brothers grew up with their parent's music, including the Beach Boys, The Beatles and other 60's and 70's music. Though their music is more like Smile than the Beach Boys albums.
HAL has re-entered a path in music that has only been trodden by Brian Wilson before them. Their music is extremely cheerful, very catching but above all things: truly beautiful!
Finally a young band that dares to make music inspired by the oldies! Some might worry that a debut album this good can hardly be exceeded by a second album, but I do not fear this. HAL has so much musical talents and the fact that their music is unique!
This album is a must for those who love beautiful music inspired by the 60's and 70's. I have rarely heard a better debut album in my life!
For better samples, go to HAL's website: www.halmusic.com

Melody, harmony, sophisticated lyric, thoughtfull arrangement. This album is full of great songs. Its uplifting and timeless in the way the best pop music is. Have been playing it for a year and have never tired of it. Favourite track:Worry about the wind.

The Allen brothers voices are simply amazing and the arrangements are flawless. The care they bring to each song is evident, in that each one is its own universe, but somehow the album maintains a cohesive tone. Each song has unexpected but plesant surprises -- an a cappela break here and or an acoustic bridge there. It's one of the few albums over the last five years that bears repeated playing, always offering something new to the attentive listener.

If you loved Pet Sounds, you need to own this album!

If you're a huge Beach Boys fan, then you will almost certainly dig this band. For a bunch of lads from Ireland, Hal's sound is distinctly American. You could slot this record into a box set of classic albums from the 1960s San Francisco scene and no one would blink twice. Lester Bangs probably wouldn't even notice. It's refreshing to hear a band brave enough to bring back happy, lazy Sunday, summer pop.

Hal's self titled debut attempts to strangle the current rock progression, directing music back to a time when musicians bought love and peace into everyone's living room. There're no songs about shooting, pimps or drugs, just eleven beautifully crafted love songs. The soft melodic lyrics roll off David Allen's tongue effortlessly, and the sweet piercing backing vocals give Hal's sound a definitive edge. I'd love to say something bad about this album; there just isn't anything bad to say. Each song is different from the last, all charming in their own special way, each with the potential to make you suddenly burst into song at any moment. "Satisfied" and "Slow Down (You've Got a Friend)" run slightly repetitively into each other, but its no big deal

As the weather starts to warm up, spin this album, grab a beer and something to smoke and just chill out. When Hal finishes, have your vinyl copies of Crosby, Stills and Nash's 'Renaissance Fare' and Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bookends' ready to spin. You'll have all you need for a afternoon in the sun.

Hal is a breath of fresh air in a world filled with bubblegum pop and wannabe rockstars. It is 60's-esque with a modern twist. Sweet harmonies and cool beats lend an old school feel that almost sounds like it came off a vintage vinyl. Songs like "Play the Hits" are upbeat and will put you in a good mood, but the rest of the album is more subdued. I can't stop listening to it.

Paul and Dave Allen, the Irish brothers at the forefront of quartet Hal, harmonize like the Beach Boys tripping with Sparks. Throughout their eponymous debut, Hal quote - both knowingly and unconsciously - from the 70's songbook. Rasperries' hook here ("Play the Hits"). Big Star groove there ("Don't Come Running"). Retro is all over these 11 tracks like white on rice. Yet there's something of the Irish struggle that permeates this debut - no matter how fresh and happy the music is, melancholy lurks beneath the surface. It's this hint of darkness that keeps the treacle to a minimum, and imbues Hal's sunshine with its warmth. And makes this a band worth watching.

Hal's lead singer has a sweet voice but their song writing abilities leave a little to be desired. After a while one realizes that these songs are boring mostly, a little too "mushy" to be taken seriously. I liked a lot "Fools by your side" for it brings so many bad memories of people I very much should have left alone (I do not put myself above in that list, I am sure that at one time or another I was a fool to someone!) and I love "Keep love as your golden rule". After that, it is a lukewarm affair with no more impressive moments. Want to know a secret? Try Aberfeldy's "Young Forever" and delight yourself on a magnifecent CD. What I was hoping for with Hal is to find a band that not necessarily delved into the darker side of songs but quite the opposite. They did not deliver and I thought they would. Too many CD's end up being kind of mediocre, rare is the time when one CD is so good that you get tingles all over just by owning one. 3 stars at the most for Hal's "Hal".

Hal has a lot of potential, but this album isn't going to make them big. They steal from The Beach Boys without shame, but they fail to deliver anything as good as any of their songs. The first two songs, "What A Lovely Dance" and "Play The Hits" are indeed incredibly catchy, but they're extremely cheesy and definitely guilty pleasures. I can usually stand listening to songs which are guilty pleasures (just look at all the reviews I've written), but these lack charisma and charm. There's just no innovation here. The arrangements and instrumentation may be pretty good, but they don't save any of the songs. It's true that none of the songs are bad, but none of them are really "good" either - they're all good in a cheesy way. The singer and band are essentially trying to become the next Beach Boys, but they fail almost every time. None of the songs are "bad", but they're not good either. You could certainly do without this album. Buy The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" instead - you'll love it WAY more.

Highlights include:
"What A Lovely Dance"
"Play The Hits"
the rest are "ok"

No doubt the perfect group to take Coldplay's infamous `music for bedwetters' tag now Chris Martin's pals have moved on to punchier rock, Irish quartet Hal are the perfect band for those who find the likes of Travis and Keane too hard-hitting. Formed by ex-archaeologist Stephen O'Brien and brothers Dave and Paul Allen in Dublin, with drummer Steve Hogan on board the band were snapped up by iconic London label Rough Trade around three years ago. Since debuting their sound to A&R suits back in 2002, Hal have slowly grown in acclaim, now earning a fair slice of publicity off the back of this rather feeble self-titled debut. Although there's an intriguing aura of the early 1960s surrounding the vocals of the brothers Allen, it's usually more Bobby Vee than Bobby Dylan. While some moments suggest that Hal might have it in them to create an album which The La's could have been happy with had they made it past their similarly self-titled debut, Hal are dreamy at best (on tracks such as My Eyes Are Sore) and tedious at worst (on album nadir Satisfied). I Sat Down has potential as a single, but even the supposedly-rousing finale Coming Right Over sounds like it's suffering from the musical version of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Until they decide what they want to be and can get their sugar levels replenished, the lethargic pop of Hal looks set to continue floating in deep space. No-one needs a new Turin Brakes boys - heck, we're still trying to knock off the old one.

I really wanted to like this in a 5-star way! Anytime I see reviews with comparisons to "Pet Sounds," I take notice. The songs are good lyrically and musically. There's a certain "fakeness" to them for me, though. The liner notes mention Pro Tools, and that's what I hear most, I think. Vocals, as well as horns, strings, etc. all sound like they're artificial. Compare this sound to the sound made by studio musicians of Brian Wilson's 60's. There is no comparison. I do like the "multi-tracked" sound that is going on in many of the songs. Certainly well-crafted, but fake.