Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very impressed, December 25, 2007
This album is an amazing insight into the Aussie group's growth. As a very big fan of the first album, I was very scepticle of this albums release. Would they be able to carry on the cleverly crafted songs from The Secret Life Of...? True, this album is different from the first. The album has a heavier rock sound with some computerization introduced to enhance its 80's rock/pop genre. Let me tell you though, this album is fantastic. Realistically, we cannot expect the girls to produce a "carry on" from their last album, how dull would that be? They have grown musically and branched out into a new sound.
With electro 80's esk songs like Hook Me Up, Untouched and the (almost flashdance like) sound of This Is How It Feels, leading the way, making room for slower numbers like the fantastic I Cant Stay Away. This album is amazing, and we should be congratulating the girls, not comparing them to their previous work!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome CD, November 26, 2007
I have to admit, I was waiting on this album for what seems like an eternity. I expected a sound extremely similar to what "The Secret Life" cd offered, but when I heard the first single "Hook Me Up" I was kind of blown away to the polar opposite this cd took from its predecessor. It is not in the same genre, the same ball park, the same planet as the first cd. Putting that all aside, it was went far beyond the maturity level of the first cd, and completely topped all expectations that I had for it. The sound is much more upbeat; however, the words seem deeper and more dramatic, perhaps growing up a little with their fan base. If you miss the older sound of The Veronicas, you should give the track, "All I have" a listen, its them, just a different sound, and a different playing field, not locking them in to the stereotypical kind of pop cookie-cutter sound that's going on today. A bit of a playful edge is offered instead. This is definitely a cd worth buying. It's amazing!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than the last one, June 5, 2008
When you have such pop perfection as "4 Ever," a track that seemed almost solitarily responsible to the rise of teen rock pop, it is difficult to imagine any possible way to redefine yourself as an artist. Especially when there are two of you that look the same. Twin sisters Jess and Lisa Origliasso are The Veronicas, and after having taken the world by storm in 2006, return with their sophomore effort, Hook Me Up.
In the realm of stylistic changes, the shift from the rockier Meredith Brooks/Tracy Bonham The Secret Life Of... to the glam electro of Hook Me Up may seem, at first, an alienation of the fans garnered with the former album. One review I saw early on was a discontent fan clamoring about the complete and utter lack of guitars. What does that say to me? Listen to the damn album! The Origliassos haven't abandoned anything they did in 2006, with the exception of neglecting to work with Max Martin again. They've built on every single foundation they created on The Secret Life Of..., providing not only a more entertaining vehicle for their talents, but a more mature level of songwriting and expression of pain, loss, loneliness, and regret. From the first moment the album starts, the fine hairs of an expert bow sliding across taut strings that is the melodic opening of "Untouched," you know you're in for something different and special. "Untouched" is fast, both in BPM and in the way the twins vocally present the song, yet it proves once again that speed and pain are not mutually exclusive ideas. While the track begs and pleads with you to move along with it, it also implores you to be moved BY it, as the girls sing like, "I feel so untouched right now/ Want you so much somehow/ Just can't resist you/ It's not enough to say that I miss you." I am inextricably bound. The album's title track, which is also it's lead single, "Hook Me Up," is an electropop tune with a serious drive to the dance floor (check out Tommy Trash's vocal version, quite fun!).
The album is upbeat and fun, yet surprisingly adult and moody. Tracks like "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)", "This Love," and "I Can't Stay Away" are all bittersweet in their lyrical content yet complete knockouts in musical delivery. "Revenge" hearkens back to The Secret Life Of... in that it features a more guitar-driven sound than a lot of the album, but maintains the flow and energy of the rest of the disc. Despite the content of the track, the song would be considered upbeat musically due to the high BPM and drum style. "This Love," the third Australian single off of the album, features a more straightforward synth-pop sound, even going so far as to emulate a-ha's "Take On Me" as the pivotal moment in the track. The last of my trio of favorites, "I Can't Stay Away," describes the addiction to a person, sexually, and the admission of that addiction. The song is powerful and moving, the Origliassos' vocals soaring over one of the slower songs on the album.
Hook Me Up features a bevy of other potential singles, all as good as the next, but I do want to point out one last one before leaving the rest a mystery. "Popular" at first seems like a random track, very atypical to the rest of the album. It is an extremely self-indulgent, tongue-in-cheek response to their own rapid rise in fame. With lyrics like, "And I get what I want/ My name is my credit card," you can see the humor within the lyrics. Upbeat, very poppy, but eventually the complete inanity of it grew on me and I now count it as one of my favorites. Don't discount this song due to the extreme contrast it poses to the rest of the disc or their previous material. Give it a shot, you might just like it.
Summary: Hook Me Up is a well-crafted and immensely enjoyable dance pop album and should continue The Veronicas reign as the reigning pop band. A winner.
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