Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back on form, June 17, 2008
Like the other review said the first album was very good, but the second CD was a big let down. Now this new one is by far and away their best to date. I had given up after the second one and thought here is just another band that got lucky with first album never to return to form like so many others....I was Big time wrong about that.!! From the first time I listened to this I loved it. If you are a fan of the post punk, angular guitar sound with great melody and liked at all their first, this is very very good. I would go so far as to say this is the best album I bought so far this year, and I buy a lot of music. Plus unlike so many CD's that have maybe 2 or 3 good songs, almost every single song is classic Futureheads, which means brilliant. This should be called the chorus album, because almost every song has a killer chorus....You will NOT be dissapointed if you like to jam and liked their first.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
We've never met but we've never been apart, June 3, 2008
The Futureheads were energetic and infectious in their first album. Their second... not so much. It was more serious and downbeat, and just not as endearing.
So honestly I had no idea what "This is Not The World" would sound like, and whether they would return to Album No. 1's sound, or stick to their guns now that they have their own label. Well, the Futureheads don't take us anywhere new, but their raucously energetic third album strikes a solid balance between their two sounds, with perhaps a greater reliance on their older wildness.
It kicks off with a whirling riff and solid drums, morphing into a driving, tightly-wound post-punk powerpop number. "It's time to wake up/It's time to change," Barry Hyde calls out over the energetic music. "Let's get it started/I feel like there's so much to rearrange!"
But the song takes a slightly more ominous turn soon after that, though the energetic melody doesn't slow down at all. "If memory serves/Then why am I still waiting for it to return?/My head feels like it's just about to slip..." Hyde rambles on. Sounds like somebody's going a little nuts in this song -- sounds like that is the "twist" that is felt and concealed.
They lose a tiny bit of momentum after that, but there's still plenty of that smashing, urgent energy in "Walking Backgrounds," and the driving powerpop of "Think Tonight" ("You will never find anyone to come along and take you by surprise/Because you've had too much to think tonight!"). And they have plenty in the songs that follow -- the tightly-wound powerpop of the title track, a blazing dark-edged rock'n'roll number, muscular riff-fests, angular fuzzy explosions of sound. That wild energy gets even more intense as they roar on to the ending of the album, and it leaves you a bit breathless.
Well, the album isn't quite perfect, alas -- "Hard To Bear" lives up to its name, being both too uneven and emo for my taste, especially with those odd country-rock moments. And "Radio Heart" tries to have post-punk's speed and energy and a ballad's poignancy, but achieves neither.
For the record: "This is Not The World" does not really take the Futureheads anywhere new, musically speaking. This album basically sticks to what the Futureheads have done best in the past, particularly in their first album -- wild, energetic powerpop with lots of rough-edged, catchy melodies and solid instrumentation. It's a bit more polished, with a few new twists to their music, but not radically different.
As for what it sounds like -- rough-edged, fun, dancey and loaded with solid hooks. These guy have a good handle on intertwining their instrumentation, and even the slower songs are nimble and solid -- driving riffs and blasts of fuzzy, powerful bass, backed by the beat of thumping drums. All three get tightly wound together like a rope, and blast by with the power of a smallish train -- but the Futureheads allow individual band members to shine occasionally. A razor-edged solo here, a growly bassline there.
And personally I think it sounds like Barry Hyde is having fun here -- he has a muscular laddish style, and yowls dramatically over the music as if daring the instruments to drown him out. His peppy demeanor is a bit of a contrast to what he's actually singing, since a bleak undertone runs through some of the lyrics ("Sometimes it feels like we are stabbing in the dark with nothing to say/But when the lights go out, see no hear no speak no evil").
And there are still some sweeter moments woven in there, usually related to love ("So I guess I've got nothing to lose at this request/I want a girl who doesn't like to dress to impress/A girl with a radio heart...") Okay, I didn't like the song overall, but the lyrics are adorable.
"This is Not The World" is pretty much what you'd expect from a Futureheads album -- fast-moving punky powerpop with a danceable edge. It adds nothing new to their sound, but it rarely disappoints either.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
wow, June 21, 2008
Really great energetic post-punk, powerpop, punk, britpop, whatever you wanna call it, from these Northern English dudes. If you've never heard them before, this is a great place to start.
I was disappointed to read other reviews on Metacritic that said this was just a powerpop record or something like that. I think this is a great follow up. Quick, short, and energetic songs make for a tons of fun - with typical great Futureheads lyrics to boot.
I can't say yet whether this is better than their debut LP but it is definitely better than their second album (which I also enjoyed).
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