|
|
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT Generic Crap, June 13, 2004
I'm a huge sucker for anything that's got some smooth vocals and huge guitars with creative and well thought-out solos. Hence my liking for bands like FUEL(heck yeah!!!), GOO GOO DOLLS, and TOOL, along with billions of others. Though the two former have no where near the scope and real majesty of the latter, they all write truly amazing songs. And I suppose now it`s time to add FORTY FOOT ECHO to the list. Now people, please don't be scared by their incredibly retarded name. Past that and the weird photos in the booklet, there's not much else to seriously complain about. I haven't often heard a cd where the music and the vocals compliment and re-enforce each other in the way that this one does. If you want an example of this band's sound, they`re sorta like a more `pop-ified' version of STAIND crossed with the GOOs, except without as much original thoughts of their own. So while these musicians don`t pull off anything overly, amazingly original, FORTY FOOT ECHO still manages to perform their music with conviction and energy, working perfectly with Murry Yate's great vocals and making it easy to forgive the rather generic musicality. Speaking of the vocals... ugh, I`m so torn with`em. I readily admit that his singing won't change the world. In fact, when I first got this disc, I sort of disliked his voice on most of the tracks. But that is mostly do to some of the poopie lyrics that he sings, rather than the quality of his voice. Thankfully, this has grown on me immensely, and though the singing melodies aren't the newest thing either, I've found that I don`t care. I can't get enough of it. Yates reaches his peak on almost every chorus on the disc. Each one sounds different and has a fantastic flow and rhythm and it just soars. Dude. These lyrics... at times they can be brilliant, but not enough times to make a difference. To be completely honest, they sound like the stupid kinda thing that I would write. Being the angst-ridden teen that I am, I try to write something that I feel is SO deep and beautiful... but then I read it and I realize it's just cheezy and unemotional ramblings. Thinking about it now, I suppose most will either love or not care about the lyrics anyway, so I'll just leave it at that. But it's on songs like `Brand New Day', a huge highlight track and easily the most radio-prepped song on the record, as well as the beautiful closer `Beside Me', that everything suddenly becomes near-perfection. It all comes together, from the lyrics to vocals to music, and creates something incredible. It's while I'm listening to those songs that I think, "Hey, this album it awesome." An those thoughts stay with me throughout the entire album. `Tomorrow' is easily the most fun and rockin' song on this disc, for those who simply love to ROCK OUT. `Long Way Down' is mention-worthy just because it's so brilliantly sung and played, even if it's got some of those lyrics that `I could've written.' But really, each song is worth listening to for their own unique reasons. Alright, I guess there IS a few things that I could complain about, mainly the fact that this band is a big fat ole' piece of generic plastic. I can't really say WHY I enjoy this band and all of it's unbridled unoriginality, because I don't rightly know. I just know that these guys capture my interest and my feelings when I listen to them. At least a little bit. And that's enough to make it among MY favorite generic crap YOU'LL ever have the honor of purchasing. Even if it's not quite a 4 star record.
|