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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dancin' On The Kitchen Tile..., May 17, 2006
What do you get when you cross The Beatles with The Beach Boys, and pepper them with influences from various rock acts throughout the three-and-a-half decades since? You get British pop/rock band McFly. While it's true that comparisons to those two landmark sixties groups have been doled out liberally over the years, very few groups have come this close to sounding like their direct musical descendants. This quartet of Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones (both on lead vocals and guitars), Dougie Poynter (bass) and Harry Judd (drums) seem to possess an uncanny natural gift for the vocal harmony, the instrumental melody, and the skilled tunesmithery that won The (Original) Fab Four such a massive and ardent fan base.
The album kicks off with "I Wanna Hold You", a rollicking power-pop love song with a string section (and SCORCHING guitar solo!) thrown in for good measure. Next up is "I've Got You", which sandwiches a crunchy-guitar chorus between subdued verses, and perhaps owes itself more to bands like Blink-182 than The Beatles. Then the album shifts into a lower gear with a pair of buoyant mid-tempo ballads, "Obviously" and "Ultraviolet", which more readily show their impressive song-crafting skills. The good songs don't stop there; the enchanting slow ballad "All About You" and the infectiously clever sing-along "That Girl" (the latter of which brings to mind Huey Lewis and the News) are two of my favorites, followed by the melancholy "Unsaid Things" and the irresistibly optimistic "I'll Be OK". Trading off on lead vocal duties, Fletcher's airy, slightly nasal timbre (reminiscent of Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong) provides a perfect contrast to Jones' huskier, more rugged voice.
This disc is actually a blend of the group's first two UK albums, with about 35% of the songs coming from their debut "Room On The 3rd Floor" and 60% from their second album "Wonderland", with one brand new song (the title track) included. While the two UK albums each have their own feel -- "3rd Floor" symbolizing the group's carefree adolescence, while "Wonderland" represents a more focused step toward adulthood -- and are both worth buying on their own merits, here they blend together quite nicely, offering arguably the most appealing songs from each import release, with only one of the "3rd Floor" tracks ("Five Colours In Her Hair") receiving a thorough sonic makeover, replacing the Monkees-like playfulness of the original version with a more raucous thrash. Chances are you'll never be compelled at any point in this album to hit the "next track" button, and the disc will be over long before you want it to be.
Don't dismiss McFly as a "boyband" just because they're good-looking young guys who play generally light music (and have landed a cushy tie-in promotion through a popular teen movie). The writing and instrumentation -- and above all, the innate talent -- are all their own. Give these guys the chance they deserve; you just might re-discover why "pop" music is so much fun.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good and enjoyable, but like THE BEATLES????, June 7, 2006
Or the Beach Boys??? Please. I agree, McFly (probably 100% named after the family name in the "Back To The Future" trilogy) are enjoyable and catchy, and their energy and exuberance makes them fun and likable, but that's it. These boys don't have the ART or uniqueness that places them in the same class as the Beatles and Beach Boys. If anything, they're closer to early Beatles and Beach Boys, IF those 2 forefathers never progressed any further than their original sound.
This record plays like a hits collection, with highlights from their 2 UK albums, 2004's "Room On The 3rd Floor" and 2005's "Wonderland", plus the new "Just My Luck" for the movie of the same name, all produced by UK legend Hugh Padgham, most famous for working with the Police and Genesis, & many others.
We'll see how the boys progress as a band and artists, but at times, their voices sound like a better boyband, like the Click Five, with harmonies just above cloying as on "Obviously", and musically, they're a bit like a better Blink 182, such as the UK #1 hit "Five Colours In Her Hair", but "Ultraviolet" is pretty damn good tune.
We'll see how they go, as McFly still have potential, but right now, they don't stand above similar pop/punk bands right now, but like I said, we'll see, and I do like them, as they are fun and have no pretense or ego.
There ya go, an honest review, and I too am old enough to be their dad.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow - The Best I've Heard In A LONG TIME!, June 4, 2006
I'm an American adult who has NEVER heard of McFly. I went to see Lindsay Lohan's movie "Just My Luck" and while the movie itself wasn't great, I really liked the guys who played the band McFly. I thought the songs were catchy and they were cute (I can say that, even if I'm older than them, right?) Anyway, I got home from the movie and went to Amazon to look them up and see if they were a real band - I ordered this CD that night and it's been in my car's CD player ever since! I LOVE the combination of melody/harmony with guitar (thank you for bringing back guitar solos!) - They're refreshing to me, it's been so long since I got excited by music - so I'm not a teen, but I do LOVE this band's music and can't wait to hear more from them! I TOTALLY recommend buying this CD if you love catchy, REAL music with good vocals. Great job, McFly! :o)
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