Tag: British rock

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2001: #21 Embrace “Wonder”

<< #22    |    #20 >>

I remember West Yorkshire-based five-piece, Embrace (not to be confused with the hardcore punk band of the same name) breaking on to the scene just as Britpop was on the wane. Their debut album, “The good will out”, blended the stadium ready trad rock of Oasis with the grandiose, orchestra compatible sound of The Verve’s “Urban hymns”. So, yes, it was big. And their sound, combined with their honest, almost to the point of trite sounding songwriting, created just as much animosity towards them as it did fans. For my own part, I had drunk the Britpop kool-aid years before so, of course, I loved it.

“Drawn from memory”, the second album by the band, was a lot more toned down and stripped back and I’m not sure if it was that or the continuing Britpop backlash but it did nowhere as well as the debut. For their third album, the brothers McNamara and company tried to mix the best of what worked for the first two albums and it resulted in what I think is their least successful work. However, “If you’ve never been” is not without its bright spots. In my opinion, “Wonder” is definitely one of these.

If you’ve never listened to the group before, you might listen to the song and think: “Man, these guys are riding the coattails of Travis or Keane or early Coldplay”. In actuality, it was the other way around. Much like other songs that could be tersely termed ‘adult alternative’, “Wonder” is inoffensive music that cannot quite be slid into pop territory. It’s big but not too big, espousing a singalong feel and foot tapping beat. And its got this guitar effect that sounds like its moving back and forth between your earphones, almost willing you to sway your head back and forth and mouth the “la la la”s on the bus commute to work.

Yeah. It’s that kind of song. Perfect for a hump day like today.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2001 list, click here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: James “Seven”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: James
Album Title: Seven
Year released: 1992
Year reissued: 2017
Details: Double LP, Black vinyl, 180 gram

The skinny: On their fourth album, James followed their breakthrough with more of what made the previous album so successful, albeit with a bigger palette. Not my favourite album of theirs by a long shot, falling off a bit after the first three tracks, but they are some incredible tracks indeed.

Standout track: “Ring the bells”

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1991: #30 The Real People “Open up your mind (Let me in)”

#29 >>

We start off this best tunes of 1991 list with a bit of an obscure number: “Open up your mind (Let me in)” by The Real People.

I first heard this song while VCR recording music videos off City Limits, the old late night alternative music show on MuchMusic. This was a regular past time for me and my friend/foster brother Elliott. Every Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday morning, we would be in the basement at the TV, each of us with a video tape at the ready, vying to see who would record the next video for later viewing and reviewing. I can’t remember which of us got this particular video, probably Elliott, but we both loved the song, it fitting in with a lot of the music we were getting into at the time. I never really explored much of their other material until years later, when I found a copy of their self-titled debut in a used CD shop on Queen street in Toronto, but Elliott would get a copy much sooner. I distinctly remember seeing it on his racks within a year or two at most, on a fateful day, later named Tremolo day in infamy (definitely a story for another post), when I stopped by his apartment with Andrew Rodriguez, who had left some stuff there the night before.

The Real People were formed in Liverpool in 1988 by brothers, Chris and Tony Griffiths, and were signed to Columbia a year later. Unfortunately, that aforementioned debut album was their only released long player for the label. They had recorded a sophomore album, from which a couple of singles were released, but the actual album, “Marshmallow lane”, didn’t see the light for over two decades. The brothers continued to be active, however, releasing music independently in the latter 90s and early 00s, and cultivating a healthy cult following in the process. They were also quite instrumental in Oasis’s early years (yes, THAT oasis), helping record and performing on a number of their demos, songs that eventually found their way on a certain “Definitely maybe”.

“Open up your mind (Let me in)” was The Real People’s fourth ever single and second released off their debut. It’s a bit dated now, definitely being of its place and time, but being the nostalgic sort that I am, I still love it to pieces. The drums are baggy acid house and the reverb guitar effects hint at shoegaze. The vocals range from sounding like Bono to The Beatles to Peter Gabriel. It’s a fun and bouncy track and there isn’t anything wrong with that at all. Cheers!

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.