9. Field Music – ‘Commontime’

Numero 9!

This week has been great!
Started reading a new book (‘Off To Be The Wizard’ by Scott Meyer) and it’s awesome!
And while I’ve been reading, I’ve been listening to an equally awesome album!

This one:

This is ‘Commontime’ by Field Music.

I must admit, I’ve never heard of this band. I only got this album because dad read about them in MOJO magazine as this was their album of the month!
Not too shabby – bet that boosted sales! (of the CD, not the magazine….but you never know!)

Dad listened to it and immediately bought it. Which is the exact reaction I would’ve had! It’s great!
So it’s brilliant that the artwork was so cool – very retro, and I love it! (and nothing to do with a field, which I appreciate because that could’ve been too easy).

It’s a mixture of familiar sounds and genres, but really refreshing and original at the same time.

To start with is a track called ‘The Noisy Days Are Over’

It starts with someone shouting something inaudible. “EARNING YOUR AIR!!!” “BURING YOUR HAIR!!” “EEERRRIIINNNGGG UUUU EEEERRRR!”

No idea…

Anyway, the music then starts – bass driven with just simple drums and little twiddles on guitar. It’s quite a funky vibe right up until the vocals come in. Which aren’t very funky…
But it makes up for it because the vocals are great! He reminds me a bit of the singer from The Shins but a bit less raspy. He actually reminds me a lot of a friend of mine; David Brown – singer in A Light Left On. Very clean and pronounced, and it sounds like warm caramel is being poured straight into my ears without the nasty stickiness or possible long-term damage.

The whole song is extremely catchy, and very feel good!

“The noisy days are over, and here we are instead. Why don’t you get to bed like everybody else?”

Also – interestingly, this band isn’t well known. So none of their lyrics are on the internet. So instead of doing my usual listening to the song, hearing a great line and then copying it off the net and pasting it in here – I have to type very quickly along to the music. So I’m hoping I don’t get any wrong!!

Next up is ‘Disappointed’

It starts very slow jazzy. Very bow-chicka-wow-wow!
But it only lasts for 15 seconds until it dies out and is replaced by bass and a nice little “aaa-one, two, three, four” before drums and vocals come in.

“This has been going on so long I can’t believe it. I made mistakes at the start and it seems you can’t forgive them.”

Piano then comes in, just playing simple chords.
This is another example of brilliant vocals and quite simple music playing along to it, gradually building up, getting to the crescendo….and then they do something I LOVE. They almost stop. And it goes back down to drums and bass with vocals and backing vocals and it’s delicious!

“If you want this to be more, then you’ve got to let me know. But if you want me to be right every time you’re gonna be disappointed.”

Also also! The backing vocals on the word ‘disappointed’, the ‘..appointed’ has such a smooth low harmony and it’s great!

I love having bits in songs that I can actually sing – having a low voice as I do, it’s rare to find something that I can match pitch with easily! And believe me, I’ve had this CD in my car all week and I kill it when it gets to ‘appointed’!

Then suddenly, it stops. This is a sad moment. Because it’s an amazing song.
Luckily, I don’t need to carry a pencil around with me to wind it back! So I can listen to it again!!

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending if you like it as much as I do), you don’t need to listen to me listening to the song 10 times in a row.
So we’ll move on!

Next is ‘But Not For You’.

This has a creepy start, with synth and keyboard with weird notes until the drums come in as well as a piano. So we have a synth, keyboard AND piano all going at once. Rick Wakeman eat your heart out!

I don’t know if I like this song. It’s quite repetitive, especially with the ‘there’s-a-possessed-axe-murderering-doll-dressed-as-a-shark-coming-up-behind-you’ keyboard notes.

It’s very different to the previous 2 songs - and isn’t as upbeat, funky or happy. And it’s just a bit of a bland song. Even with bongos and fairground ‘whiiiizzzzz’ noises – it just doesn’t compete with the first 2 songs.

But if this is the worst they can do – bring on the rest of the album!

Next is ‘I’m Glad’.

This one is back upbeat again – and starts off quite ska-pop. With its great constant slow drum rolls to replace a boring straight beat, along with jabbing guitar notes and bass accenting the beats….and this goes on for longer than I think it should.
Until finally the vocals come in – but the music sounds exactly the same – just playing the same riff over and over. It’s very repetitive, even though they throw in a couple of bars which are different, it’s still the same structure throughout.
Which is a shame, because all the other songs changed around a lot! There is a couple of bits where it dies down completely, but they only last a couple of seconds.

“Baby, don’t you feel good? Baby feels good, doesn’t everyone? Darling what did we do?”

Then, to finish off the song, at the end they’ve put a weird and out of time drum roll…it sounds like the drummer played it with string attached to their arms which were controlled by their 2 young kids. (I have no idea if they have kids or not, but that’s the only explanation I can think of!)

I actually think that’s all I can say about this song…..
It’s just not got a lot going for it. I feel it’s a song they ran out of time on, and needed another track on the album so just put it in to fill a space.
Let’s hope they only had 1 space to fill!!

‘Don’t You Want to Know What’s Wrong?’ is next.

This is better!
Plus, it follows on from the last song in a nicer way – this one starts with a much better drum part. So listening to the album in order sounds like the drummer had a heart attack and then recovered within 3 seconds to start drumming again.
The song’s quite Earth, Wind & Fire – but not quite as full.
EW&F fit in a lot of instruments – and especially love their horn section and funky bass – and this song at least has the funky bass!

“Time for you to work your brain. Time to choose to take it seriously.”

Unfortunately, this song is also quite repetitive in places, but it does die down and introduces a bit of keyboard, and a guitar solo. So basically…it’s the same old stuff. Not really that exciting, and quite predictable.
That is, until it gets to a German trance music piece for 10 seconds. It sounds like the band are at the other end of the channel tunnel, and all you can hear is a very muffled, bassy mess. But it adds something different!

But beyond that – this album has started to get very repetitive. Which is a sad realisation.

Next up is ‘How Should I know If You’ve Changed?’.

This one starts very Primal Scream-y, but then turns typically Field Music. That’s right, I used their own name to describe their music. It’s going to be my new go-to comparison if an album has a bunch of songs which are repetitive and all sound very similar.
It’s just the same jabbing electric guitar, funky bass and drums. I know they’re a band, and a band can only be so big. But they could’ve made the songs more varied!

Looking back at the previous songs now, they’re all very same-y but the vocals are the main part that breaks up that repetitiveness. I guess in the past 3 songs the vocals haven’t been that strong, or have all been very similar.

Let me just quickly see what the rest of the album sounds like…be right back!

Ok back!

Right, it seems like I’m in the awkward middle section where they just throw in additional songs that they recorded quickly and didn’t put much thought into – but the rest of the album changes!
Finally! No more jabbing guitar, funky bass and straight drums!...well, there’s a bit. But it actually changes!

This is very good news, because I was about to throw in the towel if the rest of the album was just the same stuff.
After all, we’re not even half way yet!

Next up – and fingers crossed it’s good!
‘Trouble at the Lights’.

This one starts off very slow and quiet, and pretty much stays that way, but with a few guitar parts, drums and bass coming in at points.
I like the build-up they do for the chorus. It’s a typical gradual build, just BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! But then it stops and lets the vocals lead it with a brilliant belting voice

“Trouble at the lights. Trouble at the lights. Trouble at the liiiiiigggghhhhhtssss!”

I’m so glad this song saved the album – because this one is brilliant. Whether that’s because the last 3 songs took quite a bit of effort to write about – not that I wrote a lot, but that’s the reason why!
I love having songs where they’re so good, I can actually go off on a rant and talk about something completely different!
And this song is long, so I can do it for longer than normal! To be exact, it’s 5 1/2mins long.

But half of that is a brilliant instrumental solo! With very simple drums and bass going along below it and then guitar doing a nice little riff – but then howling vocals coming in at points – right up until the guitar takes over and does its own little solo, which is right up my street!

Then to end, they play the same chord 25 times (I counted). It’s a bit like “ok, so when’re you gonna end?” and then it does.

Next – ‘They Want You to Remember’

This is a complete change. It sounds happy, but I have a feeling the lyrics aren’t meant to be. And that’s the trouble of not having lyrics available. Because it’s sometimes very difficult to understand what they’re singing – and not just the meaning. The word. I can pick out most of them, but there’ll be a word half way through a sentence that I can’t make out – which then means I can’t really write that on here…

“They want you to remember, how you….cried?...and though it has to…something something…want you to remember her.” See….it then looks like those are the actually lyrics!

The music itself is a bit boring again. Up until it does a weird transition into synth-rock, with laser sounds and pounding drums with violins playing over the top….which is all very weird. But that’s how it ends.

It just goes full on Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Ok, I can sense most of you are confused. But bear with me. Far Cry 3 is a video game set on a tropical island somewhere. That’s not important, but what is important is the game is realistic. You buy/steal guns and go around shooting bad guys to try and take the island back. It’s all very normal and believable (apart from the whole taking on a tiger and winning….).
But then, as a bit of fun, the developer released an expansion called Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. This took a normal looking game, with realistic guns and animals, and basically added Tron to it.
They made everything neon – guns shot lasers – bad guys had neon blood– huge neon dragons ran around (they were the under-appreciated land dragons without wings). But these also shot lasers out of their mouths.
Your character was also pretty much Terminator. With a metal arm and half a metal face and some very stylish sunglasses.
They took a normal game, and went all out on it and made it extremely 80’s!
And all I can say is it’s an awesome expansion – and I feel like this little 40 second ending is a bit like they just wanted to have a bit of fun with it!

Next up – ‘It’s a Good Thing’……..we’ll see.
Ok – they have bongos.

10/10

5*

Quite good.

This one is yet again very funky. But still quite repetitive. Like, it starts in the same way as it continues. The first 2 songs started in 1 way, and then quickly changed to something completely different – and it was great!

I’d even go and listen back to them now but my iPod’s running low on battery and I worry trying something like that will just kill it – when will we have wind powered things? I want a little fan on the top of my iPod and phone and other battery powered things, and then if it’s running low I can give it a quick blow and charge it. I might pass out before it gets enough power, but it’d be worth it!

Or, take the technology out of self-winding watches. Mines self-winding. It winds the watch whenever I move my wrist/hand around – so why couldn’t the same thing work to wind a dynamo?

Come on people. Invent something like that!

I don’t care if it’s the size of a brick, just as long as it charges itself!

Anyway, back to the song – it’s again, quite repetitive. They sing “It’s a good thing” god knows how many times – but I feel it’s about 20 times too many.

‘The Morning is Waiting’ is next.

This one’s certainly different.
It’s just piano, string section (violins & cello) and vocals.
It’s nice!

No funky bass. No jabbing guitar. No drums (to begin with at least…they do come in a bit later, but it’s just to build up the song for the crescendo...which happens drastically).
The end pretty much just stops.
Ok, shut up…I worded that badly. What I mean is it’s a drastic stop. It feels like it should keep going but it just flies straight off the edge – full on Thelma & Louise style. No hesitation, no slowing down.

This song has a bit of a national anthem feel to it. No idea why. But I feel like the words could be replaced by a national anthem and it would fit.

Probably not ANY national anthem….I guess it’s just because the music follows the vocals….I don’t know. I think I’m losing it again.

But I’m almost finished! Only 3 more songs to go!

So let’s get a move on!
‘Indeed It Is’ is, indeed, next.

I don’t like this one.

I can tell that straight away.

It has very George of the Jungle drums and weird electronic screeches. It just seems a bit messy, and not finished. The beginning would be happy as the song on the opening credits of a 70’s cop show.
It’s not exactly Starsky & Hutch, but it just has that feel!

The rest of the song wouldn’t fit to any program intro……..don’t know if that means anything, but TV show opening credit songs are usually brilliant!
To name a few, the opening songs for Chuck, Orphan Black, Misfits, Friends…Hell, even The Big Bang Theory!

They’re all great songs! And in fact, the opening song in Chuck made me buy 4 of that bands albums. Said band is called Cake and the song is ‘Short Skirt, Long Jacket’ and they’re awesome! They did a cover of ‘I Will Survive’, and I’d highly recommend going and giving it a listen!

Ok, my iPod just skipped to the next song, and all I want to do now is write about it!

Next is ‘That’s Close Enough For Now’.

It starts off normal enough – just guitar playing a nice little riff. But then finger clicking and cheek hitting starts.
Then a full on percussive troupe start up. Stamping feet, clapping, cheek hitting, finger clicking, that thing where you put a finger in your mouth and then make a popping sound. You know…”Pop *finger-mouth pop* goes the weasel”. That. All along with the guitar and vocals.

But then, it slows down into a nice little groove where real instruments take over….but not for long. It soon speeds up and goes back into the body percussion, this time joined by the string section.
But then…and I love this part!
It dies down once again, same as last time. But this time, there’s a solo.

A FREAKING KAZOO SOLO! (or at least it sounds like a kazoo…and it makes me 50x happier thinking it’s a kazoo).
It’s so good! It’s like an overdriven electric kazoo which sees out the song as the music all fades out.

That part was worth the wait of the past songs! It’s sooo awesome!

Right, nearly there! Come on iPod battery!

‘Same Name’ is next.

This is another samey one. They definitely have their own sound – but there’s 4 or 5 songs on this album which don’t live up to the rest of them!

It’s a shame really, because it makes the whole album a bit worse in my eyes. But then not every album is perfect. There’s always a song or 2 that is used to fill a space. But to have 4 or 5 of them? It’s a bit too much for me.

Bugger – iPod died.

Hmm….

Ok, let’s hope they’re on Youtube!

THEY ARE!

Ok, continue with the review!

I just feel like this song could’ve been better. It’s very simple, and doesn’t have much soul and isn’t that fun to listen to – you can’t really dance around to it, and it hasn’t got a hook to sing along to.

One thing I do like is it stops half way through. Like, a proper “this is the end of the song” kinda stop. But then it’s all like “actually nah – let’s keep going”. It’s completely unnecessary, but at least it adds a bit of texture.

You may have noticed I’ve stopped writing lyrics. That’s because it got to the point where I couldn’t make out the lyrics to write them. He has a nice voice, but it’s quite high pitched at times, and isn’t perfectly pronounced.

Finally! Last song!
‘Stay Awake’

At least they’re ending strong! It has a great build up right off the bat, and then changes to something completely different and very cut back.
It’s very much like the first 2 songs, but only because of the structure. The songs themselves are different. Different chords, couple of different instruments. Different…words. And they’re named differently…… So yeah. Different.

You know I said they’re ending strong? Yeah, I spoke too early. This one’s also rather repetitive. But it also reminds me a lot of Ok Go – I think it’s his voice more than anything. It’s also his voice that makes the repetitive songs different. Without the vocals, they’d probably all sound very similar. But it’s the small differences that add up.

Altogether, I think the album is great. But only because of a few songs.
When I was working with Fern on her album, I learned that it’s best to put 2 strong songs as tracks 1 & 2, because gig bookers, radio stations, etc will listen to those and immediately decide if they like it or not. I think Field Music did this, and it worked on me.
I went in with the belief that it was going to be an awesome album and that I’d love it. But after listening to it for 2 weeks – the review actually took me 2 weeks to do because I couldn’t think of what to write. For the first 2 songs the words flowed out no problem. But then I started to struggle.
However, the first 2 songs – are awesome!

I will definitely continue to listen to those, as well as a couple of others. However, the others I’ll probably skip over. It’s a shame – but they just don’t click with me.

There – it’s over – sorry for the lack of jokes and details. I was running out of time, and the album didn’t unlock any passion for me. Either that or I’ve had writers block for a week and a half…

Do you agree/disagree with anything I said? Like / dislike the review? Any constructive criticisms? Please leave a comment below! Would love to hear from you. Also, if you have any recommendations of albums I should listen to and review (as long as the artwork is awesome), let me know.

Thanks for reading, keep tuned for the next blog.

I will be reviewing a random single! I’ll have 1 day to write the review, so won’t be able to do a full album. However, regular service will continue next time!

Don’t forget to check out my website, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube below.

I’m doing these blogs alongside my better half; Fern Teather – she is listening to a new albums (doesn’t matter about the artwork, she’s trying to expand her musical knowledge and listen to new artists!). She’s also keeping a blog, and it’s nowhere near as long as this one, so go give it a read!!
Check it out here: 52-albums.blogspot.com

Byyyye!

Sam

www.bongoboy.co.uk
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