Number 11!
Why hello!
I’m gonna get straight into it – I’ve been
listening to the Band of Skulls
album; ‘Baby Darling Doll Face Honey’,
which I can say is the hardest album title to remember ever. The only way I can
remember it is because it’s in alphabetical order…which might be intentional….I
can imagine them all sitting down and reading down a list of names to call
women in the 20th century, and they read those in succession and thought
it sounded great.
Although I’m sure there’s more in between those.
Cutie, girl, gorgeous, female…see! Loads!
As for the artwork, I can see a rose, a goat and a
butterfly. Or a butterfly with a goats head with a rose for a brain. Or a fox.
I can see a fox too.
Or it could all be a scam, and everyone see’s different things no matter their
mood or tendencies – just like the real Rorschach tests! It’s like horoscopes,
and fortune cookies. They’re all things that suck people in to make them think
that ink blots, stars and Chinese children that are forced to work in sweat
houses can predict the future or something….
ANYWAY!
Moving on to the music.
The first song is ‘Light of the Morning’.
I love how this one starts!
It begins with a very subtle guitar chord, but then cuts to just vocals with
guitar following it, and then 2 bursts of sound from the band along to the last
word of the sentence….and I understand that’s quite hard to imagine, so I’ll
write it.
“I wanna see you in the MOR-NING, I wanna see you when the breaking day is DAW-NING.”
Then when that section of the song finishes, the rest of the
band comes in – mostly the drums (well, mostly the cymbals – which kind of take
over the song).
They have a very classic rock feel in between the verses. I
can just imagine them now – the guitarist and bassist sway side to side quickly
– a lot like The Beatles did, but a bit more aggressive. Meanwhile the drummer
is making good use of his 2 crash cymbals – one to the right, and one to the
left, and just playing them back and forth like he can’t make his mind which
one he prefers.
The song is about sex. Well…it’s about wanting sex by having
the desire to see someone in the morning. Unless they just want to go out for
coffee.
But this is a rock song…..so yeah. Sex.
It also has a slow finish, where the song stops and changes
to something completely different – and the absolute end sounds like it’s gonna
go into “Radar Love”.
Next up is “Death by
Diamonds and Pearls”.
Now, I’ve heard this song before – can’t remember where or
when. But I used to love it.
Probably because it’s very Raconteurs sounding – I think they could cover it
and no-one would be able to tell the difference to be honest!
It’s an awesome song – but then, I might be biased.
It starts with a really nice grungy-sounding guitar and then the drums and
vocals come in. It has a similar thing to the last song, where they seem to
have 2 bursts of sound from the whole band along to the last word of the
sentence. But nowhere near as prominent.
“She grew up in a nice
neighbourhood, but it didn’t do her no good. Cause she’s just a sum of her
influence, and I can’t tell you the difference, by the cracked windscreen on
her car, something is telling me you don’t know how lucky you are. You’re just
like the rest of those girls. They’re all death by diamonds and pearls.”
This song, as well as the last one, both have a lot of empty
space in them. There’s a lot of the song that’s just in between sounds and where
it goes completely quiet. Even if it’s only for a split second – there’s just
no underlying drone throughout. Which I love – because having drops are what
makes songs really fun to play and listen to!
Quite like the last song, this one also has an ending which
is different to the core of the song. But this is more of just a guitar solo
instead of changing the song completely, it just makes it feel a lot faster –
also, another reason why this sounds like The Raconteurs – that could easily be
a Jack White solo!
Next is “I Know What I
Am”.
This one took me by surprise, because it’s a complete change
from the last songs.
This time it’s a marching tune – with bass and drums thumping along while the
guitar makes nice little train sounds (chukka chukka). But the thing that
really stands out is the vocals – firstly comes the main male vocals that has
been in all the other songs. But then a female vocals comes in – and the 2
voices work really well together!
The chorus where they sing in unison is brilliant – especially
when it ends. The drummer appears to have gotten a bit carried away, starting
off a little drum roll and getting faster and faster until I can imagine the
singers giving him an evil look and forcing him to stop. It was of course
written in, but I prefer to think that it went like that!
“Gasoline,
saccharin, I got no reason for the state I’m in. But I know what I am, they
know what they are. So let me be.” “Hotel, Taco Bell, I got the hit that you
know damn well. But I know what I am, they know what they are. So let me be.”
They of course throw in a guitar solo for good measure, and
then the vocals come back in but overlap each other a bit – and the guitar
sounds like something you’d play on Guitar
Hero, where if you miss the beat it makes the song sound dreadful. I also really
like the ending, where it just slows right down and fades out in a drone of a
pulsing guitar.
Next – “Fires”.
This is the song that they got their album title from.
Literally the first line is “Baby darling
doll face honey. No I don’t mean to cause you worry. It’s only hands in my
pocket and the Queen on my money.”
After a quick
Google – I learn they’re an English band – which is awesome! It’s just a great
feeling to know awesome music is still coming out of England. Although the only
reason why I wanted to know was because of the ‘Queen on my money’ line – after
all, I think there’s a couple of Queens still ruling in the world….although I
use the term ‘ruling’ lightly. The Queen of England doesn’t really have a say
in anything – I’d actually be very interested what would happen if she said she
wanted to wage war on France. Would it actually happen? Probably not. I imagine
there’s a team of people who make sure she doesn’t say stupid things like that
– and then a team of people who tell her what to say. They call themselves
‘advisors’, and I’m sure in the past if they ever advised against the Queen, that’d be the last anyone saw of them. But
now-a-days, the Queen just does as she’s told.
Mind you, if this is the last review I ever post, you’ll
know why. God save the Queen and all that.
OH YEAH – the song, that’s why I’m writing this. Ok.
It starts off like they’re gonna suddenly stop and shout “FLASH! AHHHHHH!”, but they don’t. It instead
goes into the line I wrote before I started to insult the Queen.
“We are fires in the
night.”
This one also has quite a bit of empty space, but not as
much as previous songs – because the bass is being played quickly in the
background so that fills any spaces between the drums and guitar. And those are
the only instruments. There’s only 3 of them – guitarist/singer, bassist/singer
and a drummer/no vocals.
For just 3 people, they have a brilliant loud sound, but
also intricate at the same time. Plus, unlike previous albums, these songs
don’t sound exactly some other song I’ve listened to. I mean, yes, they’re
either influenced by The Raconteurs or this album just happens to sound very
similar. It’s not as chaotic as The Raconteurs, but it’s just the sound they
have.
Next song – ‘Honest’
This one caught me a bit off guard. But in a good way.
It’s very quiet to start, and has beautiful female vocals with male harmonies –
with really nice picked guitar and simple bass and drums. It’s a really nice
change from the more upbeat start to the album, and they’ve accomplished it
really well, gradually getting slower in each song.
“You gotta be honest,
you gotta be guarded. Sure I’m gonna say. Right on the inside that is the
hardest, the hardest game to play. You sorted it all out and managed to slip
through the night into the day. Life and the soul do you ever get lonely? I’m
gonna take you on.”
With the previous songs, they’ve all had hints of Raconteurs
– as you probably realised. This one however, is completely stand-alone. I
can’t think of 1 band that this sounds like – which is rare, and makes this
song very special.
I mean, obviously, I don’t have a very wide musical spectrum…so this probably
sounds like a couple of bands, but it’s nearly impossible to write anything
completely original now-a-days unless it sounds utterly crap. It just seems
like all the good songs and styles have been taken, so all you can do now is
try and not completely rip them off while at the same time stealing some of
their ideas.
Or, if you want to write a pop song, take a really good song
and go full on karaoke on it, but throw in some wubs and unnecessary raps.
‘Patterns’ is
next.
It almost bleeds into the previous song, with a low drone
coming from the end of that song into the start of this one, and then the dirty
bass and drums come in! Sounding very Bloody
Royal.
After a couple of bars of that it dies down a bit and the
vocals come in. And speaking of stealing other song - They’re singing a well
known nursery rhyme…apparently. My girlfriend informed me it’s ‘One for Sorrow’ – a song about magpies.
Learn a new thing every day!
They sing it with the same words as the original, up until
number 8.
For those of you who don’t know how it goes, it’s ok. I can help.
“There’s one for the sorrow,
and two for the joy. Three for the girls and four for the boys. There’s five
for the silver and six for the gold, seven for the secrets that are never to be
told.”
It’s then supposed to
go “Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss,
ten for a bird you must not miss.” But instead, this version goes like so: “There’s eight in the river and nine in my
head, and ten of the worst kind
sleeping in my bed.”
Later in the song they sing it over again, but change the
words for some a bit more…grown up. Although the whole song sounds a bit
menacing – they’ve made it quite dark and gothic sounding – not exactly metal,
but also not exactly rainbows and unicorns…or magpies in this case.
I believe, because it’s a nursery rhyme, the copyright laws
are different. It depends when it was written, but most are in public domain
because they were written so long ago and the writers are long gone, or no-one
can prove where they originated.
It was actually only recently that a judge declared that ‘Happy Birthday To You’ should be in
public domain. Before then it was technically copyright to sing it in public
without paying to use it – so TV programmes couldn’t use it without paying.
(Little behind the scenes bit here – I was just thinking of putting “How crazy is that?!” after that
sentence, but I decided not to because this is a serious blog…and comedy that
bad will not be a part of it. No matter how ‘cray-cray’
something is.)
Oh, and for those of you who don’t get my humour. That was
meant to be a joke. Cray-cray right?!
NEXT!
‘Hollywood Bowl’
Starting off sounding a lot like The Zutons (Finally – a band without Jack White in!) with strumming and ‘hey!’s.
This is another song with both male and female lead vocals, changing between
verses. I love this kind of music with any voice, but especially female lead
vocals. Very Dead Weather (I need to
stop referring to bands with Jack White in….unfortunately, I don’t know any
more. AND WHY WOULD I NEED TO?! Mr White is brilliant!)
The music is back to being quite upbeat, although it’s quite
simple through the verses, only building up afterwards – there’s no choruses in
the song, just 2 verses (1 male and 1 female) and a few heys and ohs.
There’s a few really nice guitar
string noises, held notes and controlled feedback throughout the song – they’re
really subtle, so normal people wouldn’t pick up on them, but they add to the
sound on an unconscious level.
“Because you sold your soul at the Hollywood Bowl.”
That’s the last line of the song,
and they sing it like they’re a broken record – slowing down in a weird timing
before going off into another bar of music and then finishing again!
‘Bomb’ is up next.
Starting with the ticking of
a…well, probably a bomb. But it just sounds like an egg timer – especially when
they crank it round. But they then stuck to the same timing as its ticking,
which I really like! It’s a clever way of finding a time signature somewhere
and writing a song around it. Unfortunately, I fear they may have sped it up a
bit, unless their egg timer ticks out of time, which is always a possibility!
If their eggs are never cooked properly, that’d explain why!
“All that you do, all that you say. Ticking time bomb is ticking away.
You can’t stay home or go away. Ticking time bomb is ticking away.”
They also build up with the whole
band (plus a couple of extra sounds that aren’t from them – I can hear a really
subtle glockenspiel in there somewhere. But after building up it cuts back to
just the ticking and a filthy sounding guitar which is playing a simple riff.
I get this funny feeling that
they wrote this while they were high and one of them had a craving for noodles
– and set a timer so they wouldn’t forget. But then one of others heard this
ticking coming from somewhere and they all freaked out thinking there was a
bomb in their kitchen.
They then found it was coming from a small egg timer, so threw it out the
window and then the noodles caught on fire because they forgot they were
cooking them in the chaos and burnt the house down killing everyone in side.
That’s why they’re called Band of SKULLS!
DUN DUN DUUUUN!
Next up, just like my previous
theory, is ‘Impossible’.
I mean, how can a skeleton play drums? Or anything for that
matter. Even if they could move around, they have no muscles – so actually couldn’t move around, let alone play an
instrument. Now THAT is impossible.
This song sounds quite U2-ish. Marching drums, high pitched
guitar and droning bass. It’s a very stadium sounding song. The vocals even
sound a bit like Bono!
That is until it gets to the chorus – it then changes to
more of a ‘stadium sing-a-long’ song. But not by U2….
It then has a brilliant line, which I feel I want the second
half tattooed somewhere:
“So cut my out of every
photo. Who would’ve thought of sinking so low? It’s impossible to be
invincible, but maybe it’s possible to be impossible!”
Of course, I won’t get it tattooed….I’m more of a “That
looks awesome!!” than a “I live by these lyrics” kinda man – unless those
lyrics are written by Jack White of
course….
“Blood” is next.
Starting off very bluesy. VERY bluesy!
Muted guitar and hi-hat cymbals – everything else then comes
in, with female vocals – staying very bluesy, but a bit heavier than it started
– most noticeably, with the bass following the vocals and not the rest of the
music – which adds an almost controlled sloppy feel to the song – which is a
great contrast, because all the other songs are very tight.
There’s then a moment where everything stops and it sounds like the guitarist
falls down a well, with his guitar, amp and power supply with him, playing a
wobbling chord until the drums come back in and pull him back out of the well.
Lucky for him really, because he has a great little solo
towards the end of the song – it’s very simple, but that’s exactly what the
song needed! Echoing guitar strings followed by a hint of over-drive and then A
LOT of over-drive in a second solo.
Gorgeous!
“I know you’re
bleeding baby, but you’re not bleeding blood.”
Lies.
I bet they’re bleeding lies. What else could it be?
Unless they’re bleeding their radiators….or they have a space around them for
the ink to bleed in to.
But that would be “I know you don’t have
a bleed baby.”
Or you know, they could actually be bleeding blood, and the
singer’s wrong.
Second to last is ‘Dull
Gold Heart’.
This has such a simple start – just slow guitar (which
sounds like something from Third Eye
Blind and 2 vocals. It could’ve stayed like that throughout and it would’ve
been brilliant, but then it got better!!
It did a transition from slow into fast, but it tricked me
into thinking it was going to go full out, but it died down again – just not as
far as when it started, but the drums and bass join in.
I’ve heard something like it on the song ‘Search
and Destroy’ by Skunk Anansie but
this one is nowhere near as violent, and doesn’t turn into a full on rock-metal
track!
It does this a couple of times throughout the song, teasing
that it will become something heavier. Until it does!
The guitar takes over and (over)drives it along, but everything else stays as
it was. Kinda feels like the guitarist wanted it to go loud, but no-one else
got the memo.
Still works though!
“Shot in the dark, I’ll
wait for you. Dull gold heart. I’ll wait.”
The song stays very much the same throughout, right until
the end where everything gets a bit more livelier and louder until the end
where it completely dies out and goes back to the same sound as the very start
of the song.
And finally – the last song.
‘Cold Fame’ (I
read it as ‘Cold Frame’ and thought it was going to be a song about looking
after plants on cold nights.)
This is a brilliant song – possibly one of my favourites on
the album. It’s long – just over 8 minutes in total. But it sounds great!
Starting with just droning guitar and drums, then there’s a little kick and the
guitar comes swinging in – really mellow and sounding great.
Then the bass and vocals come in and it finishes the whole sound off.
Going back to my previously successful ‘describing
a genre by telling you to close your eyes and imagine a scenario’ technique,
I’d say this reminds me of riding a bike through a flat field of wild flowers
on a beautiful summers evening, with pollen and seeds all flying into the air
behind me. I say I’m on a bike because it’s smoother and easier on my legs –
also I imagine moving along extremely smoothly, like I’m floating an inch above
the ground.
You know that Galaxy chocolate advert? Set in France, with
the bus and the pretty lady who then gets into that blokes car after stealing
the bus drivers hat? Well – as I found out from Fern, that’s entirely CGI! It’s
amazing!
But when you look back at it, right at the end she’s relaxing in the back of
the car, and the video stays completely still – that’s because there wasn’t a
camera needed, so they just drew it all straight.
Well – that’s what I want my bike ride through the field to be like.
The feel and music in this song actually reminds me a lot of
the Field Music album I listened to a
couple of blogs ago – it’s very similar, but there’s only 1 on this album!
Well, baby. That’s the end, darling. Don’t worry, doll face.
I like honey.
This is a superb album – and I will admit that I’ve been
listening to it on YouTube, but will go and buy it asap so I can listen to it
in the car constantly!
The different styles used without make it a joy to listen
to, and keep it fresh and kept me on my toes.
I know I compared them to Jack White quite a few times, and although there
appears to be a couple of likenesses – they’re very different, and in a
brilliant way!
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 ‘What a Pleasure’ by Beach
Fossils
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
See ya!
Sam
