by negative1 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:17 am
so tom bailey is back, after a long break being in babble,
and earlier the thompson twins.
so what will this sound like, although the two sample songs
out there already give a good idea. it's nice to hear the songs
in the order presented.
i'm a middle era thompson twins fan, i liked sidekicks and quickstep,
and here's to future days, into the gap was ok, i don't like the early albums,
and i don't like their latter albums. the babble albums were decent, because i liked techno.
so i looked forward for quite some time, after hearing tom bailey was touring
last year, and had played and recorded some new songs for an upcoming album.
well, it finally got released. oddly, or maybe more appropriate, it's more
of a tom bailey solo album, than an actual thompson twins album.
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Science Fiction
CD 1
1. Science Fiction - midtempo song, nice electro sounds in background,
i like it when it picks up to the chorus, and it's one of my favorite
topics.
it has the classic whoah-oh-oh thompson twins sound in it.
great keyboards, and drums.
overall, a great intro for the album.
2. What Kind of World - a midtempo funky latin sounding song, definitely
has that early thompson twins sound to it. it was one of the prerelease
songs, so you probably heard it before the album came out.
i like the guitar work on it, and the upbeat lyrics. another good song
with a cheery chorus.
the only problem i have with it, are the non-english lyrics, which don't
fit in at all.
there is a promo cd single with an edit on it, maybe that version is more
concise.
3. Shooting Star - a downtempo moody sounding song. a very simplistic
rhyme, and chorus in the lyrics.
it's got a good break, and then picks right up with the second half.
all the way up to a slow segue into the final chorus. again, shades
of classic twins sound, like the kind in 'hold me now', but a little
more uptempo. at the end there's a lot of yelling 'hey hey' going
on that seem out of place.
an average song.
4. Feels Like Love to me - another song that was pre-release. i like this one a lot.
it's another slow to midtempo song. toms vocals are great on it. the lyrics are very
good to it. lots of longing, and descriptive tones throughout it.
of course the strings are a great touch, with the subdued backups on them.
this song sounds like it would have been a great sequel to 'long goodbye',
from the lesser known album 'close to the bone'.
5. Blue - a very slow ballad song. tom is doing a bare bones song here,
with some basic drums, and piano, with a few keyboards also.
it does pick up by the second chorus, and adds some strings that enhance it
a bit. but returns back the slower tempo afterwards. i do like this part a lot.
this song doesn't do much for me. but it might go over well on adult
contemporary type stations.
6. If You Need Someone - a midtempo synth track. lots of keyboard stabs,
over a click track. this song is almost latin in style, like salsa beats.
it gets to the chorus very quickly, and plays up the beat some more.
there is a cowbell breakdown for the middle section, before the last
section, which adds some strings to the mix. there's even some
retro handclaps thrown in for good measure.
a fun, light track. i enjoyed the change of pace with this one.
7. Ship of Fools - a slow tempo song. i was envisioning the slow version
of another song, much like the erasure track of the same name.
however, this song, is one in the same vein, along with the naval theme
in the lyrics. there is some interplay between guitars, keyboards,
and a very light drum track.
i don't hear much variation throughout the song, and there's a part
with what sounds like some whistling going on. not sure whats up with that.
most of these songs are very short, so there's not really much depth
or time to change up during the song.
again, an ok song.
8. Work All Day - a very basic midtempo song. this could be a sequel
to 'you take me up' in theme. the whole working and what are you going
to do lyrics are there.
i do here some additional female backups going on, but not like alannah's though.
there's a lot of vocal dubs, and effects going on throughout the song too,
maybe too many. it gives the song a very gimmicky feel to it. average overall.
9. Bring Back Yesterday - a midtempo rock track. nice title, and lyrics,
maybe even some wishful thinking for the artist. although i don't think
tom really wants to go back to his heyday.
i like his vocal work here, and there's a lot more range in the song giving
it a lot more variety than most of the other songs so far. the song also
has a lot of backing vocals going on to, to retain a similar style to the
twins early albums.
10. Come So Far - a slow ballad. well, the final track has a familiar sound to it.
but it's what basically closes out a twins album.
a nice, sentimental ballad, much like 'sisters of mercy', but in this case,
a little more somber, and pensive. very delicate backup vocals on it,
and a pseudo-string sounding guitar throughout it.
a quiet, contemplative song to finish the album on. it's ok, but a little
too subdued for me.
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overall , a good return to form for tom bailey.
it's a good album, but not great. for a solo outing, it doesn't
stray too far from what we expect. there's a few highlights on it,
but the rest could just some additional sounds, and better lyrics on them.
if i were to rate it out, i would give it 3/5 stars.
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it's not challenging enough, or different enough from their other
works to make it stand out. it has modern production values on it,
but doesn't break any new ground.
for anyone that likes the mid era thompson twins sound, the will like it.
its missing any kind of coherent theme or 'sound', like their 3 main
albums from the 80's were.
it's obscure enough that pop fans might like a few tracks off it, but its
probably going to only make a dent with fans of retro music, and those
that follow bands they used to like.
maybe with some promotion and publicity it will do better. its hard to
promote tom bailey, without bringing up the thompson twins. i don't think
this album would fit in with their catalog, so it's probably better being
a solo album.
i know tom bailey is touring, and he will probably play a few songs
from it live. hopefully, he won't wait this long in the future to
keep working on new material.
later
-1