If you have come to this review via a search of any kind, bravo for accomplishing the near-impossible. British band The Music is easily one of the most difficult bands on the face of the Earth to Google. Along with X and The The, The Music stump all search engines. Is the band worth all the effort? That remains to be seen, however their eponymous debut album has earned its fair share of airplay in the UK and a tiny bit even stateside. The Music may just be getting started, or they could fall off the planet in the foreseeable future.
Whether or not The Music as a band boasts a huge ego is of little doubt—they have dubbed themselves The Music because they intended on making the music that everybody loves, talks about, and buys. As with so many other British bands, the hype machine was well in action even prior to their 2002 release. After less than two years together, a popular DJ in England dubbed them “the best unsigned band in Britain.” The hype machine isn’t always right, so I never pay that much attention to what it spews. When the young band was signed by Capitol in 2002 it came as no surprise. It seemed as if maybe The Music may have an opportunity to become relevant.
Stuart Coleman (bass), Adam Nutter (guitar), Robert Harvey (vocals), and Phil Jordan (drums) came on the heels of the “The” band revolution. We had The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The Vines, and many others to make sense of. The Music added another facet with a slightly psychedelic feel and occasion dance-pop direction to their rock music which makes a comparison to The Verve much more appropriate. There are times when I really enjoy the album, but it seems that there are more times that I’m mildly annoyed by the whole thing. I mean, a band so confident as to call themselves The Music should at least be able to back it up with consistently decent quality tunes. No such luck here, folks…
In parts I’m inclined to listen and sometimes even appreciate what The Music has to offer. Take the Long Road and Walk It is an upbeat, driving, rump-shaking rock track. It certainly is among the best on the album and despite stretching on for nearly five minutes (length is a major issue with many of these songs) it perseveres and wins me over. For a moment, The Music is the band they intend to be. They are interesting and dynamic, cool and creative. However, the outstanding song I’ve just mentioned is sandwiched between the chaotic, abrasive, and uninteresting The Dance and the over-long, boring, and pointless Human which leads me to the argument that The Music is an incredibly inconsistent band. They don’t know who they are, how to actually make consistently decent music, or strike a lasting chord in listeners. The Music may just be a passing fad like so much that is spit out of the aforementioned hype machine.
By and large this album passes with little good of note. The bad, annoying, harsh, unmoving, and repetitive far outweighs the handful of songs that are palatable. Float is the second song on the album that does anything for me. Rather than leaning toward The Verve only as an influence it also tosses in a bit of The Cult with droning, semi-mystical arrangement that oozes a similar energy as Fire Woman. While Float is by no means on par with that classic, it is still worth hearing especially considering the pitiful quality of much of the rest of this disc.
The Music becomes less and less interesting as their album progresses. In the beginning I had so much hope for them. However by the mid-point of the release all hope is lost. Turn Out the Light is laced with hints of blues-rock, but in the end it comes off as a shallow re-envisioning of a bad 1980’s hair metal ballad. Harvey’s nasally, pitchy voice is the real problem. When paired with a slow electric guitar I’m left thinking he sounds almost identical to Tom Keifer (of Cinderella fame). It’s too bad that this kind of self-important wailing has been out of style for the past fifteen years.
While I haven’t found it necessary to really pay attention to The Music’s lyrics, I do know that the words are intended to be brash and emotional. They speak of politics, religion, and a variety of other dry and usual topics. It takes until the eighth track, Getaway, that I once again catch a glimpse of a band with some potential. Of course this time around Harvey reminds me of Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, Porno for Pyros). His voice is strange, nervous and atonal but in most ways this is much more interesting than trying to sing like a regular dude. Mixed with synths, electric guitars, and heavy percussion it really is something wild and exuberant. It’s too bad that, once again, The Music can’t seem to figure out what they do best and run with it.
Disco and Too High finish the disc off on sour notes. The former is much too long and unfocused. The latter is the most acoustic of the offerings (which I like), but in the end it doesn’t go anywhere or hit on any emotional levels.
The Music fails to impress on their debut. Maybe had they not been so over-confident and maybe had they waited a little longer to hone their skills this album would have been tighter. As it stands, there are three good songs and a whole slew of mediocre (at best) and bad ones. 30% success rate on any grading scale equates to failure. They aren’t even a quarter as important as they think they are.
...errr...by the way, The Music returned in 2004 with their second album Welcome to the North. As it stands right now, I have no intention of tracking it down.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. The Dance
02. Take the Long Road and Walk It
03. Human
04. The Truth is No Words
05. Float
06. Turn Out the Light
07. The People
08. Getaway
09. Disco
10. Too High
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