The Delgados: Hate

Even though I try not to, I always end up comparing the music I hear from new bands I find to two other bands whose music I’m familiar with. For example, I always end up saying, “They’re like a cross between Band X and Band Y.” I hate that I do it but that doesn’t stop me from doing it every time without fail. To help you understand just how fallible this method is you have to understand that I am by no conceivable means a music scholar. I’m very much a generalist. I see myself and knowing a little bit about a lot of bands; I don’t know everything about every band. Most of the time, I’m not able to put a song I hear from any given band into the context of their career. It’s like I hear a song and that song represents that band in my mind. I know that’s not fair whatsoever but I don’t have time to go back and do a thorough study of the band. So as I got into this album and listened to it more and more the thought that kept coming to my mind was: “This music is like a cross between The Carpenters and Guns N’ Roses.” (Mind you, I wouldn’t be considered a fan of either of those bands [I don’t own an album of either of theirs] so take my statement how you will.)

Tone: The tone of this album is, what I call, the Triple S: shiny, slick and smooth. It’s pretty much everything that I don’t like to see in an album, but that’s fine. I personally prefer some bite to my albums; some banter between band and engineer in the background; some sounds of instruments being shuffled around on the studio floor; footsteps; breathing; coughing; band members cursing under their breath at missing some note; some lo-fi goodness. However, I respect there are bands out there that ride the Triple S wave.

Voice: I think the voices on this album are great. I like there’s a man and a woman and they share the singing duties. And I like the woman’s voice! I wouldn’t run out and get her autograph if I saw her walking down the street but that’s okay. They do have a way of sounding super conceited but what UK band doesn’t so I guess it’s a moot point.

Music: The music is pretty good. I know that sound super lame but there wasn’t much that stood out for me on this one. I’ve got to be honest here. I would never have listened to this album all the way through once—let alone six or seven times—if it hadn’t been for this review thing we’ve got going on. It’s just not my cup of tea. However, I firmly believe that just because I don’t like a particular album that doesn’t mean it isn’t music that is well written and well performed. “Child Killers” is kind of a sweet lullaby (it totally sounds like Obi!); it’s connected in my mind to “All Rise.” There are several spots on this album where the drummer really steals the show—or is the show. I like that. Drums are cool. Although very good advice, the song “Never Look at the Sun” is boring. “Coming In From the Cold” is really the best song on the album. It’s the kind of song you want to take home and share a meal with. There are times when—in the music—I feel the stormy Scottish coastal weather on my face—which is pretty amazing since I’ve never been to Scotland. There are times I feel a sense of their national history. (Never Look At the Sun.) There are times—“Woke From Dreaming”—when the music makes me visualize a black grand piano rising out of the center of a huge concert hall stage lit by thousands of battery-powered candles, surrounded by a full orchestra, and Slash is standing on the piano madly torquing his guitar and Axl is sitting on the piano bench, hunched over the keys, long mess of red hair flipping so awesomely about his head and shoulders (obviously this image is before he went to corn rows). That’s right, “Woke From Dreaming” is the song that makes me most feel this album is a mix of The Carpenters and Guns N’ Roses (although it’s not the only song that makes me feel that way). I think it’s probably a mix of the fact G N’ R were (is, maybe?) so dramatic—like The Delgados—and the fact that Axl seemed to wear a lot of plaid back in the day. (Is there a Scottish “kind” of plaid?) Anyway, it just reminds me of the live video for “November Rain.” Just a word concerning songs that have foreign languages in them i.e. “Woke From Dreaming.” If the entire song in is a foreign language, it’s cool. If you start off in English and then have parts of the song in a foreign language, it pretentious. And if you have back-up singers chanting in a foreign language like medieval christian nymphs, it’s pretty much just weird.

Lyrics. Nothing interesting to report. Except any irony or whatever must be lost on me because I can’t really stand “All You Need is Hate.”

The Intangibles for this week:

• How does the album make me feel? Bored—except for “Coming In From the Cold” which is awesome.
• How does this album compare to fellow Scots Camera Obscura’s Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi? Not. Even. Close. We’re talking Northern and Southern Hemisphere here.
• Had my friend’s wife who is really into bands like this (foreign, women singers, ride the Triple S wave, etc.) heard about The Delgados? No.
• Did listening to this album make you appreciate Oxford Collapse’s Bits from last week more than I initially did? Very, very much so.
• How do you envision The Delgados spending their Sunday mornings off? Playing Phase 10 and getting really serious about playing by the rules.
• What song off this cd would I play if I was giving Britt Daniel a ride to Six Flags? It has to be “Woke From Dreaming.” “Dude, you gotta hear how much this song sounds like a mix between The Carpenters and Guns N’ Roses! Oh, and, Britt, are you, uh, going to pay for parking or what?”

Grades:
Tone: 1/5
Voices: 2/5
Music: 2/5 (Mostly because of “Coming In From the Cold.”)
Lyrics: 1/5
Intangibles: 2/5

Total: 8/25