Album released March 13, 2007
The newly arrived trio from Glasgow are finished taking over the UK, and now have their sights set for the states. With head-bopping drum beats and infectious guitar riffs, this debut is 45 minutes of good times that keeps the party going. Unlike the Arctic Monkeys, whose songs appear to be an accident that just happened while in the garage, each song on Costello Music sounds clean as a whistle. They're perfectly measured and produced to the nth degree. While this CD is great for swinging back and forth and singing along in an old English pub, it wears thin pretty quickly. Most of the tunes seem to have a poppy/modern ragtime feeling to them. I pictured the band performing a Vaudeville-esque show with striped jackets, shrugging shoulders and jazz hands, complete with a soft shoe routine; just before the big wooden hook drags them off stage left. Unfortunately, the slower songs, the hop-along western "Whistle for the Choir" and the bluesy "doginabag", are about as hollow and contrived as Hilary Clinton's southern accent. There's no question that the gem of the album is "Chelsea Dagger". It has a nice upbeat tempo, with a great chorus and guitar hook.
Beyond this album, I don't see The Fratellis having much of a shelf life in the U.S. Juke boxes and itunes were created for this Band. Overall, Costello Music is listenable in small doses. - 6.5 of 10.
Songs to Download: Henrietta, Flathead, and Chelsea Dagger
2 comments:
I'd give it a 3
nice call on the fratellis. lawyer. infectious, yes. long lasting, nope. even though henrietta is a super tune...i won't be shelling out pennies for more.
and watch the arctic monkeys comments. they're the real deal. wink, wink.
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