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melanie c - reason

Melanie C: Reason

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by Adie Nunn
One of the most sickenly obvious things unsigned bands tell you when you ask “what sorta music are you into?”, is that they will inevitably reply, “oooooh, a lot of different styles. A very broad range of stuff.” Which may be true. But that doesn’t stop them sounding like, for example, a rip off of The Charlatans or something. Yes, this is a common occurrence. We like different styles but we only sound like one thing.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of consistency. If a band was to tell me about the broad range of styles on their album, I would probably barf at the thought.

Look, this is not big and clever. Don’t try to show off. The first three tracks on ‘Reason’ veer from attempted-epic pop, then acoustic singalong, to a very weak attempt at R&B. Following that, ‘On The Horizon’ sounds like… well… the New Radicals (I would like to swell with pride at this point for spotting the similarity before doing a websearch to get the songwriting credits. No surprises there. Look Gregg, all your songs sound the bloody same. Change the record already. But I digress…). It also contains that cheesy pop horn section you only find on cheesy pop records. After this, it goes into the land of Indie Rock, to make sure she gets a good review in the NME, because the marketing people (read: failed A&R people) though that would be a Good Idea.

It’s impressive that an artiste such as Ms C likes to show her diverse collection of pop tunes. It’s less impressive when it’s a whole team of songwriters and producers allowing her to achieve that. It’s even less impressive when the whole thing smells of, sniff sniff, attempted-coolness.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked most of the Spice Girls singles, and I even liked some of the stuff from her last album, but this is just bland in the extreme. Mel doesn’t have the vocal range to pull what she’s trying to do.

She doesn’t have the soul to give ‘Here It Comes Again’ a real lift. She ain’t got the passion. Well, maybe she does, but it doesn’t show. Where she’s in her element is, I’m afraid pop music, such as disco/rock stomper ‘Yeh, Yeh, Yeh’, or the further foray into rock that is ‘Let’s Love’, which is an enjoyable dumbass riffing thing Jon Bon Jovi would prick his ears up at.

In other words, the best two tracks are the last two, when the album finishes. Doh.

  • Melanie C 3 / 10

Melanie C - Reason

I think more and more that Robbie was a one-off, and that other ex-boy/girlband members should just gracefully retire. Very few of them have he same kind of relatively complex personalities of Rob, and it makes the results uninteresting. Justin Timberlake is not to my taste, but at least he has some kind of angle,Ronan Keating is an abomination, and he ex-spice girls are never going to make the same mark as artists who were solo from he beginning... Give it up y'all! Ya Hear!

Re: Melanie C - Reason

i like Justin.

Re: Melanie C - Reason

Hmm, this album is growing on me like a veruka. Embarrassing, not something you want other people to know about, but embeds itself deep into your sole. Hmm.

Melanie C - Reason

what about mels vocals? and specific apraisals of her new styles, such as blues on the ballad 'do i', and her uplifting 'positively somewhere'. this review reads like it was wirtten by a rambling, semi-intoxicated, highschool dork.
Unsatisfied, unimpressed, and unmoved by this blasé assesment.

Re: Melanie C - Reason

"semi-intoxicated"

don't you have to be to review such a record?




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