My review for this album can also be found at the link above.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, smart and *committed* Pop-Rock., May 24, 2011
By
Bill Stella "Bill Realman Stella" (Somerville, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Life in Letters (MP3 Download)
The best way I can describe how much I like this album is to admit I really should be writing other reviews. Deadlines loom, I need to contact musicians and promoters, my editor is encouraging but nervous. Yet I'm here writing about The Fire Apes, a band I'd never heard of until today, but whose newest album A Life in Letters has compelled me to listen a fourth time through while I finish up this review. At this moment of discovery, I can't keep them to myself. But allow me the concession of forgoing being literary to just describe the album track by track. 1. It's Over = Weirdly, the song at track 1 makes less impact on me than I think was intended because it seems directed at the vast post-Emo audience of My Chemical Romance or the retro-pop followers of Cheap Trick at their most overwrought. Patience.
2. Killing Me From the Inside = The Fire Apes here remind me of Oasis (in full, imitation 1967 mode) here. If that works for you, you'll like it. (But my love of 60s sounds and Oasis' version of them don't get along.) Then, things get much more interesting.
3. Hey Kate! *** = Hey Kate! leads with pop-song mastery where other bands wish they could follow. For instance, it would fit comfortably as a prime track on any Fountains of Wayne or Jimmy Eats World album. Don't dismiss it because it uses the hook every pop-punk band in the 90s & 00s, and don't underestimate the ska-beat turnaround preceding every chorus. It just works.
4. Cause You Don't *** = Convincingly makes its case to stand alongside similar White Stripes, Vines, and Hives tunes with a blues-y structure and a heavier bottom. But theirs comes complete with harmony vocals reaching crescendoes via a building suspended chord, just like George Martin taught the Fab Four.
5. If Things Don't Look So Good Today = With it's cha-cha middle-8, it's a bit cocktail-lounge. But the Rickenbacker jangle of electric guitar strings cuts through the synthetic strings.
6. Only You Could Make Me Happy *** = Believe it, man: This is it. A prime example of delirious, hyper-committed power-pop, the kind most recently epitomized by Bouncing Souls. But you could hear echoes in it of a long line of bands mining the genre, leading with the best of Cheap Trick and including The Romantics, The Records, The Kings, etc etc.
7. Don't Break My Heart *** = A big change of pace from the rest of the album, built around that McCartney-esque British dance hall two-step. With rinky-tink piano out of almost every 70s record trying to evoke a feel of early-20th-century nostalgia. Plus "bah-bup-ahs"'s right out of The Turtles' playbook. And a horns chart that sneaks up on you until it practically takes over.
8. 3 O'Clock (So Long) *** = A Roger Daltrey-like vocal-dominated intro leads to riffs which could be an alternate arrangement for "I Can See For Miles". Altogether early Who throughout.
9. I *** = Their vocals out-sing The Turtles, but for an over-reaching middle-8. "I" is a half-Zombies, half-Turtles pop obsession.
10. Lori *** = Begins with a fanfare. Mines that familiar One-Look-and,WOW!,-I'm-In-Love theme, but keeps up the melodic inventiveness, skirting the 80s' obsession with the Nah-nah-nuh-NAH-nah minor third melody only during the middle section, but they're forgiven after it's followed with a great guitar solo. It leads to the album title's appearance in the lyric. Ends the album (and I'd guess likely their concerts as well) in glory.
Over the decades I've become familiar with too many bands that have hit success with far less going for them in the grooves (he said, showing his age). And I've seen too many bands with piles of good songs (The Brains, and the aforementioned Kings and Records) not get very far. The Fire Apes' songs have broken in to the area of my brain packed with catchy songs. The Fire Apes deserve a break, and you can provide it. Give them a break, the chance to rattle around playfully in your personal area stuffed with catchy rock songs: Break out your wallets.
[forgive me for not knowing why amazon's graphic (the code below) doesn't load to the blog, as best as I can tell. For at least a day, I'm leaving the code in the entry, until I'm certain it's not visible. Anyone who can clue me in to what I should do to get it visible - your help is appreciated. Thanks!]
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