Eldritch's review of Fundamental courtesy of Zeus's forum
Posted: Fri 10 Mar 2006, 6:58 pm
Posted on Zeus's forum, Eldritch got a sneak peak listen to Fundamental at EMI Finland.
IMHO, this carries a lot more weight than stuff we've been told by other reviewers....
Oh, f*** it. I will do the boring work stuff later, here's the track-by-track review:
1. Psychological
Well, we know how this sounds. "You've got a problem with the reason why" it begins and then goes on to make a list of oblique observations with more than a hint of menace in the style of "What's that spilt on the kitchen floor / Who's that knocking on the cellar door". The chorus – or what there is of it – just goes "He's psychological" in the anticlimatic Radiophonic fashion. Except just before the three minute mark when the backing track lilts and Neil adds "or is it just your imagination?". A good spooky opener to the album and as close to understated as this album gets.
2. The Sodom And Gomorr Show
Opening lines:
"I lived a quiet life
A stranger to champagne"
It starts with carnival sounds and a Frankie feel of an impending retrofuturistic apocalypse. 40 seconds in the analogue synths kick in and guitars come in 15 seconds later. It is a huge track with a huge chorus that goes "Are you going to The Sodom A Gomorr show". The overall feel is like Welcome To the Pleasuredome crossed with Motown – it's a jubilant song about being seduced to debauchery, that is given a slightly tacky Eighties feel by the guitars giving weight to the chorus. Again, good stuff, but still falling just slightly short of the "oh, wow" impression it tries to convey in the listener
3. I Made My Excuses And Left
"I walked into the room
Imagine my surprise
You were sitting close to him
Looking deeply into each other's eyes"
Ahh. This is good indeed. Melodically and soundwise it's a mixture of Hey Headmaster, It Couldn't Happen and A View From The Balcony. It opens with thunder, distant Gregorian chants, closing doors, car horns, crowd noise – it's like slowly waking up in a street in the city centre, late Friday night. Then 1.40 into the song cellos take the lead and Neil tells the heartbreaking story of losing the competition for somebody's affections. the song comprises of two verses, one long and one short. So no chorus, but a truly touching moment at the end of the first one when Neil pronounces the title haltingly, like he can barely force himself to say the word "left". All in all, this would have felt perfectly at home on the Liza Minnelli album.
4 Minimal
I had to take a phone call just as this was playing, so I missed this one a bit. But it definitely didn't sound like an obvious first single, more of an Some Speculation -style classy electro track. Neil's vocals are mixed quite low, so I couldn't make out clearly any other lyrics than what have been quoted in other reviews. The chorus is unintruding, to put it nicely, but the New Order -ish guitar at the close is good indeed. Will grow on me, I hope.
5. Numb.
Only Neil's voice (which I always find affecting) and Trevor Horn's reluctance to go for a typical Aerosmith-ballad style schmaltz attack save this one from being a total stinker. If this was sung by any other band, I would condemn this to the same circle of hell as 98 % of Warren's output. It is the demo song indeed, buffed up with strings and some lone electronic squiggles, and it does leave me numb indeed.
6. God Willing
A menacing foreboding intro stranded on the middle of the album. God knows what it's doing there.
7. Luna Park
"Shadows in the sun
Another night's begun
It's always dark in the Luna park"
This is better. It's like a sister song to Sodom & Gomorr Show, another celebration of decadence, party at the end of the pier and the end of the world; execpt this time done as a lush mid-tempo track. "Every night we go to the latest horror show", Neil sings wistfully like recalling an exceptionally good dinner party, and the song twists and turns in quite an interesting fashion up until to the final flourish. "The future's dark in the Luna park", indeed, plus it does sound a bit like Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb to be precise, like some others have already pointed out.
8. I'm With Stupid
"Oh, oh I'm with stupid", goes indeed the chorus in the Master And Servant -like fashion, although it is followed by another chorus, the "Is stupid really stupid..." one, but that one isn't too catchy. However, there's enough in these 203 seconds to keep one occupied, it starting with a Frankie-ish stomp, like Holly Johnson is ready to barge in at any second, and then the song switches gears at every possible turn.
9. Casanova In Hell
"The girl's perfection
Inspires affection
It's queer
That here
He can't cast his spell
In her direction"
A song about Casanova's erection problems, like many have stated. But also a song about the myth of Casanova and how it got started. So it's another Don Juan -style PSB deconstruction of a legendary philanderer, sung in a sympathetic fashion. And perhaps it's another autobiographical Samurai In Autumn -kinda song too: a song about ageing, losing one's allure and potency (metaphorically naturally). Anyway, it has a piano and a truckload of strings, plus an orchestral hook not dissimilar to Jealousy, so this is another highlight, definitely.
10. Twentieth Century
"Oh, we've learnt a lesson
From the twentieth century
I don't think we should adjust (?) this mess"
The song reviled in most reviews so far and true, it's not too special. The electronic backing is surprisingly lively, it's definitely not another ballad, but more a sedated and less house-y take on It's Alright, with which it also shares its banal political sentiment and groundless optimism. Because, apparently, the lesson we have learnt from 20th century goes "Sometimes / the solution / is worse / than the problem / Let's stay together". Right. It's also quite reminiscent of late Eighties ABC with the Martin Fry -style vocals and phrasing. During the last minute the song opens to a huge electronic vista in the true Trevor Horn -fashion, but the whole climax feels quite self-serving and pointless. Not bad but not very good either.
11. Indefinite Leave To Remain
"I was lost for so long
feels like it's taken half my life
to see where I belong"
The original closing track and another lovely ballad, again with strings and with a lovely central metaphor of a love affair being like a visa to another country, to somebody else's life. Neil sings this wonderfully, with his best soft bedside manner, like a wonderful doctor waiting for you beside your hospital bed, telling that it's okay, the operation was succesful. No chorus here either, but the tempo steps up quite exquisitely every time after the "remain" bit. Almost feels too short.
12. Integral.
Well, this is huge, like it should be played in an aircraft hangar. Hi-nrg rhythms, vocoderized parts, guitars forming a wall of sound, sirens... It's all here and it's very impressive, but like with Sodom & Gomorr you can see the wires and the construction men and so on. It does have the best chorus of the lot, but still feels like a huge Hollywood blockbuster that leaves you more exhausted than elated, big for the sake of being big. It's brilliant and it's great and it's huge, but I don't know if it will last or will it turn into another Somewhere twelve plays later. The overall feel is very Nineties eurotechno actually, it's almost defiantly tacky. Still should have been the single.
So that's it after one listen. Overall I preferred the ballads to the fast songs and typing this I felt I actually liked the album better than while listening to it. It is impressive and it is expansive and it is extravagant, but I can't shake of the feeling of an ageing Lothario turning all his best tricks but still failing to seduce with the same efficiency as he did in his bloom.
I didn't have a lyric sheet, so the quotes may not be totally correct
IMHO, this carries a lot more weight than stuff we've been told by other reviewers....
Oh, f*** it. I will do the boring work stuff later, here's the track-by-track review:
1. Psychological
Well, we know how this sounds. "You've got a problem with the reason why" it begins and then goes on to make a list of oblique observations with more than a hint of menace in the style of "What's that spilt on the kitchen floor / Who's that knocking on the cellar door". The chorus – or what there is of it – just goes "He's psychological" in the anticlimatic Radiophonic fashion. Except just before the three minute mark when the backing track lilts and Neil adds "or is it just your imagination?". A good spooky opener to the album and as close to understated as this album gets.
2. The Sodom And Gomorr Show
Opening lines:
"I lived a quiet life
A stranger to champagne"
It starts with carnival sounds and a Frankie feel of an impending retrofuturistic apocalypse. 40 seconds in the analogue synths kick in and guitars come in 15 seconds later. It is a huge track with a huge chorus that goes "Are you going to The Sodom A Gomorr show". The overall feel is like Welcome To the Pleasuredome crossed with Motown – it's a jubilant song about being seduced to debauchery, that is given a slightly tacky Eighties feel by the guitars giving weight to the chorus. Again, good stuff, but still falling just slightly short of the "oh, wow" impression it tries to convey in the listener
3. I Made My Excuses And Left
"I walked into the room
Imagine my surprise
You were sitting close to him
Looking deeply into each other's eyes"
Ahh. This is good indeed. Melodically and soundwise it's a mixture of Hey Headmaster, It Couldn't Happen and A View From The Balcony. It opens with thunder, distant Gregorian chants, closing doors, car horns, crowd noise – it's like slowly waking up in a street in the city centre, late Friday night. Then 1.40 into the song cellos take the lead and Neil tells the heartbreaking story of losing the competition for somebody's affections. the song comprises of two verses, one long and one short. So no chorus, but a truly touching moment at the end of the first one when Neil pronounces the title haltingly, like he can barely force himself to say the word "left". All in all, this would have felt perfectly at home on the Liza Minnelli album.
4 Minimal
I had to take a phone call just as this was playing, so I missed this one a bit. But it definitely didn't sound like an obvious first single, more of an Some Speculation -style classy electro track. Neil's vocals are mixed quite low, so I couldn't make out clearly any other lyrics than what have been quoted in other reviews. The chorus is unintruding, to put it nicely, but the New Order -ish guitar at the close is good indeed. Will grow on me, I hope.
5. Numb.
Only Neil's voice (which I always find affecting) and Trevor Horn's reluctance to go for a typical Aerosmith-ballad style schmaltz attack save this one from being a total stinker. If this was sung by any other band, I would condemn this to the same circle of hell as 98 % of Warren's output. It is the demo song indeed, buffed up with strings and some lone electronic squiggles, and it does leave me numb indeed.
6. God Willing
A menacing foreboding intro stranded on the middle of the album. God knows what it's doing there.
7. Luna Park
"Shadows in the sun
Another night's begun
It's always dark in the Luna park"
This is better. It's like a sister song to Sodom & Gomorr Show, another celebration of decadence, party at the end of the pier and the end of the world; execpt this time done as a lush mid-tempo track. "Every night we go to the latest horror show", Neil sings wistfully like recalling an exceptionally good dinner party, and the song twists and turns in quite an interesting fashion up until to the final flourish. "The future's dark in the Luna park", indeed, plus it does sound a bit like Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb to be precise, like some others have already pointed out.
8. I'm With Stupid
"Oh, oh I'm with stupid", goes indeed the chorus in the Master And Servant -like fashion, although it is followed by another chorus, the "Is stupid really stupid..." one, but that one isn't too catchy. However, there's enough in these 203 seconds to keep one occupied, it starting with a Frankie-ish stomp, like Holly Johnson is ready to barge in at any second, and then the song switches gears at every possible turn.
9. Casanova In Hell
"The girl's perfection
Inspires affection
It's queer
That here
He can't cast his spell
In her direction"
A song about Casanova's erection problems, like many have stated. But also a song about the myth of Casanova and how it got started. So it's another Don Juan -style PSB deconstruction of a legendary philanderer, sung in a sympathetic fashion. And perhaps it's another autobiographical Samurai In Autumn -kinda song too: a song about ageing, losing one's allure and potency (metaphorically naturally). Anyway, it has a piano and a truckload of strings, plus an orchestral hook not dissimilar to Jealousy, so this is another highlight, definitely.
10. Twentieth Century
"Oh, we've learnt a lesson
From the twentieth century
I don't think we should adjust (?) this mess"
The song reviled in most reviews so far and true, it's not too special. The electronic backing is surprisingly lively, it's definitely not another ballad, but more a sedated and less house-y take on It's Alright, with which it also shares its banal political sentiment and groundless optimism. Because, apparently, the lesson we have learnt from 20th century goes "Sometimes / the solution / is worse / than the problem / Let's stay together". Right. It's also quite reminiscent of late Eighties ABC with the Martin Fry -style vocals and phrasing. During the last minute the song opens to a huge electronic vista in the true Trevor Horn -fashion, but the whole climax feels quite self-serving and pointless. Not bad but not very good either.
11. Indefinite Leave To Remain
"I was lost for so long
feels like it's taken half my life
to see where I belong"
The original closing track and another lovely ballad, again with strings and with a lovely central metaphor of a love affair being like a visa to another country, to somebody else's life. Neil sings this wonderfully, with his best soft bedside manner, like a wonderful doctor waiting for you beside your hospital bed, telling that it's okay, the operation was succesful. No chorus here either, but the tempo steps up quite exquisitely every time after the "remain" bit. Almost feels too short.
12. Integral.
Well, this is huge, like it should be played in an aircraft hangar. Hi-nrg rhythms, vocoderized parts, guitars forming a wall of sound, sirens... It's all here and it's very impressive, but like with Sodom & Gomorr you can see the wires and the construction men and so on. It does have the best chorus of the lot, but still feels like a huge Hollywood blockbuster that leaves you more exhausted than elated, big for the sake of being big. It's brilliant and it's great and it's huge, but I don't know if it will last or will it turn into another Somewhere twelve plays later. The overall feel is very Nineties eurotechno actually, it's almost defiantly tacky. Still should have been the single.
So that's it after one listen. Overall I preferred the ballads to the fast songs and typing this I felt I actually liked the album better than while listening to it. It is impressive and it is expansive and it is extravagant, but I can't shake of the feeling of an ageing Lothario turning all his best tricks but still failing to seduce with the same efficiency as he did in his bloom.
I didn't have a lyric sheet, so the quotes may not be totally correct
