Title: Sound and Color
Artiste: Alabama Shakes
Genre: Southern Rock
Familiarity: Zero
1. Sound and color: Not sure what that is at the opening, Fender Rhodes, organ, synth, but it's nice. Sort of xylophonic thing going now; vocal is very soul.Not that mad about it to be honest. Song never really gets going and is something of a disappointment.
2. Don't wanna fight: At least we have guitars in this one! This is a lot better, the vocal full of strained passion and frustration, and the soul vibe melds with a kind of 90s new wave thing, sort of reminds me of The Belle Stars, if you can believe it. My only complaint would be that it's terribly repetitive, but the constant groan of “I don't wanna fight no more” fits the title and the mood perfectly.
3. Dunes: Slower, with a plodding kind of rhythm and a nice kind of gospel feel to it. Good powerful ending; like the piano.
4. Future people: Seems to borrow the melody line from “Summer breeze” by The Isleys, though AS make this their own certainly. Great vocal, guitars are on point, though I keep expecting her to sing “Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowin' through the jasmine of my mind”!
5. Gimme all your love: Love the slow blues feel of this up to about the last minute, when it suddenly kicks up into a big blues rocker with not a little seventies Floyd, especially in the organ. One of the best on the album so far.
6. This feeling: Channelling Prince here (I know she's female, but the similarities are undeniable); nice soft guitar, easy relaxed rhythm
7. Guess who: Meh, that was just all right.
8. The greatest: Trying too hard on this one I feel. Almost bringing in a punk influence.
9. Shoegaze: This is more like seventies pop/rock, which is ironic given the title. Like this one.
10. Miss you: Yeah, but love this one. Big blues buildup to a superb declaration of powerful, almost angry love. Perfect.
11. Gemini: Another powerful blues-based number, it's the longest on the album and kind of needs to be, to get the full attention it needs and say everything it needs to say. Great organ work on this one but the vocal stands out as both fragile and determined. Kind of flags a little in the middle though.
12. Over my head: Soft and gentle song with a lovely gospel tone, great closer.
End result: Yeah, a fine album with some really good tracks. I'm not sure I'd be too interested in going further into their music, but I certainly enjoyed it and can see why it got the acclaim it did.
So, Love or Hate? Make this a
Love, sure.