|   A-Ha's "Lifelines" | Jim Clark
Dec 4, 2002 7:39 AM | | a 2002 release destined to fare quite well on my 2002 best of list. To save you time (ain't I sweet?) this will probably be of interest only to those that enjoy the airy kind of high quality pop like the Sundays, Cranberries, or Lightning Seeds. While still a synthpop band at heart, synths are limited, for the most part to the backdrop and occasional detail work over the top of songs. The balance is filled with real percussion, acoustic guitar and a gorgeous string section that adds a real symphonic flair.
The songs across the cd are fairly varied due largely to the fact that the CD features three producers. I'd guess this was done to combat the sameness that followed the previous release "Minor Earth, Major Sky". This is successful as it's all tied together by Dreckers liqued, almost creamy vocal style which I think is much improved over the previous release. The man can sing high and I can only hear the transition to falsetto twice on the entire CD. I will say that it's obvious that they are going for the listener here rather than the club scene. This is beautiful pop music for those that don't require hits.
The 15 track album is seqeunced nicely (in typical RR fashion) so that the varying styles aren't all lumped together which makes for an interesting listening session throughout. There are a couple of problems though. First is the inclusion of the only obvious synthpop song on the CD, Track 6 "Did Anyone Approach You". While it's a great song, it seems to stick out like a sore thumb. Also, while there are several songs with strong power pop influence, two of the last tracks "White Canvass" and "DragonFly" seem way to Beatlesque to me, it gives me a quesy feeling and I wish at least one had been axed which still would have left a generous 14 tracks to enjoy. Of course this is just me talking.
Sorry it took so long Dave G.
jc |
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