The Rakes - Capture/Release
Album of the Week
Date - 2005-07-17 00:00:00
I had never heard of the Rakes before I came across their album the other day. Thad was not around so I made the executive decision to make him and myself listen to it over and over and send our thoughts out to you guys. At first, I thought the Rakes were a well-meaning but overmatched Brit-pop band, but as I gave the album a few more listens, I found myself pleasantly surprised with the results and overall pleased with their freshman attempt.
A strange thing happens on this CD. The first 5 tracks are kind of a loose and scream-y version of the Killers. The singles are in this set of songs: the first track, entitled "Strasbourg", and track 3, "22 Grand Job". "22 Grand Job" was the song that launched them into the British and European rock scenes, and at first listen it is kind of grating. However, once I started picking up the lyrics and stopped thinking so much about what was happening, I really enjoyed this track. "Strasbourg" is a bit weaker but I enjoy it nonetheless. Overall, however, these songs seemed a little too wild and the melodies were just not coming together properly. Then that aforementioned strange thing happenes.
Track 6, "Binary Love" starts innocently enough, with an Interpol-ish guitar line and a real tight sound overall. The lyrics are nonsensical enough but the melody finds itself and the song turns out decent. I thought the album had taken a drastic turn after I listened to the next track (7), "We Are All Animals", because the same tight sound and melodic singing was found. The band was clearly still the Rakes, but it seemed like they found their groove more at this point. Track 10, "Terror!", is one of my favorites, with some of the wilder elements from the first half of the album balanced nicely against a well-arranged piece of music. Strangely enough, my favorite song from this album is the very last one, "Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)". This song put it all together for me, lyrically, musically, everything. Then it ends and I was left wanting so much more from this band that appeared on the second half of the album.
So I started the CD over.
Once I had experienced what was to come, I was somehow more able to appreciate what was happening in the first half of the CD. I found melodies that I missed before and I accepted the upbeat exuberance of the band that I must have ignored or rejected the first time around. Basically, this band is why you listen to albums twice, no matter how simple they seem. We're not talking about the Mars Volta here - this music is not particularly difficult. Sometimes you just miss things.
Anyways, I think this album is pretty sweet. It is upbeat and fun and varying and cool. It reminds me of the Strokes or the Killers musically, or maybe some sort of magical hybrid of these two somewhat similar bands. However, I do not find myself getting hung up on their seeming lack of originality - they found a niche and decided to rock the crap out of it and pretty much all the songs Capture/Release range from very listenable to f'n good. What more can you ask for from a band's first disc? 8 out of 10 for the Rakes.
A strange thing happens on this CD. The first 5 tracks are kind of a loose and scream-y version of the Killers. The singles are in this set of songs: the first track, entitled "Strasbourg", and track 3, "22 Grand Job". "22 Grand Job" was the song that launched them into the British and European rock scenes, and at first listen it is kind of grating. However, once I started picking up the lyrics and stopped thinking so much about what was happening, I really enjoyed this track. "Strasbourg" is a bit weaker but I enjoy it nonetheless. Overall, however, these songs seemed a little too wild and the melodies were just not coming together properly. Then that aforementioned strange thing happenes.
Track 6, "Binary Love" starts innocently enough, with an Interpol-ish guitar line and a real tight sound overall. The lyrics are nonsensical enough but the melody finds itself and the song turns out decent. I thought the album had taken a drastic turn after I listened to the next track (7), "We Are All Animals", because the same tight sound and melodic singing was found. The band was clearly still the Rakes, but it seemed like they found their groove more at this point. Track 10, "Terror!", is one of my favorites, with some of the wilder elements from the first half of the album balanced nicely against a well-arranged piece of music. Strangely enough, my favorite song from this album is the very last one, "Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)". This song put it all together for me, lyrically, musically, everything. Then it ends and I was left wanting so much more from this band that appeared on the second half of the album.
So I started the CD over.
Once I had experienced what was to come, I was somehow more able to appreciate what was happening in the first half of the CD. I found melodies that I missed before and I accepted the upbeat exuberance of the band that I must have ignored or rejected the first time around. Basically, this band is why you listen to albums twice, no matter how simple they seem. We're not talking about the Mars Volta here - this music is not particularly difficult. Sometimes you just miss things.
Anyways, I think this album is pretty sweet. It is upbeat and fun and varying and cool. It reminds me of the Strokes or the Killers musically, or maybe some sort of magical hybrid of these two somewhat similar bands. However, I do not find myself getting hung up on their seeming lack of originality - they found a niche and decided to rock the crap out of it and pretty much all the songs Capture/Release range from very listenable to f'n good. What more can you ask for from a band's first disc? 8 out of 10 for the Rakes.
I'd never heard of the Rakes, not even a little bit, but hey, after reviewing two British bands already this week, what's one more, right? So this is their debut effort I guess, so theoretically I'm supposed to cut them a little slack or something. But that's lame, so we'll pretend it's not their debut. Plenty of bands had awesome debuts anyways.
I originally kept putting off this album, and then the first time I listened to it, I was distracted and only listened to the first half, so I didn't think it was very good. In fact, I considered posting "this album does nothing for me" as my review and leaving it at that. Eventually, I gave it a real chance, and discovered a surprisingly solid album. I've decided they sound pretty much like a cross between Franz Ferdinand and The Bravery, with British accents of course.
The first few tracks aren't really special, in my opinion, which is probably why I originally didn't think too much of the album. The one thing they do do is set a standard of having a melody/beat that meshes very well with the beat of the lyrics. In fact, I would say this is the biggest strength of the band.
The first song I really liked was track 4, 'Open Book'. It starts off slow with both the drums and the guitar keeps the beat (something they use a lot), the singing meshes well with it, and everything eventually picks up a few notches. The 'chorus', I guess you could call it, is just the band going 'oh-oh-oh-oh', which works surprisingly well.
Another one I liked was track 6, 'Binary Love'. It too starts out slow, then picks up with a Bravery-like beat, and again, once the singing starts, they combine very well. The last half of the album is all pretty solid, moreso than the first half anyways, capped off by the last song, 'Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)'. This was by far my favorite song on the album. The flow of the lyrics and the melody is excellent, in my mind.
Definitely give this album a chance. The verdict: 7.5/10
I originally kept putting off this album, and then the first time I listened to it, I was distracted and only listened to the first half, so I didn't think it was very good. In fact, I considered posting "this album does nothing for me" as my review and leaving it at that. Eventually, I gave it a real chance, and discovered a surprisingly solid album. I've decided they sound pretty much like a cross between Franz Ferdinand and The Bravery, with British accents of course.
The first few tracks aren't really special, in my opinion, which is probably why I originally didn't think too much of the album. The one thing they do do is set a standard of having a melody/beat that meshes very well with the beat of the lyrics. In fact, I would say this is the biggest strength of the band.
The first song I really liked was track 4, 'Open Book'. It starts off slow with both the drums and the guitar keeps the beat (something they use a lot), the singing meshes well with it, and everything eventually picks up a few notches. The 'chorus', I guess you could call it, is just the band going 'oh-oh-oh-oh', which works surprisingly well.
Another one I liked was track 6, 'Binary Love'. It too starts out slow, then picks up with a Bravery-like beat, and again, once the singing starts, they combine very well. The last half of the album is all pretty solid, moreso than the first half anyways, capped off by the last song, 'Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)'. This was by far my favorite song on the album. The flow of the lyrics and the melody is excellent, in my mind.
Definitely give this album a chance. The verdict: 7.5/10