This was my thought as well at first listen. Even more, I thought it was actually a good album, all things considered. Emphasis on was.
Swing Low It's funny but the start of this makes me expect that some rapper is about to break into some lines .... but we drop back to a smooth, mellow Phil track. This track again works well in and of itself. I like the chord flow, and here in this context, I think the vocal works well, and Phil puts across a delicacy that gives the track a nice feel over the semi-hiphop beat. I think the backing/harmony vocals work very well. With the previous track having a bit more punch, I think it helps this song from a flow perspective.
Yeah, this is at or near the bottom of the album or me. A skipper. Nothing offensive, but it's pretty dull.
Don't Get Me Started I liked it. Solid enough. Swing Low Very early 00s. But, very MOR. A tad boring for me, at least until the end. It kind of grows on me.
Testify Testify was where I started to think this album was really gaining momentum. It’s a nice progression from the first 2 tracks, it brings forward more mood and thickness to the music flow. The curve is still going up. It remains the most surprising song of the album to me, if nothing else because it’s a bit of pop magic (or, if you like, craftsmanship). It’s all about economy of means, and the sum being more than the parts. The music, in itself, is nothing stellar, even potentially boring. A verse that sounds/acts like a half chorus + coda: ok melody, cadence-like chord progression, lots of repetition. A bridge that has a static quality (meant to be a contrast to the forward feeling of the verse/chorus), only to be spruced with some preudo-ethnic sampled voices (at least they sound like that to me, but it might as well be a treated gospel choir as mentioned above). The lyrics... On paper, simplistic on the verge of being cringe-worthy. Repetitive on the verge of sleepiness. (And I don’t seem much “adult”, complex feelings here that would qualify the lyrics as “MOR”: this is pretty much teenage compliant). BUT. Put them together and shake’em with a progressively building up arrangement and they work pretty well. All ingredients blend together, complementing each other and making the best out of the situation. I think there’s also some strategic modulation involved. Phil’s vocal delivery is nuanced and on the spot as well. It might go unnoticed in a casual listening but it really helps bringing up the whole thing. Drums are underwhelming though, but it can't be helped. Downsides: after a while, the DIY sound palette + the limiting mastering + the repetition factor make the momentum going somewhat lost. I’d wish it to grow more big, but it doesn’t. Still remains a nice one.
Don’t get me started It didn’t click at first, but it has passed the test now. It carries on the tradition of simplistic “everyman” political songs Phil does. The verse has a good marching feel to it (consistent with the chorus lyrics - nice semantic crossover, if you like those things), all helped and enriched by a pulsing bass; while the chorus has a propelling, optimist quality that seems like an echo of DITL’s (album) general feelings. I like a lot the progressive enrichment of the arrangement, especially that pseudo guitar sound that arises with “The things they do in the name of their father”. So, up until now. It’s four strikes on a raw. Not bad.
Swing Low This one has a by the book verse-bridge-chorus progression (complete with minor/major contrast), but an asymmetrical structure in which the chorus is repeated twice. It goes: verse - bridge/chorus - bridge/chorus - verse - instrumental break (minor version of the bridge) - chorus - ad lib. The verse goes hip-hop again after Phil introduced this flavour in Just Another Story, but the other sections are more “melodic Phil” and all that remains to be a connective is the backing rhythm track. Not sure about what the lyric mean here. I don’t know if Phil is self-referencing with “Like the man said he was right / About something coming in the air tonight” but there’s another song later on that says “Heat is on the street”, so maybe it’s a deliberate thing. There’s again that sort of vague annoying low level distortion all around the chorus. If it’s a production trick to make it sound more gritty, I’m not impressed. I hope it’s not compression-related. As far as the album's progression goes, this one falls into neutral territory. It doesn't help that I don't know what the heck he's talking about. It's 50% grey and unoffensive. I could take it if it was just a breathing pause. Unfortunately, it's not.
Swing Low The intro is very early 00s R&B which makes you wonder what this is going to be like, but then the vocals and the melody comes in ...... and quite frankly it is underwhelming to listen to, despite the interesting production.
I like these weird floaty guitar tones on the chorus and the song is certainly not disturbing but very safe and nothing to write home about. The worst is to come on the album
First impressions..... Testify - a half ass attempt at an epic Don’t Get Me Started - I like this! Nice to see him really lean on his vocals, not too many times more he’d do this. Swing Low - this is a sleeper. The production is interesting and works with his subtle vocals and lifts what could be a boring tune but.....it works.
It's Not Too Late We have some nice synths, percussion and somewhat percussive guitar starting this off. Phil starts off with a nicely, somewhat disconnected vocal. The little harmony vocal section is very well done. This track has this slow burn pulsating beat, that kind of makes you feel like it is going to explode at any minute, and the arrangement is working well. The change doesn't really explode, but it is a very good change and a nicely dynamic interlude. We then drop back for a couple of lines, and then the pulsating section fires back up. The layered vocals do work very well here. This song doesn't overstay its welcome. It does what it needs to do and fades away, and that makes a huge difference. I like this, and think it works, even if it isn't in Phil's best songs.
It’s Not Too Late Aaand... we start to go down. This one does the opposite of Testify to me: I like the lyrics on paper better than sang out. The opening riff (which is the base of the chorus too) is immediately annoying to me and never really recovers: the chorus’ melody/vocal arrangement is unnecessarily tedious. The verse’s melodic line is better though and reminds me of Peter Gabriel. The lyrics have that trick again, where the verse is narrative and presenting different stories and the chorus is almost similar, based on few repetitive words but each time getting new meaning by applying to a different verse’s story. He used it before in Wear My Hat and in another more dramatic song I can’t recall now. The bridge hits a mark, acting as the centerpiece of the song (properly underlined by a kick in the arrangement): For everything we know that's certain There is much we cannot see So we choose to close the curtain Never knowing what could have been I must admit that at this stage I’m not fully getting the song’s point or some of the passages. Still that vagueness at work. At least it has a richer content than repeating the equivalent of “I Love You you love me” a thousand times.
It's Not Too Late The first thing that strikes me most about this is it really sounds like from the music to the vocals that it really wants to be a Peter Gabriel track. The second thing that strikes me is had it been a Peter Gabriel composition then the soundscapes would have been more atmospheric & other worldly (or even worldbeat) and less commercial MOR sounding.
Well, I’m sure the “coming in the air tonight” is an intentional reference. I’ve never otherwise heard those words in that order before.
Hey Mark, you don’t need to point out that each song you like isn’t Phil’s best. I think we all understand that about this album. This one I think I grew in appreciation after the stripped down version performed during the Farewell tour.
yea, i guess I think I am a bit sheepish about this album ... and as much as I like the idea of the next one, it didn't really work for me
It sounds more Phil and less Peter here The choir works very well. I can happily do without the opening riff too.
This love, this heart This is a really nice song, and it has a nice dynamic swell... it also has a really nice vocal. Perhaps in appraising this album, I am coming at it from the wrong mindset, but I guess generally it is Phil's more punchy material that has generally appealed to me. So far by this stage of the album, a certain part of me has somewhat switched of because I guess I am waiting for the punch of I don't care anymore, or the unusual instrumental of droned/hand in hand, or the exuberance of take me home ... and it's fine they aren't there, but I guess they are what keep me into a Phil album. This song is very sweet on it's own account, but disappears into the beige this album leaves me feeling.
This Love, This Heart Like magic, we’re back to Phil 101. Light drum machine pattern, soft keyboard pad, and a “you’re gone, gimme another chance” story. Lyrics revert back to teen-compliant simplism (so much for “MOR”). Again, modulation and build up save the day and make the best of an excessively repetitive and not peculiarly inventive melodic line. All and all, it works just fine and the final coda, while a tad on the boring side, makes for a convincing enough wrap up. It's not exceptional but it's always pleasant and so far it doesn't it doesn't fall into the insta-skip camp. EDIT: I thought it was a side closer but a simple math exercise suggests me it's the opener of the second one. Actually, I've checked on Discogs and I wonder if this album was officially released in a format that was not CD. Cassettes all seem unofficial.
So, wrapping up the half album so far, in fairness it's all good or nice to me. Only one dud, Swing Low: immediately off-putting beginning no matter how many times I listen to it, bland chorus melody and foggy lyrics that could be interesting but don't motivate me into getting any deeper into them. The sequencing it's also unbalanced*, with three/four big shots in a raw and then thee potential sleepers one after one another. In trying and doing my alternative tracklist (that I'll keep for the final overview) I find that Swing Low and It's Not To Late are both middlegroud songs that don't benefit from being close together. Actually the second one shines a little more if the first one is taken out. *more of this to come immediately after this song.
"This Love, This Heart" is on the level with "Swing Low". It's a skipper for me. Don't have much more to say about it.
This love, this heart I don't know what it is about this, but this is too saccharine unsubtle pull at the heartstrings MOR which you would expect from Boyzone or Westlife (especially with the progressive key changes). Unusually, I don't like Phil's vocals on this, they just seem too cloying and trying to hard to pull at the heartstrings so lacking his usual authentic organic every man vulnerability. This is certainly a better song than the previous track, but I really don't like it for the reasons I've given.
