The Fratellis - 'Look Out Sunshine'
For maximum enjoyment of this review, imagine it is being read out loud by a man with a very deep voice, and he's slurring his words. Not unlike one of those voice-changer microphone toys you can get, or, if you're rocking the old school technology, when your 7" is playing at 33rpm.
The reason for this is that there seems to have been a disastrous metronome malfunction during the recording process for this song, one which has dramatically reduced excitement levels, and may even, in extreme cases, cause an outbreak of major disinterest and possibly even boredom. So, to prevent this, it's best if we all play along.
Don't believe me? Well, here's the chorus as it currently stands.
You'll be aware of course that this is a perfectly normal Fratellis sort of chorus, classic in design, harking back to the olden-days songs of yesteryear and aiming itself squarely at the modern retro-rock fan.
BUT it's too slow. It's FAR too slow. The skippy rhythm at the heart of this song - which is the same skippy rhythm they used for 'Chelsea Dagger', so we all know they can do it right - is played at a snoozy, woozy pace. It's as if the band are falling asleep as they play.
Here's how it should go...
See? That's much better, isn't it? Why you can almost forgive the fact that they've started to raid their own songs for inspiration (namely 'Ol' Black & Blue Eyes' and 'Chelsea Dagger'), if you can make it seem like the band are playing with a bit more vim and vigour.
So even though it does have a lot going for it, not least a strong melody and the word 'Sunshine' in the title - as pointed out by Peter Coulston in the - all that potential is spoiled by the slothful performance.
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Oh well. Maybe the NEXT single from their comeback album will be the good one...
Download: Out now
CD Released:August 18th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comment number 1.
At 29th Aug 2008, MonTheFratellis- wrote:In the words of Jon, he's a cynical .... and he's much too lazy to change :)
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