release date: Oct. 7, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Jon Fratelli, Stuart McCredie
label: BMG - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: 2. "This Old Ghost Town" (4 / 5) (studio performance) - 4. "Seven Nights Seven Days" (studio performance) - 6. "Whisky Saga" - 10. "Rock 'n' Roll Will Break Your Heart"
3rd studio album release by The Fratellis following more than five years after We All Stand (Jun. 2008) - a period which saw front figure and songwriter Jon Fratelli (aka John Paul Lawler) busy testing other musical projects. He founded the duo Codeine Velvet Club with vocalist Lou Hickey, and together they released the chamber pop / baroque pop-album Codeine Velvet Club (Dec. 2009) after which Lawler then released his solo debut Psycho Jukebox in 2011, which sounds more like what could've been a band effort by The Fratellis as he is the undisputed driving force as songwriter, composer, guitarist and lead vocalist.
I really enjoyed the debut Costello Music (Sep. 2006) and for some reason I didn't listen to their second album before after this one. However, this brand new one feels much like a natural follow-up the strong debut - refreshingly direct in a mild alt. rock-garage rock-indie rock-kind of style. One could argue that they don't contribute with much new, that the musical purpose with a bunch of simple uptempo and energetic compositions may be hard to fully appreciate... 'cause lots of other music is similar to that, but I also find that the music by The Fratellis kind of grows on you, if you let the tunes play more than a few times. It's perfect background noise for painting the house - actually, pretty good music for working, although, I find that it lacks a few more really fine songs, and then you just have to hand it to Jon Fratelli - his absolutely brilliant in creating new sing-a-long chorus lines with indie rock harmonies.
Recommended
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, PopMatters 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine, Mojo 3 / 5 stars ]
