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Mimixxx

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World At My Feet? Rather a chainsaw at my disposal

 

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Football and music are a volatile combination, in my opinion. Separately they bring out the best and worst of their loyal supporters; from the collective pride of a community seeing their team run rings around the opposing side, to the violent riots accompanying all-to-many international matches. From the excitement of a live gig, to controversial bands given demi-god status, usually with a so-called 'disenfranchised' youth following. Not that I'm mentioning any names, Mr Doherty.

 

So, where do we end up when both come together? A utopian nightclub where the beer freely flows and everyone is in a permanent state of adrenaline-fuelled elation? Or a war zone disguised as a dingy basement bar, where hand grenades are substituted for cans of Carling and wide-eyed inhabitants storm about in a state of drug-induced paranoia?

 

Whilst I imagine that both these settings would feature in the seven circles of Hell, it is this year left to Embrace, chosen by the Football Association to take our nation to one of these extremes courtesy of their official UK World Cup anthem 'World At Your Feet'. I use the term 'anthem' very loosely, mind, as after hearing its debut airing on London's Radio One, I’d replace 'world' with 'aforementioned Embrace track' and proceed with a hefty jump in the air with aforementioned feet. Let gravity do the rest.

 

Despite lead singer Danny McNamara being "inspired by the nation's love of football when the team does well", the band have somehow failed to mention the name of the game in question, along with a catchy hoof for terrace chanting and any distinction from their back-catalogue of middle-of-the-road 'feel-good' power anthems.

 

The FA's reason for picking Embrace for this prestigious role, after much speculation around the Kaiser Chiefs, was that they were deemed to be currently one of the best guitar bands in Britain. No I'm not doubting the musicianship of McNamara and Co, especially as they gave Coldplay the support slot on their tour a few years back, thus giving them a foot in the industry door, it's just that they seem to lack Performing Energy. Despite their latest track 'Nature's Law' entering the chart at number 2 with uplifting piano tinkling and powerful lyrics, McNamara just doesn't sound like he believes what he's singing; rather like a gospel choir that's lost their faith in their Heavenly Father. Maybe someone should slip some anti-depressants into his mineral water before he steps into the recording studio next time.

 

When asked whether he thinks the England team would Embrace (aren't I clever?) the song, McNamara explain "We did it wholeheartedly so we hope they like it". Despite these high hopes, one can't help suspecting that it will result in another World Cup '98 scenario, where the official anthem by Mick Hutnall failed to steal the terraces' hearts and was instead hijacked by The Lightening Seeds' 'Three Lions', which seemed to encapsulate the essence of our nation's pride far better than a man who resembles a ginger-haired Rastafarian ever could. Rivalling anthems include 'The People's Anthem' by radio DJ Christian O' Connell and former footballer John Barnes, and the re-recording of a successful track from 1984 entitled 'That's Livin' Alright'.

 

Even with a lukewarm reception by the very people whose lips the song is meant to be chanted by, bookmakers are still making the track 1-9 to hit the number one spot when it is released on June 5, although I sense this prediction is a product of cynical optimism rather than devoted affection for the song in question.

 

Optimists would say that anything is possible if hope is kept alive. But I get the nagging feeling that England's World Cup dreams will end rather like the official song that's backing it: a predictable anti-climax that never took off in the first place.

 

http://www.thread.co.nz/article/1944

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They are fab! I love them, went see them at Delamere forest here in cheshire last month and they were amazing, besides danny having a dodgy voice at the time so his brother Rik had to help out alot on backing vocals, but it didn't ruin a great night!! Going to see them again in Manchester in October, carn't wait!!!!

 

Their next single in the UK is 'Target', they shot the video this week, don't know when its out though.

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Embrace: Flying the flag

 

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EMBRACE @ CAMBRIDGE CORN EXCHANGE FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22

 

FOLLOWING the chart-topping success of their comeback album, aptly titled This New Day, indie legends Embrace took to the stage last Friday evening at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

 

With a more than solid support set from Four Day Hombre and a fantastic set from Hastings band Mumm-Ra, who were so good I felt compelled to look them up as soon as I got home, Embrace made a trademark, low-key entrance to a pretty chilled-out crowd.

 

With an upbeat selection of tracks from the last two albums, and the inclusion of an obscure yet very moving B-side Feels like Glue from the album Dry Kids, Embrace looked confident and comfortable as they strolled their way through some of their biggest successes.

 

Come Back To What You Know and Looking As You Are were my personal highlights, although a mind-blowing, soul-lifting version of Ashes as the final song in the encore was more than worth the ticket price on its own.

 

What Embrace lack in rock 'n roll persona, they more than make up for in sparks of lyrical genius. There are soaring piano hooks which would not be out of place in a Coldplay album This New Day really seems to be flying the flag for British indie talent.

 

Danny McNamara's voice is fragile, every song fuelled with a heart-wrenching, bittersweet tenderness. The band themselves have quashed any rumours of a break-up, and after such a performance, and two number one albums, I believe that things can only get better for the re-born Embrace.

 

Amy Hodkinson

 

RE-BORN: Right, Danny and Richard McNamara from Embrace.

 

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/content/hunts/whatson/almostfamous/story.aspx?brand=HPTOnline&category=AlmostFamous&tBrand=cambs24&tCategory=AlmostFamousHPT&itemid=WEED27%20Sep%202006%2010%3A31%3A51%3A090

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Second helpings

 

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THERE can few more unexpected headline tours than that of Embrace when they come back to Liverpool early next month.

 

Once promoted by their record company at the height of Britpop as Yorkshire's answer to Oasis - two bickering brothers of Irish descent playing guitar pop - the British record buying public believed the marketing shtick and they were momentarily the market leaders of that scene. But, despite an attendant number one album, The Good Will Out, in 1998, Richard and Danny McNamara and their band mates sank without a trace shortly after, dropped by their previous record company due to poor sales.

 

Then at the turn of the century Coldplay came along and became one of the biggest bands on the planet playing the kind of emotionally wrought, stadium-friendly pop with which Embrace had made their name.

 

Having had to take proper jobs painting and decorating and giving music lessons to pay the bills, they were fortunate enough to be given a second chance, thanks to the boss of their current record label, Independiente.

 

And thanks to a song donated by Coldplay's Chris Martin and a mixture of kismet and pure good luck, Embrace had the kind of second coming that mini Messiah Bono can but dream of.

 

Their fourth album, Out of Nothing, which included the hit single Gravity (penned by Mr Gwyneth Paltrow), went multi-platinum and saw them do headlining shows of the major festivals when everyone had written them off.

 

As if it couldn't get much better, they had the coup de grace delivered to them on a plate - they were asked to write the England World cup song for this summer's campaign in Germany.

 

WHILE their FA endorsed offering, World at Your Feet, may not have captured the zeitgeist like New Order's World in Motion or The Lightning Seeds' now ubiquitous Three Lions, it sealed Embrace's deliverance from the world of proper work.

 

That they have succeeded again is a source of great pride says drummer Mike Heaton on the phone from his Yorkshire home.

 

"When we were dropped we had to assess what we were about. But through all the time of not having a deal we kept at it because we always knew that this is what we wanted to do.

 

"We had a dogged determination to keep going and would have probably just carried on until someone else signed us anyway.

 

"But Mark Richardson at Independiente thought we had underachieved and gave us another go and for that we were very grateful."

 

Perhaps the marketing the first time around did Embrace no favours by lumping them in with the Britpop movement, but it could also be observed that in one way they were a band with which the music industry in Britain eventually rediscovered thanks to big selling acts which borrowed from their template.

 

Heaton ironically says: "We were a band ahead of our time, everyone had to catch up with us," but not before magnanimously concluding, "Coldplay came after us as did Keane and they played music like ours and in a way we were lucky that we got a second chance.

 

"I am really proud of what we have done. A lot of more successful bands than us split up but we are still here after 10 years."

 

Now the 10th anniversary tour takes them away from the festival stages and headlining big shows like their recent summer date in Delamere Forest in Cheshire, and sees them go back to their roots in the theatres and universities of Britain.

 

It was a conscious move to get back to their early days says Heaton.

 

"If we hadn't done those big shows we mightn't have done this, but we wanted to play the great gigs we grew up doing," he says.

 

"I love the Manchester Apollo, it's one of my favourite venues and we were only saying the other day that it's a shame the Royal Court in Liverpool isn't a music venue any more - that was one of the best."

 

On top of the festivals, summer also saw Embrace follow the England team to Germany to showcase Word at Your Feet, a song which did not meet with universal approval from a general public which has grown accustomed to terrace sing-alongs like Three Lions.

 

Heaton however is sanguine about the whole episode. He says: "It was a very strange experience. When we were offered it we knew well that it could be very bad or very good and I think that we came out of it pretty well.

 

"We wanted to do an Embrace song rather than a football song like Three Lions because that will probably never be bettered. So we went out and had a good time and our profile was raised because of it and it got to Number 3 so we have no regrets about doing it.

 

"At the end of the day, it is what it is. We emerged with our credibility and we saw a few of the matches and had a good time doing it."

 

Now reunited with legendary producer Youth, the man behind their first record as well as the Verve's Urban Hymns and Liverpool heroes Shack's HMS Fable, their latest, A New Day has seen them top the album charts again. This tour sees them say goodbye to that record and see them start in a new direction.

 

Heaton says: "This album was so easy to do because we just got in the studio with Youth, with nothing written and we just plugged in and played. Youth directed everything and sometimes we were getting through a track a day. It was so easy and a brilliant experience which energised the whole band."

 

This amazingly productive rate has been put on the back burner just recently as the band has been focusing on reviving classic songs not played for a while.

 

"We have been learning some songs we haven't played for eight or nine years, so it has been great doing that in rehearsal. We are doing songs which a lot of fans haven't heard live before or since the very first tours. But after the tour we will be going straight back into the studio to write and record again.

 

Heaton adds, "We are grateful for the second chance and we are enjoying it a whole lot more."

 

When pushed on gossip on the WAGS in Germany, Heaton pertinently concludes, "We weren't that important."

 

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/entertainment/previewsandreviews/tm_objectid=17842323%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=3%26headline=second%2dhelpings-name_page.html

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Embrace - I Can't Come Down (Independiente)

 

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More MOR heaven for anyone out there who needs to fill up their wishlist in time for Christmas.

 

Embrace had a new album out earlier this year. Full of mope-rock piano ballads, it was the usual heartfelt goop for potential Westlife fans who by a sad accident of birth had been born male. Just in case you missed it and have exhausted the Coldplay section of the local HMV, I Can't Come Down is here to save the day, nudging you back in the direction of music that should make you want to slit your wrists just in time for the Christmas rush.

 

Look, here's a bit of advice: if you like this, you don't really like music. You like candlelit suppers and washing the car at the weekend in between trips to B&Q. It's all very nice that you like to take the missus out for night at Wembley Arena once a year for her birthday but be honest - you'd both rather be at an Andrew Lloyd Webber, wouldn't you?

 

http://www.musicomh.com/singles6/embrace-7_1206.htm

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Gravity- Embrace vs Coldplay.

 

Do not know whether this has been debated before but I was wondering which version people thinks is the definative version, Embrace or Coldplay? I have to say that after hearing the version by Embrace the version by Coldplay sounds boring. :o Sorry and all that but that is how I feel. What do others think?

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as much as i'd love to say coldplay's is better, they're about even in my book. embrace's i feel is lesss boring as you said but i feel there is more emotion in coldplay's version, maybe because chris wrote it

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