We haven't had a Review recently, have we? :thinking:

Anyway - I decided to write something about an album I discovered not too long ago and share my opinion with you. So here we go! ;)

 

 

Albert Hammond, Jr. - Yours To Keep

 

 

Release Date: October, 13th 2006

 

Albert Hammond, Jr., son of the famous song-writer Albert Hammond (e.g. "It Never Rains In Southern California") and moreover The-Strokes-guitarist, released his first solo-work in the middle of this year's october and many didn't even know who he was - so did I.

I stumbled over Albert Hammond, Jr. in a MTV-Show, where they aired his first single's video and I immediately decided to buy the album the next day.

 

I've got to admit, that I got a weird feeling about that album after I got to the store and saw the cover-art (will this contain lullabies?! :stunned: ), but I bought it anyway and started to listen.

 

The first song, Cartoon Music For Superheroes, seemed to confirm my feelings caused by the cover-art at first, but Albert's calm and melodic singing made me instantly feel comfortable with his style. In Transit starts with a faster rythmic pattern and you can definitely sound out the Strokes-style, but nonetheless Hammond keeps his very own sound.

During the next songs Hammond sticks to melodic and catchy songs, Everyone Gets A Star is good, but Bright Young Thing is definitely one of my favourites of his album - it doesn't sound like The Strokes at all and Albert does a very good job singing that beautiful song.

After that song, Hammond chooses a different style: Blue Skies sounds very folk-ish, you might compare it to irish folk-music. People who like acoustic songs should try that one ;) After that comes the song which got me to buy this album - 101 is a lot rockier than the songs before and has a very, very catchy guitar-riff! The songwriting is also very, very nice - actually it is in every of Hammond's songs.

Next song is Call An Ambulance - it's a typical Hammong song, calm, melodic, easy - nothing special about it. Scared is a very rythmic song and, in my opinion, the weakest of the whole album - it just doesn't seem to fit at all to the other songs. Holiday is way better - the title describes the song perfectly, it simply feels like holiday! Still the not too complicated guitar-riffs and catchy melodies.

After we went on a small holiday-trip we approach the last song - Hard To Live In The City. The song sounds astonishingly like a Strokes-song! I think, that song might most likely also be a Strokes-song - but I love it's outro: An instrumental part of music with electric guitar and trumpet, sounds very spanish or mexican... very cool! :)

 

That's my small summary of the album's songs - and that leads me to one of the biggest drawbacks: Yours To Keep has too few and too short songs - just ten 3 to 4 minutes long songs is a little bit weak in my opinion. Another thing some people might disapprove is the simplicity of Albert Hammond, Jr.'s style - the solos aren't very complicated, the lyrics don't have many hidden political meanings, but to me this is what makes the quality of the whole album - it's just easy music to enjoy!

 

Here's a short list of (my) Pros and Contras:

 

+ Easy, catchy melodies

+ Calm songs

+ Strokes-influence

+ 101, Bright Young Thing, Holiday

 

- too few and too short songs

- Scared

 

You might like this album, if you listen to The Strokes, Coldplay, Editors, Keane, Muse, ...

 

 

and finally my rating :nice:

 

8.0/10

 

hope you liked my review :rolleyes: - And do more reviews, everybody! :)

Oh, great work Felix! I'm impressed!

 

Two weeks ago I also watched "MTV brand:neu" (with Mirjam Weichselbraun :nice:) and I guess after the Babyshambles clip they have shown "Back To The 101" by Albert Hammond Jr. I really like the whole song from the beginning! That's why I bought his new album at Mediamarkt yesterday and I'm positively surprised. I would give it a 8 of 10.

 

By the way, is the song called "101" or "Back To The 101"? I wanted to find the right answer but I didn't...

I also watched it right after the Babyshamble's "The Blinding" :D But it was at MTV Rockzone ;)

 

Glad you found out about it the same way as I did :)

 

Well I suppose It's called "101", 'cause that's written on the back of the album :nice:

Yeah, what a coincidence! :D

 

Yeah, the albums says "101" but I found a lot sites with "Back To The 101" including Last.fm. Well, it doesn't matter, I was just curious about it. ;)

nice Winnie. :nice:

 

but i'm not impressed with this album, at all.. :(

Why am I just now hearing of him? :nice:

 

Ohhh my, so delightful.

i meant to hear his album a long time ago and i just have now..it's alright.. i really like Blue Skies, 101 and Scared..In Transit i've already heard before...I think it was already a rare Strokes song?