The Long Blondes – Couples Review
The Long Blondes‘ Someone To Drive You Home was a VERY GOOD album so much so that I was forced to give it a 5 out of 5 for being a perfect album.
A year later, they released their 2nd album “Couples” recently and it received some significant blog hype before Pitchfork spanked it with a poor review. (hmm spanking long blondes…sounds like a porno). I was still excited to say the least.
I have to tell you from the start that I hated the album right off the bat. Stylistically they changed from their post-punk/pop elements to a more new wave style. However instead of being over the top like in their first album, Couples feels subdued.
First vocally, Kate Jackson rarely if ever is singing at the top of her lungs…it feels lazy and while you could use “effortless” as a term the Long Blondes don’t maximize her vocals to the full potential. There’s just not enough soul and emotion. Lyrically it takes a step back which seem much simpler and when is “here comes the serious bit” fitting in a song. I’d figure there would be a better chorus to fit something in rather then “here it comes, here it comes”. Blah. I can write a song like that and if you’ve seen my writing…that’s the biggest insult everrrrr!
The change in styles pissed me off. Why the need to change it? Someone to Drive You Home and the bonus disc that fit with it were perfect. The Long Blondes decided they wanted to be slower, softer and have no guitar synths or anything cool that made The Long Blondes hot. The punk elements was really what set the Long Blondes apart from other pop bands and it was that same style that made their first album such a rousing success. The Long Blondes diverged from being over the top pop with… crap? or really trying to reverse it around and that’s where they ultimately fail.
They changed styles for no reason and tried something new and I think that’s where they ultimately failed. I have no idea what some of the critics are thinking and I think P4K is right but I’m willing to go a step further and say this is utter crap. They went from awesome band in my eyes to super lame. There’s nothing wrong with being “poppy” and usually the range of vocals and adding punk elements that were very enjoyable.
I tried to give it a chance but there’s nothing here for me like. The album is so bad that the planned show to Toronto they were planning, I have scrapped.
Even with less songs and shorter tracks…they do an even worse job with providing quantity and fail in almost every aspect in comparison. Sure you can argue this album is mediocre but it’s a failure in almost every sense of the word. One of the very few albums that got worse and worse as I did the write up and I even called myself a fan of them!
Rating: 1 out of 5
The Long Blondes was someone I wanted to take home, then became someone I wanted to ditch after the night was done!
I’ll post some songs from the North American bonus disc:
All Bar One Girls by The Long Blondes
Fulwood Babylon by The Long Blondes
P.S. I’d provide the obligatory album links to CD stores but if you’re still buying the album it’s best not to buy it here!
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You have to let bands move on. If you want another Someone to Drive You Home why don’t you just listen to that album again? Just saw them in London and it was a great show, they’re making a lot of interesting new sounds. I’m sure you won’t be missed in Toronto!