Albums Of The Decade: The Futureheads S/T (2004)
Some bands are plagued when they release a good debut album and in a sense it’s a curse for a band such as The Futureheads. Their self titled album released on July 12, 2004 marks one of my favourite albums of the decade. While their other two albums haven’t followed suit their first is still just as memorable and as enjoyable then it was then.
It’s not a perfect album by any means. It’s a fun, frantic and wild album that doesn’t really work too well on an album level – it really feels like a collection of greatest hits. Probably one of the best covers ever has to be the Futureheads version of Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love. Basically anyone doing a cover of this song has really failed to match this version (point to me a cover if you don’t think so).
Their singing is surprisingly very good. It’s not great singing in the technical sense but it’s entertaining – English accents and all and high energy with excellent backing vocals (a capella effects work brilliantly). The music is high energy of the post-punk variety and there’s just something special with the vocals and musicianship together. I can’t help but sing along and while I don’t have the same vocal prowess, I just feel like the music is just put so well together that it’s perfect in its imperfections. Everything seems so sped up and while I complain that albums are too short, the truth of the matter is that you’re getting a whole lot in the 30 minutes.
5 years after the original release, it’s an album I still like putting on once in awhile. It either gives me a shot in the arm or just makes me enjoy music for what it is. It’s loose and uncaring pop and in The Futurehead’s shamelessness it’s helped them make an album and songs that bands should be working toward. Unfortunately for The Futureheads, they made an album people tend to work toward at the start. Hopefully no one forgets how good this album was when they list their Arcade Fires and what not on their lists.
Hounds Of Love by The Futureheads
Stupid And Shallow by The Futureheads
Alms by The Futureheads
Tags: albums of the 2000
