Comparison of Albums

Oh Dear, I seem to have entirely forgotten about this blog, well, I've remembered now, and I've set a reminder every Monday so I won't forget again... I probably will though, you know me.

But anyway, people (person) reading this blog, I found this post sitting in my little folder of posts so I thought I'd give it to you. It's not finished (I don't think) and I haven't read it since I wrote it and I can't be bothered to do it now. It's not even slightly relevant to music at the moment but, you know, it's all relative or something...

Here it is, forgive me for it's shoddy, unfinished ways.

I got bored of talking about things I like so I came up with the idea of reviewing 2 albums in a comparative fashion. I picked 2 albums which although they may not seem particularly similar but really are. So here we go with Day and Age and The Resistance.

Day and Age is the latest offering by the Killers, a band that I've never really had an amazing lot of time for, they're alright, they're a bit bland and they resorted to "I've got Soul but I'm not a Soldier" which is just nonsense and rubbish (see Bill Bailey for more on that).

The Resistance is the new (well, I am a bit late, I had the idea for this post in the summer) one from Muse, a band that I am actually a fan of. No one else even does Epic Rock (I made it up, live with it) do they?

So, "Why compare them!" I hear you scream. Well, the reasons are numerous.

Number One: They're both albums from established bands that are pretty far removed from their previous form.

Number Two: They're actually quite similar, the two bands have merged towards the middle. Imagine a sort of Labour/Tory relationship, two separate entities have fused into some sort of middle ground that doesn't bear much resemblance to either of the originals. Obviously Resistance is darker and Day & Age is poppier, but the point still stands.

Number Three: They were released at similar times to similar critical acclaim, their old fans saying they'd got old and sold out and proper reviewers wondering who this band were.

Number Four: They have similar covers.

So, let's get down to business, starting with the Killers. The first most of us heard of this album is when Human starting being played on the radio. At first I couldn't believe it wasn't from the 80's. Seeing as I love everything 80's at the moment I was instantly smitten. It was synthy, it was poppy but it was actually clever. Good composition, lyrics that almost made sense and introspective, I was very impressed. Starman came out and was also very good, a bit closer to their older stuff and slightly darker-sounding. I was, once again, impressed. I intended to get the album but I just sort of forgot. Months passed until I looked it up on spotify, only to find that the whole album impressed me equally. It's not very serious, it's definitely pop-based but it's lack of pretension gave it a kind of optimistic joy. If I had to criticise I'd say it's all a bit the same, but why should that be an issue if it's good?

Despite the similarities I talked about earlier The Resistance is actually the opposite of Day & Age. Muse were never a pretentious band, they were simple, solid and excellent at what they do. I heard a couple of the singles and liked them. They had different influences, they went places. I was, and it was a feeling I was getting used to, impressed. When I heard tell that the album contained classical based things, I reached new levels of impression. However, on listening to it, I found it bland. The singles I liked were still good and the 3 part syphonette on the end wasn't half bad but there was no spark and it wasn't nearly as inventive as it should have been.

And that's where it ends I'm afraid. I can't be bothered to finish it so there.

Goodbye.