CD Review
This review was originally written by Jose Bernardo for www.theweeklyriff.com between 2008 and 2010.
These were Jose’s first impressions of the songs and were not written after multiple spins.
Artist: Lily Allen
Album: It’s Not Me, It’s You (2009 Regal)
Tracks: 12
Artist website: http://www.lilyallenmusic.com
OVERVIEW
This is a review of British pop singer Lily Allen’s sophomore effort It’s Not Me, It’s You.
Whenever I sit down to review a pop album, I ready myself for mindless thump and the possibility that I will hate the album. I never want to write anything bad about any artist’s art. It’s already hard enough to make a decent living in the arts without having to deal with wise-ass remarks from people who weren’t a part of creating the art.
That said, I can in all honesty say that I really enjoyed this album. There are some very nice harmonic progressions here. The music is catchy. It sounded fresh in my ears. The arrangements are quite sparse and simple.
Over all, this is a very enjoyable pop album.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Not Fair, I Could Say, Never Gonna Happen, Fuck You, He Wasn’t There
PLAY BY PLAY
Track 1 – Everyone’s At It
Quite a simple and catchy pop track. The vocal melody plays off the drum beats. Cool idea.
Track 2 – The Fear
This was the lead single off the album. It’s such a catchy modern pop song with very subtle “old school” sensibilities. The harmonic progression is very nice.
Track 3 – Not Fair
This was the second single from the album. This is more of a country 2-feel. Interesting to find such contrast.
Track 4 – 22
(As of this writing) This will be the fourth single from the album. I really wish the shuffle feel of this track was more pronounced. It’s almost as though no one wants to write in the shuffle feel anymore, with the exception of blues artists. I really like the melody.
Track 5 – I Could Say
I really like this track a lot. The melody is very good. This track has single potential.
Track 6 – Back To The Start
This is the track I was expecting to hear when I started the review. The melody is nice. I’m just not a big fan of the low end thump. The track probably does something for people who want to dance along to it, but it really does nothing for me.
Track 7 – Never Gonna Happen
I LOVE the accordion! Awesome! And this isn’t even a Weird Al Yankovic song! This is such a cute song. This deserves to be a single!
Track 8 – Fuck You
This was the third single from the album. When the track started, I wanted to start singing the lyrics from (They Long To Be) Close To You as recorded by The Carpenters along with the piano intro. This is such a cool and catchy song – if you can forgive the expletive…
Track 9 – Who’d Have Known
Nice balladesque track.
Track 10 – Chinese
This track made me sleepy. Totally a “filler” track.
Track 11 – Him
Pretty acoustic guitar in this track.
Track 12 – He Wasn’t There
I really love how this track almost sounds like it could have been recorded in the 1940’s in the first 40 seconds of the song. This is such a cute song. The drums should have sit a bit farther back in the mix.