It's been some time since I've given these Welsh boys any guarantee of my listening to them. With a new single out, after two fairly mediocre albums, I figured I'd take a minute out of my hectic schedule to see what sound they were aiming for on whatever they put out as an album next.
I would be lying if I said I didn't recoil in horror at the first two bars, which didn't exactly sound too harmonious. But, after that point, things began to take shape...and I wondered what was going on with this song. On the one hand, it worked like a This Is Menace track, and on the other hand, it worked like any kind of scene-kid-bothering pop rock.
I grew up listening to these guys. They were the songs of my formative years, sitting around with Between Order and Model, Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation, or Hours, blasting from speakers; queuing up from 9am on a freezing morning to get a "Hi" and a signature from the band. And then, they just lost it and became all 'mature'.
While this is almost a step back to the 'good old days', I think it'll take a lot more to win back the fans who decided that "Grown up FFAF" wasn't what they wanted to hear.
But, on the laughable side, in hunting for a video to put up for the blog, I came across "Sugarscape", which seems to be some tween girl magazine. It mentions the new single and compilation album (why do they have a Greatest Hits after 7 years!?), and used this unmissable line:
Their previous four albums and their new tracks make up their new album which will be out 28 September called Your History is Mine: 2002-2009, a must have for hard-core fans!
Hardcore fans? Yes, those clingy buggers. Unless they meant fans of hardcore, who, I'd hope, left the band alone when it all became a bit too middle-of-the-road. Oh well. I'll leave you with the new video for some purpose or another:
