Album Reviews |
New Radicals
One hit wonders are more commonly associated with either Rap artists or novelty pop, no disparagement to Rap intended - and no,
I'm not about to mention Vanilla Ice either! But, first of all we have a little mock Rock N Roll guitar part leading into the Eighties pop of 'Mother We Just Can't Get Enough'. Eighties Pop? Yes, well. Stranger things have happened. It actually starts out a pretty nice song but it's far too long at over five minutes to justify it's
existence. What do I mean by that? Well, it sounds nice, pretty good in fact, but only for about two minutes. That's all the time you actually need to hear everything the song has to offer. The other three minutes only provide more Bono from U2 style vocal wailing in the worst possible 'tribute' to Bono you could imagine, mix in a little semi-rap 'funk' section of vocals, and there you go. A perfectly good song triumphantly ruined and slammed into the realms of complete unsubtly and extreme annoyance factor. Speaking of which, 'You Get What You Give' is one of those songs. The first thirty seconds of hearing it played for the umpteenth time on the radio sounds great! Hey, perfect pop to go! It is in fact one of the most obvious and irritating songs ever written, and the very fact The New Radicals were unable to follow it up ( they split up in fact! ) seems to prove this is one of those songs, that for inexplicable reasons captures the imagination of the general public above and beyond that which the song actually deserves. I mean, it offers nothing new. Thirty-something's may well have nodded their heads in appreciation at this reprise of one of the worst years for charting rock and pop (1988, in case you were wondering) but the rest of us wanted to puke after around a minute of listening to the song. The rest? I think
I've brought this up in other reviews of other artists. I want a song TO PROGRESS! Especially if it's a pop song! The likes of the Velvet Underground may very well be able to stretch a single groove over eighteen minutes, but then, they offer stupid lyrics that change throughout the song, no chorus, distortion - the
blissful variety of random distortion! What happened to pop songs having interesting middle eights? Cos this bloody doesn't! 'You Get What You Give' is a poor song, but a good late Eighties pop single. Shame it was released in the late Nineties, really. Even more of a shame it became a massive hit, but what are you gonna do? Even more a shame is the fact the rest of this album is even more hideously worse than even the mediocre two songs which open this set.
New Radicals
Albums
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too 1 ( 1998 )
Mother We Just Can't Get Enough / You Get What You Give / I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending / I Don't Wanna Die Anymore / Jehovah Made This Whole Joint for You / Someday We'll Know / Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too / In Need of a Miracle / Gotta Stay High / Technicolor Lover / Flowers / Crying Like a Church on Monday
'I Hope I Didn't Give Away' is full of mock soul and totally unconvincing and shambolic although actually presented as a shiny pop song. Which, doesn't make sense to me. It's lacking in execution, let's put it that way and the vocals are very wayward, to say the least. 'I Don't Wanna Die Anymore' is vomit inducing with a whining sounding vocal to the nth degree. If you're gonna whine about how miserable you are, at least offer a little desolate romance for the lost romantic poets to latch onto! 'I Don't Wanna Die Anymore'? Why? This sorry excuse for a ballad has cheered you up, has it? Have you met a wonderful girl? Are you filled with rage? Have you suddenly taken singing lessons? Ah, forget it. To be honest, I can't even be bothered to do a song by song analysis of this sorry excuse of an album. We get more bland, more lacking in imagination, more lack of anything even slightly new. We get lots more wayward vocals. Now, wayward is ok, if the voice has character. But, these vocals don't have character. Sure, they sound distinctive. That alone doesn't equal character. This is just a singer, who can't sing. He tried his best,
I'll give him that. He's obviously a big fan of soul music, so that's a plus - although not when applied to this record of course, because all of his performances lack conviction and sound contrived. The
execrable five minute long title track sums up everything that's bad about this entire album. A hole in the middle of nowhere has more substance than this. It's not even happy sounding! If
I'm gonna get a song lacking substance, I at least want it to sound either stupidly dumb, or stupidly happy. This, is just trying. It tried my patience, anyway. But, taste is taste. I was going to say something else just now about the almost pleasant pop of 'Flowers' but it's temporarily eluded my mind. This album has that effect on people. It makes you forget you've ever even existed. 'I Don't Want To Die Anymore'? I died half way through listening to this album.
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Comment?Readers Comments
Ben Marlin COSMICBEN@aol.com
I have been poking around your site this morning, and as usual I really like what I am reading. I do disagree with one of your reviews enough to write a comment, though. I can't believe you gave the New Radicals a 1! I mean, your review is hilarious and I have no doubt that you honestly feel they suck. But I think they deserve more credit. I admit that the album is somewhat incoherent and irritating, but Greg Alexander is a damn good craftsman. There are tons of melodies on here that I love. "Someday We'll Know" is a beautiful song. The title track does indeed suck, but I'd say that every other song has a nice melody, often gorgeous. I'd give it a 7, although your 1 is a lot more interesting :) Keep up the great work on your site!
pumba@dinata.lt
you're a sick man. i don't know why, but i think you hate the "new radicals" themselves, but not their music, and you neither can understand what they're trying to say nor get the mood of their songs.
IRCO the_hitman21@hotmail.com
well first of all i would like to tell u about ur opinion about New Rads that..as a
fact they ROCK! and the one the poor and blinded is u...im not tryin' to be
mean..iam just sayin what i read on ur page..i really think that u are a person wich
only think that knows a lot about music and good songs-..but is easy to see that u
can hardly see inside the deep lyrics of this great writer...i dont know what kind
of music do u like,...but GOD ..i hope never agree with one of ur opinions. i just
write what i think and i can see for what u wrote..if u ever read the lyrics of
Flowers or Gotta stay high...Damn those are not the same fucking lyrics of one
stupid group as BSB or NSYNC...i dont know WHo are u..but i think u just know
nothing about music and the stupid cat wich is up this page doesnt look more stupid
than u do------have a nice day
daniel ward dappadan27@hotmail.com
Nice site, but i have to question you about giving the album a 1? surely it is not one of the worst albums ever? (and psst....it was realeased in 98 not 88!)
Jude jude_defensor@hotpop.com
I can't stand the New Radical's singers voice! That alone was enough to get me to
avoid them. But how could you when they got played all over the radio, in malls, in
buses, everywhere? There was no escape! And just when you thought it was over, Mandy
Moore does a duet of Someday We'll Know and it's all over the place again. And the
more I heard them the more obvious it became just how insipid their lyrics and
melodies were. A band that deserved to disappear.
Chris chrisbatch@madasafish.com
I think that were the best band ever. Every song on the album is absolutely
beautiful and I never get sick of them. It is my favourite ever album. I am gutted
that they split!
Kevin kevinduncan@hotmail.com
what you have said is complete rubbish this is one of the best albums i have heard and i never will get bored of you get what you give
Christian llotzafun@hotmail.com
It's nice of you to keep a site dedicated to music reviews, but it's hard not to notice your biased opinion. Granted, New Radicals is not the greatest ever but they are hardly the worst. Get what you give is a perfect example of a solid anthem. A song just as solid as Adam's Song by Blink 182, who I'm sure you also probably cannot appreciatte as one of todays best song writing bands. Not trying to be mean or disrespectful, and I haven't even listened to the New Rads. cd for about a year but know that they deserve alot more credit than what Greg Alexander receives. Just look at how beautiful Danielle Brisbois music is, but it just never had the right marketing to ever be noticed. People that know a descent amount concerning the industry will understand who Danielly Brisbois is.
Peter Beswick pink_16_69@hotmail.co.uk
have read your site/reviews for a while now, and on the whole I do think you get it right. except with Nick Cave's best CD not being " No more shall we part " having said all that what on earth is this New radicals CD review all about ? did they shoot your entire family or something. This is a great pop Album. The words to Church like Monday alone are worth the money. You americans need to stop living in the past and listen to more up to date music.
Yazz adrian.mee@gmail.com
You Get What You Give makes we want to kill someone. Preferably that Gregg Alexander jerk. Oh, and Beck had more talent in his little finger than this whole band. Dig the review!
Brian Dallas
gregg wore his hat low cuz he was tired.....he made only one album to prove that they could do it......and they did......i hope i didn't just give away the ending............
this page last updated 11/3/09
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