Reviews
Nizlopi
Half These Songs Are About You
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2006-05-03
Novelty records, love them or hate them, they’ll always be around. Christmas 2005 saw a track called ‘JCB’ or ‘The JCB Song’ at number one in the UK. These kinds of songs always tend to be one-hit-wonders á la Chesney Hawkes. Remember Babylon Zoo? Of course not, they didn’t have a career after ‘Spaceman’. What about Scatman John and ‘I’m a Scatman’? They’ve all had as much success musically as David Hasselhoff has had outside Germany. It’s no doubt Nizlopi will follow the same trend. Why do I say “no doubt”? Well, no-one bought this album, that’s why. It has been out since the summer of 2005 (when ‘JCB’ was first released to no acclaim). Strangely enough, even after the success of that song, people still didn’t go out and buy it. And what’s with the name anyway? Nizlopi are named after a Hungarian girl both band members (Luke Concannon & John Parker) fancied in school. Her appearance and personality better have been wonderful, ‘cause her name downright sucks.
‘Fine Story’ opens the album. And the eleven tracks here prove to be a fine story. Luke Concanon has a very unique sounding voice. What he does can’t quite be called singing: it’s more musical narration than singing. The string section is used to great effect here, and makes you even forget about that song. Track two, ‘Girls’ is a simple acoustic number. Don’t expect anything adventurous with this album, you won’t get it. Nizlopi have a set routine: acoustic guitar, percussion, strings, keyboard and vocals. No more. Luckily, this set routine works pretty well.
‘Call It Up’ moves into new territory. Well not really, although it does begin with a bit of electronica. Ten seconds in, that disappears and we’re back to the usual Nizlopi. Female backing here is provided by someone or other. I could look it up, but I doubt anyone really cares. Somehow I doubt too many people are reading this review. Hello Mom! ‘Call It Up’ features a smidgen of brass, which gives the song a different dimension. It’s a song which demands radio play. Why they didn’t release it after the success of ‘JCB’ one will never know. ‘Faith’ is sadly not a George Michael cover. Although based on Fred Durst’s attempt at covering GM, do we really want any more ‘Faith’ covers? The song references the legend Ian Drury, and that’s always a plus in my book. The chorus brings the song in a different, more soulful direction, and it actually sounds like Concannon is singing! Shock. And. Horror.
‘Long Distance’ or should I say ‘Long, Long, Long, Long Distance’ has a very repetitive chorus. In a way this works, in other ways it’s totally grating. Sometimes this song can be enjoyable, other times, not so much. “Love’s a bastard too” is a nice line though. Who ever thought the JCB Boys would be swearing? There’s even a fuck in one of the other tracks. Talking of JCBs, you’ll never guess what song comes next… If you live in the UK or Europe, skip this part and jump to the next paragraph; if not, read on… ‘JCB’ was overplayed on radio and TV last Christmas, and thousands of households have a copy of the single. However, it’s not actually that bad a song. If the lyrics weren’t about being “5 and my Dad is Bruce Lee, driving in around in his JCB”, then people older than ten might have actually appreciated the song. The melody has a lullaby quality, before building into a crescendo in the final quarter of the song. So what am I saying here? I like the song. And I’ll probably dig it out in years to come and play it for my kids, and their kids too.
‘Love Rage On’ has a nice Spanish feel to it. All it’s missing is Santana’s guitar work. You may say that he’s too big a name to appear on this album, but remember he did do a duet with that Muppet™ from The Calling. The reason Santana would have been good is because the song sucks, and really needs something to make it better. ‘Freedom’ seems like it’s going to be Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ Part II. It starts with some basic piano, adds some vocal and percussion, and then goes nowhere. Around the forty-five second mark it seems like it’s coming, but nothing comes. Quite absurd(ist) really. Luke, if you’re out there, here’s some advice: never use the word ‘sonnet’ in a song. It just reminds everyone you’re not Shakespeare. And if there is anyone actually reading this, and going to listen to this album: a Tory is a member of the British Conservative party, and the Fuzz are the Police.
‘Wash Away’ also has a Spanish start, but thankfully loses it twenty seconds in. Maybe they learned a lesson from ‘Love Rage On’. Maybe not. This song sucks too. Perhaps people were right not to buy it. I’m Walter Benjamin’s collecter, so I have to have every album, that’s why I have it. If I was a normal music fan I wouldn’t have gotten this either. ‘Sing Around It’, like ‘JCB’ has a gentle lullaby quality. Zzz zzz zzz zzz zzz zzz zzz. Oh sorry, what happened there? I must have dozed off for a few seconds. The song has some Christmas images in it, and may be more suited to wintertime. Thus, this rules out three quarters of the year, so for those three seasons: skip. Closer ‘Worry’ has a reference to Palestine, which you don’t find in most pop music. Sadly, it’s too little, too late.
Tracks to Download: ‘Call It Up’, ‘Fine Story’ and that ‘JCB’ song
Score: 6.4
I thought I’d review this album, and maybe get more people to go out and buy it. But while listening to it again, I realised it just isn’t that good. Some of it is, but most of it isn’t. Still, it’s much better acoustic singer-songwriter stuff than José Gonzalez makes.
- Ronan Hunt-Murphy