Pearl Jam… Knee deep in grunge
The rest of this week’s singles: Pearl Jam, Babyshambles, Eminem and more!
Published on August 30th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
Here are the rest of this week’s singles – or, at least, the ones we could be bothered to write about…
Babyshambles – “Nothing Comes to Nothing”
Just not even really trying anymore. Sweet enough in its jangly way, mind.
Rocksucker says: Two Quails out of Five!
Be Like Pablo – “Without the Pain”
Scotland now has its very own Sugar Ray/Smash Mouth.
Not half as bad as that might sound. Good sludgy fun, in fact.
Rocksucker says: Three Quails out of Five!
Coldplay – “Atlas”
There you go, sway back and forth to that lot.
As you might glean, we couldn’t find a video or embed of Coldplay’s song for The Hunger Games – just this barely legible lyric sheet.
If the last however many years of Coldplay are anything to go by, though, it’s probably some whiny drivel set to an artifice of artsiness achieved by getting someone like Brian Eno to lay down some twinkly synths, or something.
Hands up, though, their first couple of albums were alright.
Oh wait, here’s “Atlas”…
Bwahaha! Gotcha!
Unless of course you didn’t bother clicking on that, in which case fair dos to you.
Rocksucker says: ? Quails out of Five!
?
Eminem – “Berzerk”
We quite liked “Survival” last week, but this teeters over the edge into ‘grating rock/rap carrying limp message’ territory.
Less excited about MMLP2 now. The guy’s undeniably still very skillful, though.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
John Legend – “Made to Love”
S’alright, like.
Critics’ll go nuts for it because it’s modern R&B/soul with a vaguely interesting production, which is something critics can attach themselves to in the hope that it makes them look broad-minded.
Doesn’t make this any less sort-of-dull…at least until three quarters of the way through when it suddenly takes flight operatically and becomes really quite magnificent.
Okay, we’re confused now.
Rocksucker says: Three Quails out of Five!
Kodaline – “Brand New Day”
Delightfully unpretentious, or drearily unimaginative? Rocksucker’s erring towards the latter, but then we’re bastards like that.
Either way, it’s pleasant-enough twee ‘n’ twinkly pop, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Rocksucker says: Two and a Half Quails out of Five!
Pearl Jam – “Mind Your Manners”
Meaty yet literate ‘rawk’ from these masters of the game.
“Mind Your Manners” is the first single to be taken from forthcoming new LP Lightning Bolt, and what can we say? It won’t come as a shock, but it’s presentable and energetic stuff.
Rocksucker says: Three Quails out of Five!
Rizzle Kicks – “Lost Generation”
Sporadically vaguely witty social commentary – kudos for the line “more confused than John Terry’s black friends”, at least – but somewhat undermined by the crushing familiarity of the minor-to-major-chord-and-back-again trumpet-y ska-pop progression that’s probably kept under lock and key at every mainstream recording studio in the country.
“Let’s just use that trumpet thing again.”
“Hey, yeah, people love that trumpet thing.”
“Go trumpet thing!”
A decent try at breaking up the tedium, we guess.
Rocksucker says: Two Quails out of Five!
Zero 7 – “On My Own”
Didn’t they used to be a bit more ‘chill-out’-y than this? Not that we’re complaining. This is pleasantly floaty wibble-step, if we may coin such a term…at least until it decides to become a mournfully glacial kind of disco, at which point we lose interest a tad.
We persevere, though, and it comes out well the other side. It’s a long one at nine minutes or so, but there’s a decent amount here for one to get one’s rocks off to.
Rocksucker says: Three Quails out of Five!
Those were the rest of this week’s singles for yiz! Why not check out the best of this week’s singles and/or the worst of this week’s singles?
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About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
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