DESTROY ROCK AND ROLL

Mylo

Songs that are nothing more than lists set to music are tricky beasts to do successfully. Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire is a prime example – all he does is go through world events that have happened throughout his lifetime. It’s a bit out of date now, mind, seeing as it came out in 1989 and he’s hardly likely to release a new updated edition every year, he’s a singer not The Smash Hits Yearbook. This is a list song too, although compared to Billy Joel Mylo’s a cheat. He hasn’t written his own lyrics, no siree, what he’s done is find a sample of some bloke (no idea who) and set that to a pretty good dance tune. That’s really all you need to know about the tune, because you’ll probably be hearing the names the sampled bloke is reeling off and going “I remember them! And him! He got his name wrong! Who are they? I’ve got her first album!” and so on. So what’s this bloke going on about, I hear you ask? Well, actually I didn’t hear that, newspaper is rubbish at conducting soundwaves (especially from where you are to where I am), so for the purposes of this review I’ll have to pretend I did. So I’ll tell you. This bloke is saying that breakdancing is wrong and that rock music should be destroyed. Then God’s brought into it and his judgment is requested for some of the people who’ve been doling out this filth to the kids. Michael Jackson and Prince, you can just about understand – they were fairly raunchy some years back, but asking Huey Lewis and the News to kneel before God is possibly overkill and how the hell Bananarama ended up on this chap’s list is anybody’s guess. Mind you, hearing him mispronounce David Bowie and Cyndi Lauper’s names indicates a possible lack of knowledge on his subject, but he’s still there at the end, still reeling off names in the same monotone he started with (listen carefully, at the very end I think he even includes Band Aid – steady on old bean) and when the song ends, he has to be faded out because he’s still going. It’s one of those songs that requires a second listen, just so you catch all the names and, do you know something, I happen to like this one. It’s certainly different and any song where Sheena Easton is asked to account for her recording career can’t be bad. Modern Girl – the prosecution rests its case.

TUMBLE AND FALL

Feeder

I nearly didn’t finish listening to this song. Not a good sign, but I made it to the end. The problem is it’s just not particularly noteworthy. It’s a downtempo rock song, very calm, very measured and with constant “yeah yeah yeah”s which got a bit annoying. It’s very well done and it’s not the worst thing Feeder have released by any means, but it has that “oh, is that it then” aura about it. Shame really.

BREAKIN'

The Music

On the other hand, this is a belter. The Music are a band who’ve improved massively since their first album, which after a while blurred into a series of riffs that went for absolutely ever – the sort of album that, if it could, would flash a calendar up on the CD player’s display instead of minutes and seconds. This is much more fun. Now The Music have learned to condense their songs down to realistic lengths, this one doesn’t waste any of its running time whatsoever (and it doesn’t sound like it’s been hacked to bits to fit on a 2 track CD either) and is proper cheerful rock – yes kids, there is such a thing and it isn’t Busted. Everyone on the CD had a good time and so did I and that’s what matters.