Busted's Present For Everyone (A Present For Everyone - Busted)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	A Present For Everyone - Busted
Date:	27/12/07 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An excellent album featuring fifteen fantastic Pop Punk anthems

Disadvantages: Lyrical intelligence can at times be at a minimum

Busted were an English Pop Punk band which released two albums and nine singles during their four year history. Active between the years of 2001 and 2005, Busted were a massively popular pop phenomenon with four Number One's to their name, and eight of their nine singles in fact having reached the top 3 in the Official UK Chart. The ninth can in fact be discounted entirely as it was only a Limited-Edition single which never could have entered the charts anyway. 'A Present For Everyone' I feel is the best of the two albums the band released and is in fact one of my favourite albums of all time. Of their four Official UK Number One's, three came from this album; 'Crashed The Wedding', 'Who's David', and '3am'. In the album charts, 'A Present For Everyone' peaked at number 2, eventually becoming a Triple Platinum selling album.

After the separation of Busted in January 2005, Charlie Simpson (Lead Guitar) focussed on his other band and arguably more credible post-hardcore project Fightstar, James Bourne (Rhythmn Guitar) formed a new band in the form of Son Of Dork after placing adverts in such publications as NME and The Stage, and Matt Willis (Bass Guitar) pursued a solo career. Of the three, Charlie Simpson has been the most successful and having now released two albums and in the process gaining the respect of the rock world; the future looks bright for Fightstar. Matt Willis solo success was somewhat limited hence his appearance on 2006 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here' in order to help 'revive' flagging sales, and James Bourne's Son Of Dork are now two members down, and given that the remaining three members have seemingly not got together for more than a year; the future of Son Of Dork looks extremely bleak. So, it would seem then that 'A Present For Everyone' is the highlight of a career riddled with failure post-Busted for two of the three ex-members at least.

Kicking off with the Number Two hit single 'Air Hostess', 'A Present For Everyone' starts as it means to go on and is an extremely promising and positive introduction to the album. With a massively catchy chorus and instantly hummable tune; 'Air Hostess' is a gem of a pop track and really sets the mood for the album. Whilst self-titled first album 'Busted' was more Pop than Pop Punk, 'A Present For Everyone' roots itself firmly in the latter of the two genre categories and therefore makes for a far more enjoyable listening experience. As the band progress on from 'Air Hostess', they advance into second track 'Crashed The Wedding', one of the three Number One singles from the album. This is of course another corker of a track, however any band that mispronounces 'France' to make it rhyme with 'Pants' deserves a slap on the wrist at the very least. Now, in normal circumstances; placing two hit singles at the very beginning of an album would be a massive mistake because as a general rule, album's tend not to possess too many top tunes. 'A Present For Everyone' is not your typical album however and from the initial double whammy of top class tunes, Busted continue to go from strength to strength as they storm their way through this excellent album.

When I heard '3 A.M.' for the first time, I felt that this was a track which was really rather special. There is no questioning as to why this track was able to attain the coveted Number One spot in the Official UK Chart; it is absolute pop perfection at its finest. An exceptionally well written track as it stands, '3 A.M.' is perhaps one of the bands finest tracks, certainly the best of those they released commercially at least. As a double A-Side release alongside 'Thunderbirds Are Go', there was never any questioning as to whether or not the single would reach Number One. Both were strong tracks, however '3 A.M.' was without a doubt the finest of two and the driving force behind the tracks travels to the top. If you're not familiar with the track '3 A.M.' then I strongly suggest you give it a good listening to - Busted may not have been a band that ever appealed, however definitely don't let this fine track pass you by without a fair hearing.

I think the thing that I love the most about this album from Busted is that it is not even the hit singles that stand out to me most about the album (although that said they are all fantastic), it is in fact a couple of album tracks which were never released which grabbed me the most. The tracks that spring to mind first when I think of this album are 'Falling For You' and 'Fake'. Both of these tracks captured my full attention right from the first listen, and to this day remain to be the two tracks I will tend to play the most from this album. Not normally one for playing tracks alone rather than as a part of an album as a whole, I will happily play these two tracks as separate from the album and do so on a regular basis in fact. 'Falling For You' has a fantastic guitar introduction, and although in terms of structure is an extremely fine track; it is highly effective and I feel it works extremely well as a composition. 'Fake' on the other hand just has something loveable about it, and every time I give the track a listen I smile to myself and admire the powerful pop structure of this three minute favourite of mine.

Comprising of fifteen finely crafted Pop Punk creations, 'A Present For Everyone' is perhaps one of the most listened to CD's in my collection; an album which since purchasing has never gone particularly long spells of time without having been played. It is perhaps the only album in my collection which this is true of, so Busted were certainly doing something right with this album. I consider this to be one of the best Pop Punk albums ever to have been recorded, and although many will no doubt disagree with me on that one; there is no way anyone could ever possibly change my mind on the matter. When it comes to music I am extremely fussy and tend to go out of my way to avoid manufactured guitar bands of this sort. The only reason I have this album in my possession in fact is because a few years back when this album was released my parents were in one of those CD clubs and tended to forget to cancel the 'CD of the Month' which was always mailed out. I decided I'd give the album a go and four years on am eternally grateful that I did. Had I not given the album a listen and allowed it merely to gather dust; I never would have known what a fantastically well written and recorded album 'A Present For Everyone' truly is. This is a fantastic album which will no doubt remain a prized album in my collection for many years to come.

Summary: A fine second album which stands strong as one of my favourites of all time.