OK Go...Away! (Ok Go - OK Go)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	Ok Go - OK Go
Date:	22/05/05 (385 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of decent, jaunty pop songs

Disadvantages: Too much filler

Not too long ago, there was a great song on the music channels by a band called OK Go. It came very close to making the Top 20 in the UK charts and then…the band seemingly vanished. Sure, there was a brief use of one of their songs in the film “Wimbledon”, but no other signs. Were they destined to be nothing more than one hit wonders?

It hardly seems fair. There have been quite a few performances recently from bands that have deserved to be one hit wonders, or even one less than that, who somehow managed to get a second album released. Something Corporate were allowed to follow up “Punk Rock Princess” with “If You See Jordan”. If the whiny voiced InMe and the stupidly haired Toploader can get a second single release, why not OK Go, whose first didn’t assault our eardrums anywhere near as badly as theirs did.

Album opener “Get Over It” is the song mentioned above. There’s a driving, indie sounding guitar riff, overlaying a drum beat that sounds very much like it’s been borrowed from Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and some very Def Leppard sounding backing vocals towards the end. Mostly, though, it’s an indie edged tune, although with some very stadium rock sounding “Heys” in the chorus, which should help this one be a live favourite and some quirky lyrics that make it worth listening to.

There’s a much more up-tempo, upbeat and jaunty sound to “Don’t Ask Me”, with a heavy synthesiser influence that makes them sound like a happier, and slightly heavier, version of Toploader. It’s mostly a bouncy pop song with a slightly rock edge, which brings to mind They Might Be Giants or a less accomplished Barenaked Ladies.

The handclaps that open “You’re So Damn Hot” sound just like a watered down version of those on Electric Five’s “Gay Bar”. It’s quite a bouncy little indie-rock tune, although with the inclusion of an accordion that makes it sound like a “Weird Al” Yankovic polka mix during the chorus. It’s an enjoyable enough little tune for all that, though.

“What To Do” is a track that was featured briefly in the film “Wimbledon”, OK Go’s only noteworthy release in recent years. The lyrics suggest it would fit in perfectly with the story of that film. The song itself is a mid-tempo indie-pop track, with a slightly summery feel that makes it sound like a harder edged version of The Thrills.

The intro to “1000 Miles Per Hour” reminds me of a tune I can’t quite put my finger on right now. This is a slower tempo, almost straight pop ballad, with a slight indie-rock edge. The organ keeps the summery vibe going on and it’s another I could see The Thrills having done.

“Shortly Before the End” is definitely an indie influenced track. There is a hint of Oasis about it, although in a much weakened version to what you’d expect from them.

There’s a much rockier feel to “Return”, but there’s still a heavy Oasis style influence to the music, which are ruined by a weak vocals. Once the harmonies come into the chorus, the track seems part way between Oasis and a stadium rock track and works effectively as neither.

There’s a much more laid back groove to “There’s a Fire”, with the bass line sounding a little like a slowed down version of the one from Michelle Branch’s “If Only She Knew”. Sadly the vocals aren’t as funky and the song descends into a bit of a mess, not seeming sure whether it wants to be a funk number or an indie pop song.

Apart from having one of the most pointless titles going, “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips” is quite possibly one of the more pointless songs going. I think they’re possibly aiming for a kind of “Sergeant Pepper” era Beatles sound to the music, but the falsetto vocal is simply awful and musically, it’s just a bit of mish-mash. This is the kind of song the “Skip” button was invented for.

Fortunately, “The Fix is In” is a lot better. It’s again got the kind of summery pop vibe that The Thrills made their own a couple of years ago and it’s a jaunty, bouncy pop tune.

The title to “Hello, My Treacherous Friends” always makes me think of They Might Be Giants’ “Your Racist Friend”, from 1990’s “Flood” album. It’s a darker tune than that one was, there’s a quirkiness to the lyrics that again points to a They Might Be Giants influence, but it’s largely a pretty non-descript dark pop tune and doesn’t really go anywhere.

I keep thinking the guitar riff that opens “Bye Bye Baby” could have been a Def Leppard riff, but the rest of the song isn’t really that good. It’s another bouncy jaunty heavy pop tune, much like many that have gone before, which fails to end the album on a positive note.

On hearing “Get Over It” by itself, it seems impossible to see how a band who could produce something that good could fail to repeat it. After listening to the album, you wonder how they were ever allowed to make another album, with the follow up due for release in July 2005.

Although I would normally condemn an album with a running time of only 40 minutes as bad value, in this case it comes as something of a relief. There are a few decent moments scattered among the 40 here and there, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule.

OK Go cite the indie bands of Manchester, such as the Inspiral Carpets and the Charlatans as an influence and you can hear that in a number of songs. They Might Be Giants selected the band to support them on your and you can hear hints of their sound in here as well. There is a summery, bouncy vibe in a lot of places that the Thrills did so well, but even this isn’t a sound that is replicated throughout the whole of the album, although it is perhaps the most obvious influence here.

Fans of indie influenced pop music, or heavier edged pop music may enjoy parts of this, but by no means all. The price of £9.99 from Amazon and play.com is way too much to be paying for an album of such questionable quality, as is the £3.44 from the Amazon Marketplace. I’d even only recommend paying the 99p you could the album form on eBay if you’re already a fan of one of the songs and you can’t find it to download legally, as it’s about the same price as buying one song and there’s only likely to be two or three you’ll enjoy here.

If nothing else – and there isn’t much else – I appreciate this album for the lesson it taught me. That lesson being to stop buying albums on the strength of one single. I’ve been mostly lucky in doing that recently, but my luck deserted me this time.

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