| Product: |
The Last Broadcast - Doves |
| Date: |
24/10/04 (147 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Superb follow up, , probably better than the first album, A more epic sound and less instrumental sections
Disadvantages: There's still a little room for improvement, There are only 12 tracks
One of my favourite bands over the last 4 or 5 years would have to be Doves. They were playing at Reading Festival the first year we went and since then I’ve always liked them. The debut album was good and after a couple of years Doves returned with this the second album. Just after its release, Doves were put up for the Mercury Music prize and although they didn’t win it, it certainly showed the calibre of the album. It was going to be a good year for Doves.
I didn’t realise when I first heard Doves at my first Reading Festival was who they were. They’d actually been together for about 10 years before their debut album as Doves. The new Indie feel was a total change of direction for Jimi and the Williams brothers. They had already made a name for themselves in the early 90’s as dance act Sub Sub. They had enjoyed chart success with “Aint No Love, Aint No Use” but it wasn’t what they really wanted to be doing.
They decided on the new direction after a fire gutted the studios while they were recording the second Sub Sub album. The fire destroyed everything they had recorded to date and totally gutted the rest of the studios. The only thing that remained was Jimi’s guitar and it was then they decided to change direction totally. A change that took a while to be implemented but when they released Lost Souls in 2000 it seemed to be a change for the good.
The biggest worry with the new album would be second album syndrome. It’s something so many bands suffer from, but Doves seem to have taken that in their stride. It’s fair to say that the album is a lot better than the first and it seems that Doves are going from strength to strength with each album. The first album contained a large number of instrumental sections to tracks, whereas this album contains an increased amount of vocals. The tracks also have a more epic feel to them and sound totally amazing.
As with the first album this one relies a great deal on the musical talents of the band. The guitars and drums are accentuated throughout with the use of keyboards and a number of percussion instruments. This gives the album the epic sound I was talking about. The guitars really give the songs a bit of direction and drive, while the drums accompany them and give the tracks a solid beat to work off. From there though Jimi, Andy and Jez use a number of smaller instruments such as Harmonicas and the like to produce a sound that U2 would be impressed with.
The guitars also provide an excellent backing to the vocals. It doesn’t mater whether it’s Jimi on lead vocals or Jez both seem to sound superb and work well with the style of the tracks. With Jez moving onto lead vocals for a couple of tracks really added a little variety to the album, which again made it slightly better than the first. Jimi takes responsibility for the majority of the song writing and his lyrics are fantastic, which is highlighted in every track.
There are a couple of weaker tracks on the album, although they do tend to be the instrumental tracks such as “Intro” and “Where Were Calling From”. On the other side its hard to pick the best tracks on the album. One the one hand you’ve got the singles such as “There Goes The Fear”, which sound fantastic. There are also the album tracks like “The Sulphur Man” really make the album, with long melodic riffs and a superb drum beat giving the whole album a strong backbone. My favourite track would have to be “Caught By The River”, as it really emphasises how good the album is.
The third album from Doves can’t be far away and after the success of the first two, it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here. There is still a lot to come from Doves and I expect it wont be long before that third album appears. Where ever they go now they can be sure that they have 2 fantastic albums to back up all their future work. I think that Doves will be challenging the likes of Coldplay for the title of biggest British band in years to come.
Available for £6.97 from amazon.co.uk
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