firth5a

Another folky, Dylanesque offering which is starting to get rather boring now. I find the mumbled vocals rather uninteresting and the hook - which could be strong - a bit lame. Reworked, given more energy and drive it could be more interesting - but right now ..... no.

Walks a well trodden road as far as I can make out. Some nice melodic parts and occassional interesting muscial moments, but doesn't come together as a cohesive whole for me.- and the background noises I found grating.

Santana meets Brand X - as I like both I like this. Knocking off half a star 'cos it goes on a bit too long and another half 'cos it faded when it should have ended.

Well I like it! Good enough to download - not least because the band has imploded and it might be worth a few bob in the future (if only I could download onto 7" vinyl - sigh).

Seriously catchy, love the snare sound in particular and the vocals were fine - a damn sight less irritating than The Darkness that's for sure.

Yeah, not bad. Reminded me of something which I can't quite put my finger on at the moment. Didn't entirely win me over, but near enough to merit an above average rating.

The first 30 seconds had me thinking "this could be interesting" - the next minute and half proved me wrong. Nice start, but never went anywhere at all Eighties sci-fi soundtrack - and not a good one at that.

I don't like cricket - ah! I love it!

Actually, aside from the rather distracting buzz, it sounds like a half decent song to me and your voice seems to complement it quite well. With work and polish this could be more than reasonable. Stars are for the song rather than the recording.

Needs less machine and more rage.

Much more my cup of tea than "Tired and True" - still has the same PM elements and hooks, but more focused and a better whole as a result.

All the trademark PM elements are there - musically, vocally and lyrically - and the hooks are as sweet as ever, but ..... it's just not coming together for me on this one.

That's an interesting idea about using the artist's original context as a basis for critiqueing a song, but not every one can - or wants to - do that. From what I've seen on this site it seems that those mostly likely to do that are artists of a similar vein - probably because they have an empathy with that artist. I prefer to take the approach of an "uninformed" listener because that is what most people who listen to music are. I can't remember who it was (I think it was Gary Brooker about Whiter Shade of Pale), but someone when asked what the song was about answered that it was about whatever "you" (the listener) wanted it to be about. In other words, trying to undertstand the context of the artist was pointless as there was no context - only that created by the listener. One of the most popular songs in the world becomes a hypocritical crock of #@&%! when you try to put it into the context of the artist - John Lennon's "Imagine". "Imagine no posessions ..." - yeah, right John! A bit rich coming from a guy with millions of dollars in the bank, multiple homes and cars and God knows what other posessions! But it's still a damn nice tune and very commercial. So, to sum up, if you feel you can critique according to the artistical context then by all means do so, but remember there is as much value in a critique from a wider context too - perhaps more so from a commercial point of view.

I don't think I'm that far behind you Kevin! I'm 48 and it is a long long time since I played live. I think it's great that you can be in a band where you are all mates and still enjoy what you're doing. Sometimes I think it would be nice to get back into the whole band thing again, but when I think back to the bands I used to play in and the endless arguments over the most trivial things it kinda puts me off again. If I could find a bunch of guys who'd be happy doing covers of old Small Faces and Faces stuff from the sixties and seventies I might give it a go, but is there an audience for that sort of stuff today anyway? I'm not sure kids today would really be into All Or Nothing or Miss Judy's Farm. By the way, I'm not suggesting you should kick out your percussionist - just find someone else who can sing or get the guy who is singing to give it some gusto.

I don't know what city your in, Kevin - I'm in Slough, England which is a #@&%! hole. It does have one claim to fame - the British version of "The Office" was set there. Oh, that and the Betjeman poem. I know its not easy to find a good singer, but that's what auditions were invented for - and to be honest, they don't have to that good if they are distinctive. There were countless British pop acts in the sixties and seventies fronted by singers who wouldn't have made it into the second round of Pop Idol, but they had voices which stood out - I'm thinking about people like Jagger, Rod Stewart, Ray Davies and Colin Blunstone - and that made those bands stand out. Your percussionist sings this well enough, but it doesn't bring anything to the song. Worry less about the singer being "pitch perfect" and more about them having a presence - something which adds something to your band and your songs. It strikes me as strange that you appear to devote so much attention to getting your musicianship spot on and production so clean then allow the vocals to be so bland and uninteresting. I don't think this is a bad song - I quite enjoyed it in parts - but the vocals are lifeless. From your previous comments you know that A&R guys are not going to listen for much more than 30 secs before they press the stop button. I'm sure you'll also know they hear a hundred guys a day who can shred with the best of them, double kick virtuosos and so on - but you'll also know that they can call on a hundred session guys who can do all that anyway, do it on click and do it to order, first time, every time. Likewise you will know that they can call on producers, engineers and technicians who know how to get the best out of those musicians in the studio. Knowing all that it surprises me that you don't know that a distinctive and interesting vocal performance is more likely to grab their attention than smooth production or top grade musicianship. Of course, you should strive to make your demo as good as it can be, but that's not as important as having a good song and the right singer can make a good song into a great song. I don't mean to be disparaging to your percussionist - hey, it worked for Phil Collins - but he's not up to the job in my honest opinion. Find yourself a singer and you'll give yourself a much better chance.

You know your singer is holding you back, don't you?