I don't think there's a lot of point in me covering Good Charlotte's career, as I covered that briefly in my review of The Young & The Hopeless (which you can read here, if you want to read it), but, to recap, Good Charlotte formed in 1996, released their self-titled debut in 2000 and, since then, released four more albums, the most recent being 2010's Cardiology. In the great tradition of Spinal Tap, the band have had difficulty holding onto drummers, as they are currently on their fourth official drummer (the drummer on their second album was a session drummer), although he has been with the band since 2005. The band went on hiatus in September 2011, but have been back together for a while now and are currently working on a sixth album, although, at the time of writing, no details involving it have been released, which has me thinking that we're more likely to get a 2015 release for it at the moment when you factor in the length of time the album would need to be advertised for and the fact that twin brothers (and two of the founding members of the band) Joel and Benji Madden have an album together due to be released in September under the name The Madden Brothers (which...you know what, I think being snarky there might be unjustified when you consider that it's what it says on the tin, so I'll leave that alone!).
So, that's the band's basic history. But how does Cardiology sound to my ears now? Well, let's find out!
First up, the cover art. It's...hmm, I can't really say why, but I like it. There's just something about it that I can't really dislike about it, but I can't put into words what it is that I like about it. I know this is going to be a huge anticlimax, but all I can say is "I like it" without providing any real context on what I like about it.
So, after a surprisingly short and not especially detailed summing up of the cover art, now it's time to look at the music on the album.
If you're only familiar with Good Charlotte from their second album, then the best way to sum this is up is "the same, but different at the same time". It's got a solid base in the band's style of pop punk, but with a sense of maturity (for the most part) and a willingness to occasionally take some influence from the band's dance punk style on Good Morning Revival. To an extent, I would say that Cardiology is a good way to sum up Good Charlotte's career, as you can spot influence from all of their previous albums. For example, "Harlow's Song (Can't Dream About You)" and, to a limited extent extent, "Sex On The Radio" sound a bit like they could have come off of Good Morning Revival, while "Introduction To Cardiology" and "Interlude: The Fifth Chamber" sound like they were cut from the same cloth as "Once Upon A Time: The Battle Of Life And Death", the intro track from The Chronicles Of Life And Death. For the most part, however, the band sticks with the pop punk style from their first two albums and do it fairly well, if not really doing anything that unique. The only song that I feel really shakes things up a bit is "1979", which is built upon an acoustic guitar. However, this isn't really a huge shake up overall. While I appreciate the band for mostly sticking to their guns, I can't help thinking the band could have done with a bit more experimenting with their sound or maybe better incorporate the influences into their sound, as I feel that there was a bit of a missed opportunity with this album to get a better mix between the sound of Good Morning Revival and The Young & The Hopeless. That said, I think they got a decent enough mix here that my complaints feel more like nitpicking than anything else.
While you could be forgiven for throwing the emo claim at the band on The Young & The Hopeless due to the lyrics on that album, I think it's fair to say that the band manages to avoid falling into that this time: the lyrics seem to focus on more typical stuff, although there's a slight air of confession about them. The best way I can put it is that it sounds like Benji and Joel have found themselves looking forward to life in general and not looking back in the past as much as they were, which I suspect can be traced back to the fact that, between the release of Good Morning Revival and Cardiology, the twins found their relationship with their father mended after getting back in touch with him for the first time in about a decade (although I am purely speculating there). This more upbeat feeling in the lyrics is one which I am kind of unsure about: on the one hand, it's nice to hear the guys feeling more content with their lives in the lyrics to their music and the more upbeat sound is a nice change after focusing so much on a somewhat depressing sound, but, on the other hand, it leaves me wondering whether the band are at risk of suffering from complacency in the future due to the lack of something to really fire them up to write in the way they used to and their more depressing lyrics helped them to stand out more than they might have been able to due to making them more relatable to the outcasts of society in a way that a lot of the more mainstream bands couldn't pull off properly. Maybe it's just my nostalgia goggles, as I was one of the kids who loved their second album growing up (and can still recite the lyrics to a lot of the songs on that album off the top of my head), but I just find myself thinking this more upbeat sound is arguably a lean towards a more universal audience, which is not a bad thing on paper, but seems like an odd move to my eyes. Bear in mind, Good Charlotte were arguably the pop punk idols for the outcasts who were bullied by people and people who had had hard lives, so seeing them drop that angle, speaking as someone who was one of those people, is kind of an odd move. Still, I think they manage the transition well enough, so my comments are probably more nitpicking than anything else.
The band's performances...well, they're not going to win awards for being technically great musicians, but they get the job done. The only point where I feel suspicious about the performance on the album is in "1979": the fact that I can't seem to find any mention of the band playing the song live has me suspicious that Benji isn't able to play the song live, which seems odd when you consider how he sounds capable of playing it very well on the album version of the song. I know I normally don't through this accusation out about stuff, but this is one of the rare times where I find myself wondering how much studio magic was needed to make that sound right, especially since the riff basically replays throughout the whole song without any major changes to it that I can notice (it even sounds like it was played the same way every time, for goodness sake!). Anyway, suspicion about that aside, I still have to give credit for Joel's lead vocals and Benji's backing vocals: they can still deliver very well on that front, although I don't think they'll ever be anyone's favourite vocalists by any measure.
On the production front...I'm not sure whether it's because I've become better at hearing the bass guitar in stuff recently or my ears have got so used to feeling like the bass is gone that they're surprised to recognise they're hearing something where they usually hear nothing, but I have to say the mixing of the bass, while still a bit quiet, is actually not that bad. It's far more prominent than I thought it would be from my memory of it! I would have liked it a bit louder, but the fact that I can hear it fairly well with the volume at between a third to a half of my speaker's maximum volume is good enough for me, especially considering it doesn't really do anything that exciting! The mastering, though, is still an issue: it's not bad, but I think it could have done with a slightly more restrained mastering job. Overall, though, the production is fairly good! Credit to everyone who mixed the album and a note to Ted Jensen to tone down the mastering volume a tiny bit. Also, say hi to Adam for me!
...Remind me to get out more and try to find a girlfriend: I clearly have too much free time if I'm able to make references to video games that non-gamers aren't going to recognise! Mind you, I do all of the stuff for my blog in my free time, so having less of that means less content...depending on how you look at this, that's either a good reason for me to save the girlfriend bit for a later date or a good reason to make it an essential priority!
Anyway, what do I think of the album? Well, it's got some solid songs and I will admit that it was nice to revisit it, but I wouldn't call it an album that's going to win over a lot of people who aren't already fans of the band, as there's nothing on here that strikes me as really being excellent. It's a very solid album and there's nothing that I'd really say is bad about it, but the lack of any really amazing songs stops me from really advising this album to anyone who isn't already a fan of the band. I will admit that my nostalgia for the band does mean that I will still listen to them and I will always have a place in my heart for the band, but, speaking critically, if you're not fond of the band, this album won't win you over at all and, if you're not familiar with the band, this album, while still very enjoyable, is likely to leave you going "How did these guys become so big?" That said, it's worth stressing that there's nothing on this album that is really bad: you could put it on comfortably in the background and never feel like you have to turn it off: the problem is that there's nothing that I'd say is really great about it.
Final Rating: 5 Out Of 10
An album that is an enjoyable listen, but with nothing that's really worth writing home about. Fans of Good Charlotte who don't have this should pick it up, but, if you're not into Good Charlotte, it is probably best to skip this one unless you're curious and can keep your expectations to a reasonable level. If you don't like Good Charlotte at all, this will not change your mind in the slightest!
No comments:
Post a Comment