FREEBASS - It's A Beautiful Life - Available Now!
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Big Mouth Julio wrote: Am I the only person in the world who still prefers Bad Lieutenant's album? Or I hate listening to mp3 files?
The Bad Lieutenant album was also good, but the new Freebass album is very good also, when I heard the 4 track ep I was not that impressed, but after hearing the album this weekend I liked it very much, it has hooky's bass in it and just like Bad Lieutenant it has nice New Order moment's woven in to it, and you are right about the MP3, I am not a big fan of it but I have no choice right now because I have to listen to it, but as soon as the cd and the vinyl comes out I will be buying 3 copies of each, when it come to anything with New Order money is not an option, I usually spend $100 dollars on the cd's.
Glad so many folks here seem to like it; not so sure myself however. Whilst I think it is a bit unfair to compare Bad Lieutenant and Freebass, I think NCAT is a far stronger release overall.
Don't get me wrong, there are highlights on the Freebass album (less so on the EP), but I find the wavering high pitch of the vocals really grates after a while, counteracting any capacity for the tracks to be 'growers'.
The quality of the songs seems to sag a little in the middle - the best tracks for me are the first and the last ones. There's some recycling going on too, the bassline from a Revenge track here, a riff borrowed from the EP there, and in one case, the entire backing track from 'Dark Starr' with different, yet still wavery, vocals.
I'll persist with it, hoping I change my mind with further listens, but this is where things are sitting for me at present.
CTB
Jed Stephens wrote:
Big Mouth Julio wrote:
He can't really. Never heard a mp3 file on a turntable anywhere.
SHE could use one of these:
cut your own records :D
Anyone borrow me 10.000 Dollars :D ?
And no I'm not Norbert... 
Hmmm, not sure what to make of it yet, but I am enjoying it. I'm not that keen on the vocalist, my first impression is he's sorta of MOR, and reminds me a bit of that guy from The Seahorses Chris Helme. He's not bad though. I really enjoy the different bass styles and some of the songs, music wise, are very good. I think this will be a grower, but at the moment I think I prefer Bad Lieutenant.. mostly because of Bernard's voice. I wish Peter Hook sang more, I've always liked his voice. Anyway, I'm anticipating the physical release. :D
Big Mouth Julio wrote: Am I the only person in the world who still prefers Bad Lieutenant's album? Or I hate listening to mp3 files?
No and probably.
[orange]State of Love and Trust [/orange] wrote:
Hélène's friend wrote: What happened with these tracks?
SisterSurrender BuryMeStanding I'mABeliever
You'll hear them all eventually.
I bet you money that these songs are going to be on the cd's or vinly, most likely they will be bonus track on the cd's and guess what I will buy 3 copies of each also, also I have to say that I am very impressed with the artwork of the album very colorful, remember I was really pissed off with the BL artwork which was black and white. Overall very good cd.
"A updated CD version with Extra tracks will be available in the coming months."
From their Myspace blog...
Nick King wrote: "A updated CD version with Extra tracks will be available in the coming months."
From their Myspace blog...
Hah! My constant moaning worked .
Btw what myspace-parallel-universe do you use? I see nothing like that there.
confusion wrote:
Big Mouth Julio wrote: Thought she was Norbert
He is Berend. :D
Nobby!!! Don't stab me in the back here...
Bere wrote:
Nick King wrote: "A updated CD version with Extra tracks will be available in the coming months."
From their Myspace blog...
Hah! My constant moaning worked
Btw what myspace-parallel-universe do you use? I see nothing like that there.
Well, it was posted as a blog post7 hours ago - appeared in my "streams", but the link doesn't work - i.e. it looks as though it was removed later on...
Quite why, I dunno?
Looks like it's disappeared from the streams too... It's a strange world... :p
Played it once....it's alright....but much better than the EP,& much better than BL too,but I am biased towards Hooky....altho' saying that,his basslines are very ordinary & seem devoid of new ideas....it kills me to say that too....:\ohwell:
kel wrote: Played it once....it's alright....but much better than the EP,& much better than BL too,but I am biased towards Hooky....altho' saying that,his basslines are very ordinary & seem devoid of new ideas....it kills me to say that too....:\ohwell:
Well it's not a Hooky solo album - what did you expect ;)?
I love it more with every run. But I think I like the EP very slighlty better because of the different voices. They make it more interesting somehow.
confusion wrote:
Big Mouth Julio wrote: Thought she was Norbert
He is Berend. :D
Nob,
Your avatar made me pissed myself! 
"Kill Switch pt. 141" is a great track 
I like everything about it from Hooky's solo intro through to the break where it's just Paul's drums, the low-end bassline and blissed-out keyboards.
One criticism would be the other tracks tend to sound like anagrams of each other in terms of instrumentation and there's no real singles in the traditional sense. If you stripped away Hooky's riffing most of them would sound pretty MOR rock which is exactly what a lot of fans were bitching about with Bad Lieutenant. Plus "Stalingrad" just doesn't work for me; a stab at spoken word electro-reggae that falls flat. I'm surprised it made the final album after the overwhelmingly negative reaction it got on here a couple of years ago to be honest.
I think even die-hard Hooky fans will admit this was not the Bad-Lieutenant-Killer album they were hoping for to defeat the "evil Sumner-machine" I would say the albums have the same pace in common just different song approaches... both have strengths but both are missing some key components I.e. a proper stormer like "Ceremony" or "Crystal".
It's "alright", not sure if I'll be listening to it in 6 months tho...
NCAT sounds more NewOrdery than IABL, although IABL does have the occasional tinge of JoyDivision which NCAT doesn't. IABL also seems a bit melodramatic at times.
Having heard Man Ray I think the old buggers should put aside their differences and get on with making Technique2.
Tucker wrote:
I think even die-hard Hooky fans will admit this was not the Bad-Lieutenant-Killer album they were hoping for to defeat the "evil Sumner-machine"
Well, in my ears it isa BL killer. And I won't admit anything else. :D
Tucker wrote:
BL and FB should really club together and form a "supergroup" eh?
I can't imagine that. That would never work 
.
Wow, I really can't warm to the vocals at all. Sounds like INXS in places, esp. World Won't Wait :(
I'm sorry, this just confirms that they should stop pissing about and get new order back together.
EdelBrock wrote:
Mick Aneworderfan wrote:
Not as good as Revenge, but way better than Monaco, and maybe slightly better than Bad Lieutenant.
That isn't saying much....
That's saying it's a dead good band of a former member of New Order! 
Bruuuue Mundaaee wrote: Brilliant drummer Brilliant vocalist Brilliant bassist(s)
Brilliant guitars too!
Tucker wrote:
My only criticism is some of the other tracks tend to sound like anagrams of each other in terms of instrumentation and there's no real singles in the traditional sense.
I disagree, I think there's plenty of singles, there are no obvious stand out tracks just because they're all so good that it's not like one of those albums where all the tracks are crap apart from a couple of good ones, and there you have the obvious singles. Not Too Late is not my favourite, but I think it's very catchy and should get a decent airplay. Lady Violence has a kind of shoegazing attitude and should be appreciated in the die-hard indie circles, college radios still spinning Lush EPs. There is a market for that stuff, it's not the mainstream, but a very solid fanbase. World Won't Wait is basically what Depeche Mode have been trying to do in their last three albums, always failing. Their fans should love it. Secrets and Lies is better than anything released by The Cure since Disintegration, new wave and lightweight goth fans should really enjoy this. She Said is a strong rock track, pisses all over U2. Plan B has a Joy Division mood, it's not really catchy but it's very emotional, so it's another song which may work as a single. I'd release and promote Not Too Late, World Won't Wait and She Said, in this order, though my top favourites seem to be Lady Violence and Plan B.
Sad to learn Paul Kehoe has been fired, not by Hooky it seems. Excellent drums here.
Are you sure we downloaded the same album, Mick? Not hearing half the bands you mention and can't say I agree with your assertions that this LP hands down beats other band's entire discographies. Seems a wee bit of an overstatement? Pigeon-holing the tracks by saying "this is The Cure", "this is Muse" etc does Freebass more of a disservice if anything.
Most of the songs are fairly straightforward MancRock with the odd keyboard and melodic bass. Certainly nowt to be ashamed of but that's pretty much the overall style. Stalingrad veers off into uncharted territory with a reggae experiment but otherwise it's a consistent sort of sound. Depeche Mode, U2, Muse etc? Nah.
As I said, Kill Switch and World Won't Wait are great but I wouldn't say they're better than Monaco's entire recorded output (!) I'm still giving the album a fair chance, a few other tracks will probably reveal their appeal as the weeks go on. The ones I do like are very good.
I think the album is great, when I first heard the 4-track ep, I was not the impressed , I only liked 'You don't know this about" and "Live tomorrow you go down" and the other 2 songs sounded like some loud psychedlic type of songs which I hated, but after listening to the new album, it has 8 great songs out of 10, I am not a fan of "Lady Violence" and "She said", they sound like they don't fit it, at least the other songs have hooky's classic New Orderish bass in it and some nice synths but those two songs don't and they don't belong in the album, again it is my opinion, this album gets 4 STARS out of 5 from me, VERY impressed, I thought it was going to be some loud music but it shocked the hell out of me.
Really really loved it at first ... but that voice...it gets too whiny at times and sounds very much early 90's alt rock. Not my cup of tea. The music is great though.
What a surprise checking here today. A brand new Hooky album out:) That´s not every day. Will download it later today. Is it only available through Hacienda Records?
El Jarvo wrote: I can't believe there's no torrents of this out there yet.
Blame Jack and Scotland Yard for this
