"A MOST GROWN UP BIG WRECK ALBUM, EVEN IF I'M STILL A CHILD MENTALLY."
9/10
Does this album kick arse? The answer is.... fairly comprehensively... if not immediately. This seems a strange way to start a music blog, but fuck it! The easiest way to start is to be direct. One could never know exactly what to expect from the lesser spotted Big Wreck and I was definitely surprised by this one.
The first listen to this album brought me a little dissapointment. All the most immediately likable songs are stacked towards the center of the album. I came away from the first run through "Head Together" totally bemused. "A Million Days" follows up a little bit better the first time round but still doesn't plough that familiar Big Wreck excess groove in the way you expect. I didn't truly dig anything here until I reached "All Is Fair". It even seems as if the album tails off again toward the end.
"Woah", I hear you exclaim (well... I might imagine so anyway)! So what the hell is this nine out of ten score all about then? Well 'Albatross' is that loveliest of things for an album. She's a grower. I'll take you through my reactions to "Head Together" as an example:
1st listen - "This is a bit underwhelming."
2nd listen - "Blimey, this really is a bit crap."
3rd listen - "There's actually more going on here than I first thought."
All subsequent listens - "I nneeeeeeddd to gett my head together." (off-key yelping)
The more you listen to it, the more the gems start to shine. I'm a good few days and a good many listens through and none of the songs have lost their lustre yet. Big Wreck is a band with a large cult following and, because of the huge gap between albums, it's going to dodge a few expected styles. It's not 1997 anymore, or 2001. It's a much more controlled album than previous Big Wreck efforts, not in a cynical pop factory kinda way you understand, but the layering is much more subtle and the focus is on the real meat of the songs.
There are some real "Fuck yeah!", rocking out moments but they are fewer and further between than, say, 'The Pleasure & The Greed'. That album turned it up to 11 for an hour or so and then kicked you in the balls, which you thanked it for with bleeding eardrums. 'Albatross', however, is all about the ones that sneak up on you. "Your Glass Room" seems innocuous initially. After a few listens you start to realise just how catchy and effortless it sounds, as it casually gets all Rod Stewart on your arse. It's a legitimately brilliant pop song, the likes of which I haven't heard for a long time. It's not alone either because "Wolves", "Control" and "You Caught My Eye" all do the same thing.
There are only a couple of things stopping this from getting a ten out of ten from me. The album does sort of lapse into Thornley solo album territory once "Rest of the World" & "Time" come around. They're not bad songs at all but they don't seem to glue fully with the atmosphere of the album. The biggest problem though is that most of the songs don't stretch out in the way that they could. It's a minor complaint because they are all wonderfully put together but this album has room for more instrumental explorations. I mean the guitar jam at the end of "Control" is just.... just........ well ......... it's fucking brilliant. More of this stuff please. Thornley's guitar jazzes away. The drums do things. The bass thrums away. Yummy. "Albatross" and "A Million Days" especially feel as if they could be a fair bit longer. This is a band that can damn well play so it would be jolly if they would do just that.
All in all though this is a fantastic album and as good a welcome back for Big Wreck as you could hope. Now just don't bugger off for ten years this time.
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Score: 9/10
Highlights: "Control", "Your Glass Room" & "All Is Fair"
