Taken from http://www.epinions.com/content_30231334532/tk_~CB008.1.7
Pros: Sounds pretty fresh, some good tunes.
Cons: Appeal could wane, can't listen to entire album in one session
The Bottom Line Above average offering which may or may not have long term appeal, jury out on that one.
Recommended: Yes
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Sometimes I surprise myself, if you asked me if ‘Wheatus’ fell within the boundaries of my musical tastes then I would have probably said ‘Nope’. However I’m pleased to say that this isn’t the case. In terms of this bunch I was something of a late starter. I caught ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ on MTV and it was one of those songs that grew on me extremely slowly. By the time I liked the song it had long since fallen out of favour in the charts.
Then along came the next single ‘A Little Respect’, a cover version of an Erasure song no less. I thought the world had generally forgotten that messrs Clark and Bell had ever existed. Seems I was wrong.
Anyway now I’ve checked out the album and in all honesty it has lumped a couple of surprises on me. Usually with this kind of music, if I like the singles then as a rule I struggle with the material on the album. However in the case I have to say that it is quite the opposite. While the singles took their time to win me over I have to say I was pretty much hooked from the opening track on the album.
Wheatus have something of a winning combination going for them. Musically the band don’t go for an over complicated approach and that works just fine in this instance, you know the saying less is more and all that. Apart from simplicity the band are tight in their playing. If you listen out enough then you find some nice understated percussive effects.
In fact they are so understated they don’t always show through on every stereo system they are played on.
The band also win over lyrically although this could be a point of contention. I find the band lyrically funny. The opening track ‘Truffles’ really tickled me, by the way the album does carry a Parental Advisory sticker but I couldn’t find anything to cause anybody real offence. Anyway back to the lyrics, when I say they are funny I mean in the sense that they go for the somewhat puerile route. While it amuses me while the album is fresh I wonder how well it will last after a few listens.
In terms of the songs the album is quite a well rounded experience, although not the kind of album I would regularly sit through in one session. I can handle tracks one through six in one sitting but then my interest starts to wane a little and I need to break the Wheatus experience up with something else.
In the most part Wheatus have a nice little formula working for them here and they make good use of it. I anticipated Brendan’s slightly whiney vocal annoying me after a while but no, I’ve come away from the Wheatus experience thinking this guy isn’t quite as bad as I first thought with his somewhat nasal offerings.
So while I wouldn’t put this album on the top of someone’s list, if you find you’ve got all the current albums that you promised yourself and find you have enough spare cash for another, well you could do worse.
Great Music to Play While: Driving
