Outsider - Understanding EP
Outsiders vocalist has a great voice, which sounds a bit
Keane-like, but don't let that put you off! It's a voice fit for a band
that will surely go far and appeal to many people. Outsider make bright,
happy, stomping indie anthems of great quality, with a distinctive sound
of their own. You can pick out each instrument clearly adding something
unique to each song, in particular the opener & obvious single Understanding
which is a riff & drum heavy pleasure. In fact you can imagine hearing
any of these songs on the radio. Their lyrics are both catchy (I found
myself singing along involuntarily after only a few listens) and interesting,
they sound like So what of the other songs on the EP? All filler? Not
at all. Only Yourself To Blame is a superb ballad. Old Man shows they
can make heartfelt acoustic songs as well, with gentle strumming throughout
boosted by sporadic bursts of electric riff excitement. Final upbeat
track Ginger Smile brings to mind early Stereophonics with fast paced
guitars and shoutier vocals. Each track demonstrates their variety with
a huge amount of diversity for simply a four This EP is available on small indie label Blue Cat Records and is highly recommended. Alan Smith Now here's a rather different opinion... OUTSIDER- Understanding E.P. This is for those of you who like Keane. Except with guitars as well
as piano. So maybe a bit like Oasis. "My God, how exciting",
I hear you cry. To effectively get to the point, Outsider are the sort
of unoffensive British guitar- based trio that you might expect to come
out of Manchester, as in they are good at what they do, but once you've
heard the first few bars of the song, you pretty much know what is coming
for the next few minutes. The highlight of this CD is, unfortunately,
the final track, "Ginger Smile", a track which some people
less patient than myself may not have reached due to afore-mentioned
same-old same-old, a track, though still predictable, much more raunchy,
retro and ear-catching than it's predecessors and ultimately rock n'
roll due to it's apparent assault on ginger people (the lyrical content
threatening to "wipe the ginger smile off your face", etc.).
Forget acoustic tracks about old men and whimsical ditties about "understanding"
(shouldn't be hard, I have already). I beg you- this is your future.
Anna C Visit Blue Cat Records here Get filthy and twisted about this review on our message
boards here |