Login for FavoritesIdlewild - 100 Broken Windows
Tweet
Album Details
- Artist: Idlewild
- Album: 100 Broken Windows
- Label: Food
- Year of Release: 2000
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: charlesmartel on 2011-07-09
RecommendFor the first time in a long time, I really don’t know where to start with writing a review. I have listened to this album several times since I got it, and I still don’t know what I think of it. Whenever I put it on, I find myself rather liking the tracks (well some of them). Whenever it is not on, I cannot seem to remember a single thing about it, except for the odd snippet of a word or a phrase (‘Roo-ooooh-seabilty’; ‘All I need is a little discourage’; da-duh-duh-da-da). So where does that leave me when it comes to undertaking a review?
The opener “Little Discourage” sets up what should be a good start to the album. Yes, it’s a good, rousing foot tapper with a repetitive refrain which sticks in your head. In fact, Idlewild’s trademark is to find a riff or a refrain which they hope sticks in your head. And that is the big problem. You see after a while, all the tracks just seem to merge into one, with only the single line, as mentioned above sticking out. That is why I have so much difficulty. Everything is virtually indistinguishable from everything else as nothing really grabs your attneiton and holds it longer than the duration of the song itself.
However, while it lasts it is fine. “These Wooden Ideas” is probably the standout track on the album. Like the other songs which stand out when you listen to it, it has a poppier feel and almost hints at a singalong chorus, except that the main feature of a successful singalong chorus is that you are able to sing along to it long after the music has stopped. “Roseability” (whatever that means) comes closest to achieving this, but the chorus is so strained that it fails to do so. Nonetheless, this is probably the song the band is best known for. “Mistake Pageant” is another song which falls into the same trap. Yet juxtaposed against these are some much bleaker tracks. “Rusty” and especially “Listen to What You’ve Got” have a different edge to them, and I sometimes wonder what led the band to juxtapose these in the track order by placing them in the midst of the singalong poppier songs.
Idlewild as a band seemed to have undergone something of a change with this album. The change is odd when you think about it because, while they started out as a typical British indie outfit, this album seems to have taken them on a journey. Specifically, a journey across the Atlantic. Their sound on this album is much more redolent of American indie music than its British counterpart. Comparisons have been made with REM, which I think are somewhat wide of the mark. REM were able to scale heights Idlewild never could. The vocals are drawn from totally different influences and the musical themes of the two bands are miles apart.
In essence, this is good for what it is, but nothing more. It doesn’t promise much and it delivers on that promise. Idlewild don’t sell you short: it’s just that what they sell is short. If you go to a pub, this is what you expect to hear. You leap around, you have a good time. The more drunk you get the more you enjoy it. It is like the aural equivalent of beer goggles (beer headphones perhaps). You say ‘the band were great’ but cannot remember who they were or any of their songs. And you know that we have all been there. So when you try to look for an album to remind you of that great night you had down the pub, you end up standing in front of some bored looking Goth-girl in the independent record store saying, “are you sure you don’t know the album where the song goes da-duh-duh-da-da?”
User Reviews and Comments
Log In or Register to Rate Albums
User Rating:
Write your own review
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Log In or Register to Rate Albums
