Review:

on 2011-07-04 CharlesMartel Said:

"A Strange Education" is a significant release against the backdrop of the post punk revival trend which has been growing in the last few years. Hitherto, the revival has been led principally by bands from Canada, such as the Organ and the Stills, whose members seem to have rediscovered their parents back catalogue of great vinyls from the eighties. Interpol from the US have made a significant contribution and may be regarded by many as the revival's leading output. Here in the UK, Editors have failed to make the impact they were hyped to do while Bloc Party take the lead here and are reputed to be now attempting to crack the US market.

How odd that post punk which was critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked in its day, should now be seen as having potential in both the UK and the US. Naturally, any revival band is not only going to have face comparison with its contemporaries, but also with its antecedents. And it is against the latter that the true measure of the band is always going to be most harshly judged.

The Cinematics have been compared to the Chameleons and while there is some resemblance, there are more differences than may be readily apparent on first listen. For a start, the sound is fuller and while the trademark twin rhythm guitar line up is there, the guitars play a much more nakedly aggressive role. Hell, if you listen to "Race to the City" for instance you can even hear funky guitar hooks which the Chameleons would never have used. Rather than the Chameleons, there is a closer similarity (not surprisingly) to Interpol and even Editors. The vocals marks the most obvious tangency, but again there are differences and these are significant enough to make the Cinematics stand out.

On the positive side, the music is more accessible, even danceable, and less concerned with its own coolness. If there is one thing which puts many of their contemporaries down in my view it is this almost smug pretentiousness which they seem to bring to their music. None of that with the Cinematics. Tracks such as "Sunday Sun" and "Keep Forgetting" are as free of introspective navel gazing as you could hope for. However, to every action there is a reaction and if there is anything negative to say about "A Strange Education" it is that the melancholy which made all great post punk outfits great is gone. The Cinematics are not a melancholy band and miserableness is not their style. The closest they get is "Asleep at the Wheel", but the mood of the track is overshadowed by the long and heavy outro which is the tracks highpoint.

The album's highpoints can undoubtedly be found in the first four tracks. Rarely does an album grip the listener from the start so consistently and those that do usually end up with ten star ratings. That "A Strange Education" does not is perhaps due firstly to the ultimately derivative nature of the music but also to the lingering doubt over the band's positioning itself in the market. The derivation is clear, and if people who first hear post punk through the Cinematics are then drawn to listen to the Chameleons, the Sound, Fischer-Z, the Cure and the Smiths then so much the better. Market positioning is another problem. The band may have to make compromises to satisfy its record company's desire for commercial success. "A Strange Education" is an album of some significant compromise already. It would be a shame to see the band make further sacrifices of artistic integrity on the altar of the false gods of commercial success.
Rating: 8/10