What does it sound like?:
For me, The Chemical Brothers’ imperial period began in 1994 and went up to, and included, the ‘Come With Us’ album in 2002. Between those two points, they were important and weighty and exploratory, and I would happily have followed them to the ends of the earth.
As it was, I settled for following them to festivals, as well as making numerous trips to the Brixton Academy, and they hold the record for being ‘the band I have seen most but remember least about’ (I have MDMA to thank for that). My ardour cooled, however, over their next two albums, something about a button, and something about a night, which were decidedly flimsy beasts by comparison with their mighty previous output, as well as suffering from ill-chosen collaborations with the likes of The Klaxons, Willy Mason and Jerry Ma-fucking-guire.
Actually, in retrospect, the button one probably wasn’t all that bad, and I might have accepted it as a temporary suspension of quality were it not for the fact that it was followed by the night one, which not only featured all those collaborations I just mentioned (although I made up the one about Jerry Maguire) but a song about dancing like a salmon. Yes, that’s correct. Dancing like a salmon. This from the duo who brought you ‘The Private Psychedelic Reel’.
So with that, The Chemical Brothers joined Orbital in the list of groups I once revered but no longer gave two hoots about. And then, what do you know? The ‘Further’ album comes along, and I’m in love again. Oh my God, I adore that album. It returned to the weighty and important and exploratory side of the Chemical Brothers, and I thought to myself, in my branes, ‘Wow, Poppy, this is still a big-hitting electronic group who can rock my world. They’ll never be as good as Underworld, but at least they won’t be as tragic as Orbital or Prodigy.’ My branes were right, and The Chemicals’ soundtrack for ‘Hanna’ and a rather good live album did nothing to dent my anticipation for this latest album, which has turned out to be…
Oh. A bit of a disappointment. Like the squiggles on the cover it has its up and downs, but overall it’s in a similar vein to the new Leftfield and the new Orb albums. It’s okay. It’s better loud. It’s better after a couple of drinks. But it’s nothing to write home about. It’s okay.
Ups and downs then. The opener, ‘Sometimes I Feel So Deserted’ could have come from ‘Further’, which is a good thing, but the trouble is, it’s immediately followed by a real clunker: ‘Go’. For a brief second ‘Go’ comes on like The Chemical Brothers covering Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’, which for a group who have spent an entire career playing versions of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, would be very cool indeed. In fact, at this precise moment in time, I can’t offhand think of anything cooler than The Chemical Brothers playing a cover of Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’. Maybe a version of ‘Nutbush City Limits’ with Brian Johnson on vocals. I don’t know. Either way, the dream lasts for approximately two seconds, after which ‘Go’ devolves into pedestrian electro presumably tailor-made for the vocals of Q-Tip. Not only is it a duff track but it’s an odd tactical move, since ‘Go’ immediately recalls ‘Galvanise’, another Q-Tip-featuring song from the button album. A dreadful thought strikes me. Maybe I’m wrong, and The Chemical Brothers are actually fine with the button-night phase of their career. Or, what if my beloved ‘Further’ sold really badly, and it sent them scuttling back to the drawing board? Sure enough, the next track, something about neon, features Poppy kryptonite St Vincent (perhaps The Klaxons were busy) and also harks back to the button years. Oh dear.
Luckily, things pick up again for ‘EML Ritual’, which opens in a similarly electro-plundering mould – think a muted take on Giorgio Morodor’s ‘The Chase’ for an idea of riff and tempo – but later explodes into epic big-room theatrics. It’s good, this one. It’s very good. Next up comes ‘I’ll See You There’, which for a group who have spent an entire career playing versions of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, is – aside from actually playing a cover of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, as they often used to do live – is one of their most obvious attempts at playing a version of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. Funnily enough, by standing out, it also highlights the central flaw of the album: ‘I’ll See You There’ may not be at all original, but at least it has a sense of occasion. It’s here to rock the block, rather than settling for passing the time while you’re in the changing rooms at H&M.
In other words, welcome to the mid-section of the album. Motorway service stations have more atmosphere than the next set of tracks, with only ‘Born In The Echoes’ a lone uptick in quality. Penultimately, ‘Radiate’ is ballad + good intentions – creativity = massive letdown, while the final track, ‘Wide Open’ features Beck, and really couldn’t be less ambitious if it tried.
So there you go. If you buy the deluxe version, which I did, you get one ace track, ‘Let Us Build A City’, one filler, and two remixes. Like the rest of the album, it’s okay. Sounds better loud. Nothing to write home about.
What does it all *mean*?
I have no idea. Nothing, probably.
Goes well with…
Er, pass.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Treading water.
Bingo Little says
Great review. I’m fully with you – I LOVED “Further” (Escape Velocity is an absolute monster of a tune; what a drop that is), had high hopes for a renaissance, but this new one is leaving me flat so far. Just feels a bit half-arsed: Chems-lite.
I think I’ll go listen to Exit Planet Dust again; a record which only grows in my estimation as the years truck by.
Kid Dynamite says
It’s just a bit pointless, isn’t it? It’s not terrible, but it isn’t very good either. I was off last week, came back to work on Monday, and asked my colleague what it was like. He shrugged and said “it’s another Chemical Brothers record”. Harsh but fair. Then again, it’s twenty years into their career – was anyone excited by a new Stones record in 1985?
If I could only listen to one Chemical Brothers album for the rest of my life, it’d probably be Surrender (FWIW I didn’t think We Are The Night was that bad. Burst Generator is a corker, and while I will admit to normally skipping the salmon song, let’s not forget that the Further album you all seem to love has a sampled horse on it (and it’s not even being kicked to death). ).
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Stunning review , summing up my own thoughts precisely (although rather more literate than what I could ever manage).
At first it was a huge disappointment then “it’s absolutely ok” ie a huge disappointment
Simonl says
I’ll give it a listen then. I’ve stopped writing bands off when they’ve been around a long time, especially as Saturate is probably my favourite tune by them, and I didn’t expect that over a decade after I first heard them. (good god I love Saturate, the skyscraping chorus still makes me wish I was young enough without responsibilities to experience that in full flow)
Know what you mean about Orbital. Insides is in my top ten albums by anybody. And it still gets to me after all this time. But the passing of time has diminished the rest of it, especially as later works are just not as good. Sorry, but that Wonky album was rubbish. The Chems in hindsight have been a lot more consistent, a lot more tuneful, just a lot more.