|
| REVIEWS |
Switchfoot
The Beautiful Letdown
(Red)
I was once under the terribly wrong impression that the singles
that were aired on the radio by a band were the best songs of
the album. It was not until I bought CDs, listened to them,
and compared them to the radio songs that I noticed something
awry. Many times the songs played on the radio by band ‘A’
were nowhere near the best song on the album. Quite frankly,
I was never sure of the motivation. Now, I am somewhat convinced
that radio stations and music labels conspire together to release
“not the best” music so your ears may be assaulted.
Ok, not assaulted but perhaps teased. Aw yes, teased. I am sure
many of you have experienced that in one form or another, unless
you are lucky and happen to have relationships with only manwhores
and sluts. So they hope you will wonder what the other songs
on the album sound like because this song is half way decent.
If it becomes common knowledge that the radio plays the songs
that are not the best on the album, then perhaps the listener
will be motivated to check out the entire offering. Being that
downloading songs is “illegal” and “amoral”
and “just like stealing from a record store”, the
listener is persuaded into buying the whole damn album in hope
that there will be better songs (more so than the decent radio
song) on the album.
My initial point: Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown
has one single that has been played on MTV and KROQ. This single
is not by any means the best song on the album.
I had not heard of this band prior to this release so I was
somewhat interested in whether the album would take a turn for
the worst or the better after hearing the single, “Meant
to Live” on the radio. As I had suspected, it got better.
There is a Third Eye Blind feel to this album. You remember
them don’t ya? If not, don’t worry because this
pop is just as good. Well, I mean it is obviously somewhat different
than Third Eye Blind but this album or band carries a sound
that one can use as an analogy of sorts: Shutters are to blinds
as Third Eye Blind is to Switchfoot. They both do the same thing,
but one is out of fashion. I should write the SATs. Surprisingly
the title track was the best of the lot. Of course, this is
just my opinion but really, I am right. This album is definitely
pop-rock meant for radio and TRL. Still, I am not sure if either
radio and/or TRL will see that it is the best song on the album.
Or perhaps the conspiracy continues and both media outlets refuse
to play “The Beautiful Letdown” because they cannot
play the best song or else years of conspiring would have been
for shit. I mean because the radio and TRL play their songs
constantly and mercilessly, so if they play the only song you
want to hear all the time eventually you will get more than
enough of it. Then what is the point of buying the album? These
tricky little bastards think they are soo smart. Ah, but I have
them figured out.
Reviewed by
Shivani Verma
March 24th, 2004 |
|
|
|
|
