Katie Bialas’s review of fun’s Some Nights
To be completely honest, I really didn’t know what to expect when I decided to do one of these music swaps, especially when I found out I’d be trading my favorite album with Ms. Waz. Having Ms. Waz as a freshman and again now as a senior, part of me was expecting a CD in another language, perhaps German or Mandarin. Another part of me thought maybe it would be some type of older punk rock, as she had mentioned in class one day that she would’ve been Goth in high school if it had been “invented” yet. When she handed me the CD in homeroom I looked at the track list and realized two things: it was in English and I knew the album. I wasn’t expecting a recent release, but before me was Some Nights by fun.
The second album by the trio, Some Nights, centers around a distinct indie-pop sound, which is far removed from the heavier sound of their first album Aim & Ignite. Following lead singer Nate Reuss’s vision, the group abandoned their old record company and rebelled against the changes the larger labels wanted to implement on the music they produced in order to sell more records. With 11 total tracks, the group is currently best known for their lead single We Are Young, which topped the charts for a time over this past summer of 2012, and the title track Some Nights which was released as the second single of the album. With the wide variety of sounds, dynamics, and arrangements contained in this album, these tracks barely scratch the surface of the complexity displayed throughout.
Every sound you hear while listening to this album is an intentional, artistic choice. From the use of synthesizers–not to sell records and cover up their real voices but to create a unique sound on certain track–to the mixing of rock guitar riffs, a children’s choir, Queen-like power ballad vocals, and Broadway inspired theatrics throughout the CD. This group thrives on its unique sound. iTunes classifies their music as pop or alternative, but there is so much more to the music than this classification implies. There are no two songs on this album that sound the same, and yet each is distinctive and recognizable as a product of fun. This alone is intriguing enough to draw a person to an album like this. Whether you are a fan of pop, rock, or anything in between, there is probably an aspect of this album which will appeal to you.
When I popped the CD into my laptop to listen and write this review I was extremely curious, as I’d only been exposed to the groups popularized singles. I already held Some Nights and We Are Young in high esteem although I, admittedly, never paid much attention to them beyond their catchy tunes and singing along when they came on the radio. Listening to the entire album brought them both into a broader perspective. Some Nights has a much deeper meaning about questioning who you are and realizing the wrongs of the world and struggling with your place in the world. Other standouts with similar effects are Carry On, which proclaims “If you’re lost and alone, Carry On. Or you’re sinking like a stone, Carry on,” and All Alright.
I was also impressed with the quality of the songs which center on the idea of love. There are an over abundance of love songs out there and love is one of those ideas which transcend age and culture. This album does the topic justice without repeating over done love song clichés. It Gets Better, Out On the Town, and Why Am I the One are prime examples of love songs which have no true equivalents. Steady beats and lyrics which take a unique position on loves lost and found draw on more than simple, universal truths but specific situations which illustrate such truths.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this album. The complexity and intricacy of the music itself and the deeper lyrics which give unique perspectives on life caused me to be entirely engaged when listening to the music of fun. At the same time, the album is versatile in musical style and appeals to a wide audience. Consequently, I recommend this album to anyone and everyone. My initial curiosity was satisfied and I was very happy with my experience with the album Some Nights.
Ms. Waz’s review of The Script’s Science & Faith
As a teacher of English I feel obligated to begin my review with some pithy line from a well known poet, and while Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night comes first to mind, it is a fellow Brit who better expresses my feelings when he wrote: Music is the best means we have of digesting time. Auden understands me perfectly: I hear “Sherry” and I am a small child in the front seat of a red Ford convertible, top down, my mother driving as the music squeaks out of the AM radio. “Me and Mrs. Jones” finds me ice skating with my father. As David Bowie belts out “Fame” I am sitting in lunch. It’s freshmen year and someone has played it on the jukebox again. By the time Tears for Fears wanted to rule the world, I was teaching. I think we are intimately connected to music.
Nevertheless, reviewing an album is no easy feat. Unlike Plant and Page, I do not ascribe to the notion that singles are bad and an album should be enjoyed only as a whole. I’m a huge fan of sites like iTunes because they allow me to pick and choose for ninety-nine cents the songs I like without forcing me to buy an album, which includes several songs I will never listen to. It’s true even of the disc I gave Katie –I am drawn to the beat of “Some Nights,” but there are a few songs from their album I will never hear twice.
I wondered if I would feel differently about The Script. Jon Dolan, in a Rolling Stones review describes them as “[having] enjoyed Euro-chart success with a mix of lite rock, rap rock and Guinness-informed crooning they call ‘Celtic soul’ — at once soaring, melancholic and treacly.” Having never used the word treacly in my life, I’m not sure how well it describes their music. Victoria Dillingham is a little less kind on Music OMH when she accuses them of “sticking to the script” and being unable to follow their debut album with a second as fresh and original as the first. As I continued to search for insight from listeners, better able to comment intelligently than I was, I was most struck by the brevity of their reviews and their obscure word choices and references. Caroline Sullivan in The Guardian wrote that listening to one track from Science & Faith left her “prime[d …] for Leonard Cohen-ish weltschmerz, rather than manicured Celt-rock.” At best, I found the reviews mixed.
So not quite knowing what to expect, in my first go through I was pleasantly surprised. It might have been that their first couple of songs reminded me of The Fray or The Bodeans. “You Won’t Feel a Thing” seemed to pretty aptly describe what many people must be feeling in uncertain economic times, which is exactly what The Script is alluding to according to various reviewers. I certainly appreciate the sentiment of the chorus, which is basically a promise to protect the listener from any harm, no matter how dire, and personally I have to like any song that uses spat – it’s just not a word I expect to encounter on the radio. The melody of the next song, “For the First Time” is equally engaging, but it too describes sad people facing poverty, heartbreak, and just generally unhappy times. On the one hand the music is appealing and I could even imagine myself singing along, but on the other hand I find it a little weird to be singing about losing my job or my dog or cracking a tooth as I walk in the rain after I lose my umbrella. The third track “Nothing” has kind of a James Blunt feel until the listener actually pays attention to the lyrics. While it might have been a little creepy for Blunt to sort of stalk some mystery girl from the subway, The Scripts repeated question, “Am I better off dead?” was even creepier. While I was still really enjoying the melodies, I was feeling equally strongly that someone should offer these people some chocolate. Most of the titles seemed to have a similar focus: “Long Gone And Moved,” “Dead Man Walking,” “Walk Away” [I think the dead man already did], “Exit Wounds” which were, no doubt, a “Bullet From a Gun.” These were definitely people in need of cheering up.
The album was nice background music, and it was pleasant to let it play while I worked because it never distracted me from my primary focus. I absolutely could have seen myself spending my ninety-nine cents on the first few tracks because the melodies were so engaging, but I’m not sure it would have been worth the cost of the whole album, so Page and Plant are still wrong, but I certainly did appreciate the exposure to a new band. For that I am grateful.
