The Electric Soft Parade - No Need to be Down-Hearted Review
by Patrick Muldowney
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I've learned recently that bands are not generally as bad as their names. Some bands must be under the impression that "Worst Band Name" will garner Grammy nominations soon because they are competing with great fervor. The Electric Soft Parade is not only competing with their name, but they are seeking consideration for "Worst Album" with No Need to be Down-Hearted. This is the most lifeless, generic Brit Pop imaginable, so any comparisons to other artists would be too demoralizing for those put in the same breadth, but this album makes post-Bewilderbeast (which sucks) Badly Drawn Boy sound like Abbey Road. The White brothers excitedly experiment with over-compressed metal guitars in many songs as many hair bands did as we transitioned from New Wave to Glam, which match poorly with the obnoxious keyboard tones, which vary from circus to space age to garbled shite, and lifeless vocals both in delivery and creativity. Have you ever heard two dumb people attempt to discuss the complexity of relationships? This is worse because you only hear one side, so you can't connect it with the dullness on the other end.
The most frustrating part about No Need to be Down-Hearted is once you find a moment that is palatable, The Electric Soft Parade will pull off the most asinine change and immediately ruin the song. From looking at the Myspace page, it is obvious the band has many diverse influences, and frankly they match mine, yet I also like swim trunks and tuxedoes, but I'm not going to wear them together and expect be any more than a joke. That is the problem: The Electric Soft Parade is trying too hard to be impressive and new, while they would be better served working on the Penny Candy lyrics, and use their talent to become an influence rather than a product of influences. Shame on Better Looking Records for releasing such a poor looking album.
Tracks added to iPod: I tried a few, but my iPod couldn't stomach them either. 1 ½ stars (an ounce of credit for having the guts to play such ridiculous changes)
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The Electric Soft Parade - No Need to be Down-Hearted
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