Is it a hit, *hit or miss?

Razorlight – Up All Night  by Zane Ewton

Razorlight – Up All Night.
Label: Universal Records
Hit, *hit or Miss?:  Hit
Rating: 

Razorlight is a band that was formed in the summer of 2002 and has quickly picked up a buzz in the UK.  The band was able to use footage their manager shot with a video camera to raise some interest and some money for some studio time.

Demos from the band’s few sessions found their way onto the radio leading to Mercury UK picking up the band and financing their full-length debut, Up All Night.

Up All Night is a concoction of re-recorded singles, like “Rock and Roll Lies” and “Rip it Up”, some road-tested favorites and new songs.  The album has the advantage of being songs that are the cream of the Razorlight crop.

A first listen comparison would place Razorlight firmly in the midst of The Strokes, The Libertines and the tons of other bands with the rock-revivalist label.  While the buzz around this band is that they will blow their contemporaries out of the water, the proof is in the pudding.

This pudding tastes pretty good but is definitely not earth-shaking pudding.  The songs that have been with the band the longest are the strongest and most realized.  “Rock and Roll Lies” is a good, hand-clapping sing-along.  “Rip it Up” is trashy fun, but too glossy to be dirty.  “Stumble and Fall” might be the best song on the album.

Razorlight can be compared to many bands.  They resemble most notably a young U2, which could be a byproduct of the work that the early U2 producer Steve Lillywhite put into the album.

The rock and roll press, particularly the British press, wants to champion the next best thing so badly.  Up All Night is a good album, but it is not going to inspire the revolution that it has been hyped to inspire.