TRACKS OF THE WEEK - 10/11/2013 - The National, Royal Blood, The Beatles, Franz Ferdinand, Keane

Five tracks that had us turning them up to 11...

Shell Hunter:-

Keane - 'Higher Than The Sun' (2013)

 

 

Cor blimey, has it really been 10 years since Keane first popped onto the scene? I loved their meloncholy piano based anthems. This month they release The Best Of Keane which is a lovingly crafted collection of all their singles including 2 new tracks. One of which is this one which I couldn't stop singing for the life of me the other day. If it has a hook that strong then they've still got it, which is a shame as the band have decided to 'take a break from being Keane' to persue other projects. Either way, I look forward to revisiting all their great ones namely favourites of mine like Bedshaped, Everybody's Changing and Spiralling. I'm still keen after all these years.....sorry!

Sfw:-

The National - 'Lean' (2013)

Am I breaking the rules? Only last week London Scouser had The Nationals Sea of Love as his TOTW and they are back again with Lean. In my defence this is hot off the press and features on the latest Soundtrack fro The Hunger Games - Catching Fire. I've read that they originally refused the track because the title was deemed "too dark", it was called "Dying Is Easy". Anyone who has seen the first film (or read the books) will raise a wry smile due to the irony of it all. The film franchise is about "fighting to the last" and features kids, killing kids. Dark as hell.

Flycasual:-

Royal Blood - 'Out of the Black' (2013)

I read recently that these Brit hot Rock prospects have been likened to early Muse and Queens of the Stone Age, "I'll have some of that!" I thought and I wasn't to be disappointed. The parallels justified, as the Brighton duo's debut single has all the hallmarks of such Rock royalty, big sound, great drumming and ferocious riffage but they'll probably be sick and tired of those comparison and will want to concentrate on their own sound. Ooh there's a bit of Jack White in there too I thought. Either way it's all good and it has left me wanting more. As well the single, they also have another track available on their Soundcloud site which you can catch here. Royal heirs indeed.

Royal Blood's domain here...

London Scouser:-

Franz Ferdinand - 'Evil Eye' (2013)

I don't normally watch adverts on the tv if I can help it. I push fast forward on the sky remote to x30 and try and stop it in time for when the program starts back. The other day I couldn't find the remote in time and for once I was glad. An advert came on for some new car and immediately I stopped looking for the remote and watched it. This song was selling the car (obviously not well enough cos I don't know what car it is) and I loved it immediately. Straight away I thought it was Franz Ferdinand and after shazam-ing the track I was right. It's got their almost trademarked catchy guitar style with Alex Kapranos' great vocals. I just saw the video (which looks like a low-budget slasher style from the 70's or 80's) for the first time and if you're squeamish I don't recommend it !!! I wish I'd chosen this last week as it would have been a great Halloween track.

 

Old Pa's Corner:-

The Beatles - 'If I Fell' (2013)

Well it just had to be done. It is not very often we have a new Beatles release. This is a track from  On Air, Live at the BBC vol 2. (2013).  I don't know if it is all that relevant considering there is nothing much new here and there are much more superior versions available. But completest will gobble this release up and why not.

There must be some great stuff in the vaults which would warrant a release and I hope they get round to doing it someday.

However, in the meantime here is  If I fell  a track originally on a  Hard Days Night  one of the best rock movies ever with a fabulous soundtrack. It's all about the melody folks!

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