Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An ambitious near masterpiece, 3 Sep 2006
OK, so debut album 'Lovers' was always going to be a hard act to follow but maverick songwriter Luke Steele has pretty much succeeded. `Personality...' is certainly no carbon copy of the first album and has very much its own sound so those expecting 'Lovers' Mark II may be disappointed. However, treat this album as a work in its own right and it is hard not to be impressed by the lush, multi layered hooks and melodies which never let up from start to finish. I have to admire Steele for what he has tried to achieve here, attempting to make the ultimate 'melodic' record bursting with harmonies, string sections, et al. It is an ambitious concept and sound that could easily have fallen flat on its face.
Admittedly, there are a couple of tracks which just do not work and the production is overdone. Also, lyrically the album is a bit below par in places and perhaps suffers for it. BUT despite these criticisms, `Personality...' is a collection of excellent songs which gel together to from one of the albums of the year.
Buy `Personality...' and give it several listens with open ears and you may be pleasantly surprised. Don't expect it to be an instantly easy listen, it definitely requires repeated plays to pick through the vast musical activity but the rewards are well worth it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Patchy second album, 8 Aug 2006
Even before you've heard the first glacial notes of The Sleepy Jackson's second album, it is clear they are no longer the quirky outfit of 2003's 'Lovers'. The ghastly cover art and cryptic name are already miles away from that album's messy sleeve scribbles and snappy title. In the actual music, though, this new-found indulgence helps create a few moments of utter brilliance (and, thankfully, there are no extreme delves into pretentiousness here). The album's opening clutch of songs are beautiful, string-laden gems which hit the perfect mark for a follow-up album: grander, denser, but also catchier. Gorgeous opener 'You Needed More' may occasionally hint of that dullest of second-album subject matter - life on tour ("we play the same songs in every town"), but they've taken the winning songwriting formula of 'Lovers' but turned it into an uplifting orchestral pop beauty: hushed strums give way to strings which sweep its chorus to new heights.
First single 'God Lead Your Soul' continues the good streak, its stop-start chorus fanfared by a grand brass section. It's adventurous, engaging and very, very pretty, with Beach Boys 'oohs' and 'aahs' everywhere. In fact, one of 'Personality''s main downfalls is that this overt influence can get tiring. Tracks like 'Higher Than Hell' and 'You Won't Bring People Down In My Town' seem to disguise their lack of ideas by being comprised solely of said ooh-ing. As the album detaches itself from the head-rush of the opening tracks, these more unmemorable songs seem to merge into one big blob of falsetto 'n' strings, only saved by the memorable choruses of 'Work Alone' and 'God Knows'. It's hard not to listen to in one go without getting bored, and though the new sound is a new step for the band, the album lacks the variety of its predecessor. You begin to long for the country twang of 'Lovers'' 'Come To This', which only pop up once on the sweet highlight 'Miles Away'.
Unlike 'Lovers', which had a number of styles with a high success rate, the most notable strays from the template on 'Personality' are commendable but often unbearable. The horriblly cheesy 'Play A Little Bit For Love' and 'I Understand What You Mean But I Just Don't Agree' are the worst offenders, with its disco-lite basslines drifting uncomfortably into overblown MOR territory. At worst, it sounds like a serious Scissor Sisters. Luckily, these two are the only times when the album's main problems really turn unpleasant, but for an album so overtly willing to step it up a notch, it's annoyingly samey. Luke Steele and his ever-rotating band may soon turn in their fully coherent masterpiece but, for all its pomp, 'Personality' is often devoid of the charm which made 'Lovers' such a treat, the flashes of magic only making it more frustrating.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Personality? - you're kidding right?, 27 Jul 2006
I've been a huge Sleepy Jackson fan for a few years now. I bought their self titled debut EP, the 'Caffeine in the Morning Sun' EP and the 'Let Your Love Be Love' EP. These were all lo-fi, sometimes experimental, but always brilliant pieces of work, effortlessly jumping across genres.
Then their debut album 'Lovers' came out and it exceeded all expectations. It was so strong: almost any song from that album could have been picked as a single. Some of the many highlights were: This Day, Come To This, Miniskirt, Vampire Racecourse, Acid in My Heart, Don't You Know....there really wasn't one second of filler on there. So many instantly catchy and memorable melodies, it sounded like a greatest hits album. And to be fair, it did feature tracks from earlier eps, so to a certain extent it was.
And now this. On first listens, its instantly recognisable as the Sleepy Jackson. It's a much lusher, more polished sound, the harmonies are perfect, and there's some nice strings on some tracks. Which is all very nice, but after my first listen, there wasn't one melody I could pick out.
I've given it several listens, and there are a few nice tracks: 'You Needed More', 'Devil in My Yard', 'I Understand What You Want'. But none of these even approach the brilliance of the Lovers tracks. Worse still, a lot of the album seems very wishy washy, the kind of music you'd have on as background noise. And all in all, lacking in 'Personality'.
So all in all I'm very disappointed by it. I hope the next one will be a return to form, as its clear to me that Luke Steele is an incredibly talented chap who can produce far far better music than this.
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