Post Electric Blues [VINYL]

Well, where to start...
After being a fan of Idlewild since first hearing Captain, right through the mindless punk rawness of Hope Is Important and 100 Broken Windows. Then the minor initial disappointment when first hearing You Held The World... in a sort of "this isn't Idlewild" kind of way but then realising that it really was...and hold on...The Remote Part is a truly remarkable album and what a step forward! Then thinking they couldn't top it but they bloody did with the amazingly overlooked Warnings/Promises and what I have considered for the last couple of years to be their best album after a few listens...the short and sweet Make Another World. I was left thinkiing (especially after Roddy's solo stuff and colaboarations with Drever, McCusker, Heidi Talbot etc...) what next?

Well what next is that they've created what is probably their most satisfying album to date. No, really!

From the epic (Yes Idlewild!?!?) opening track Younger Than America which is probably their most striking lead track since first hearing You've Lost Your Way with beautiful backing vocals from Heidi Talbot to the poptastic Readers & Writers and through City Hall which just oozes classic Remote Part era tunes like Stay the Same and A Modern Way of Letting Go, there is not one fault. Catchy, beutifully recorded and loud loud LOUD! It's not until track four (Bring You Back To Life) where you begin to doubt them. It is the most mellow song on the album (which I have nothing against...after all I love My Secret Is My Silence) but it just doesn't fit in with the album and if anything is a little dull and repetitive. Thankfully this three minute falter is quickly overshadowed by a beast of a song in the phenomenal Dreams of Nothing. This is without doubt, one of my new favourite Idlewild songs and does the whole "quiet bit-loud bit" thing beautifully. Mellowing out again for Take Me Back To The Islands which is a-typical Idlewild and while it doesn't stand out, it's certainly not a skipper!
At this, the halfway point, you do begin to remember exactly why you love the band in the first place...and don't think it ends there...

Postelectric follows next and is a similar animal to Future Works from their last album in that it's a five minute noise epic that starts out very coherantly and then turns into a noise epic (and not in a dirgy Verve sort of way either). A nice breath of fresh air this one. Following on from that is All Over This Town, probably my personal second least favourite track. There's nothing bad about it so it's hard to dislike it but nothing really stands out in it for me. Thankfully over in two minutes and onto the fantastic To Be Forgotten which really is Idlewild at their finest doing what they do best. What is that? Fantastic lyrics, great riffs, killer drums and deafening choruses! The pernultimate track Circles in Stars is a hark back to Make Another World...especially Ghost in the Arcade and No Emotion. It's a very poppy, almost dance-anthem sort of song with a magnificent melody throughout and a wicked chorus. The final track, Take Me Back in Time is yet another solid Idlewild finale in the vein of Goodnight or Remote Part/Scottish Fiction and is just as gorgeous as either of them.

My only complaint would be that I bought the album direct from the band months ago and it includes a bonus track called No Wiser which apparantly isn't appearing on the final cut which is really sad because it's one of the strongest somngs on it. It sort of has a Big Country feel to the verses and a very typical Idlewild chorus.

All in all a truly magnificent album which Roddy and the lads should be more than proud of...i know i am!

I got the early release of this album through the band and it had hardly been off my cd player since. To me it's kind of a mixture of everything that Idlwild have done through the years with quite a few songs such as 'Dreams of Nothing' and 'To Be Forgotten' sounding similar to stuff on the 100 Broken Windows album.

It took me a few listens to really get into the album as you discover new intricies with each listen and appreciate to work put in to this record by the band, there is barely a weak track. Just a shame as the previous reviewer stated 'No Wiser' which was a bonus track on the pre-order cd from the band is not included on this as I thought it was the standout track.

Get the album and also see them live on their upcoming UK tour if you can they are an amazing band!!!

Also just read a review of the album in Q magazine giving it a ridiculous 2 star rating calling it 'the band's most mature offering to date'. Yes the band have matured dramatically since their early records but that doesn't make them bad, it makes them better, more confident and brings us more brilliant records such as Post Electric Blues!

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that Scottish rockers Idlewild are still going strong. Despite singer Roddy Woomble looking increasingly likely to go solo (he has released two folk albums with compatriot contemporaries) his main band continues to make enjoyable, melodic rock music despite their advancing years.

It's over ten years since the band exploded onto the post punk-rock scene with their thrillingly brief mini album Captain, and over time their sound has mellowed considerably. Yet Post Electric Blues, their seventh record, still harbours that early energy. In fact, it's their best in years.

Post Electric Blues follows up on that sweatily-delivered promise. Opening track Younger Than America has a vaguely country feel to it, but the pace of it is a clear gear forward from their last effort, the tepid Make Another World.

The following two tracks, Readers And Writers (the album's lead single) and City Hall, are among the band's best ever output, and that is no exaggeration. They brim with a vitality rarely found in the band's recent albums.

The soft and folky pair of songs (The Night Will) Bring You Back To Life and Take Me Back To The Islands seem more suitable for a Woomble side-project, not fitting in to the album's rougher sound at all, and the album fades at the end. It's a disappointment after such a promising start.

Indeed, you can almost tell the most listenable tracks just from their titles. Post-Electric is full of typically obscure Woomble lyrics, To Be Forgotten is riff-heavy and enjoyable yet ironically not memorable and Dreams Of Nothing again recalls their earlier work, with guitarist Rod Jones coming to the fore for the only time on the album to dominate proceedings.

Take Me Back In Time combines the two personalities of the schizophrenic band better than anything else present. Shimmery guitars reverb around under Woomble's customary plaintive vocals, but as usual when Idlewild betray their past, it's too underwhelming to make an impact.

It's far from a bad record and in fairness there is plenty to love here not to mention trying to decipher Woomble's lyrics and interpret their possible meaning. Readers and Writers is catchy enough to be their first hit single in years and there is a decent amount of depth to the material and it grows on you with each listen.

However it won't win them any new plaudits or sell millions of records.

Saldly Idlwilde (An Elbow / Emrace like) are destined to remain in the second divison and breaking of the mainstream is highly unlikely.

And with reflection, you just wonder how the band can continue with its two main creative forces quite clearly pulling in completely opposite directions.