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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
If it aint broke..., 9 Sep 2007
The big question about this, their second album, is whether The Magic Numbers would take the magical, melodic, catchy elements from their first album and grow from those, or take the parts of the debut album where they went too heavy on the melancholy and repeated the refrain for way too long and bored their audience slightly and expanded on those to make a more `mature' sounding follow-up. The answer to that big question is neither. While this is unquestionably a Magic Numbers album, they have created something rather different, retained their integrity and presented a slightly flawed work which, while more subtle than the majority of their debut, is just as satisfying.
The album opener, This Is A Song is not exactly the start the album cried out for and, whilst being pleasant, is a little unspectacular. Closely following it is You Never Had It, a very good medium-tempo melodic rock song about taking your chances in love, featuring heavy tom-toms all throughout. The third track, Take A Chance takes the better aspects of their debut and combines them all in one musically exciting song which features some enjoyable vocals and bass-work. Continuing strongly, Carl's Song is a jaunty, but delicate piece which breaks into a canter for the chorus, highlighting some superb picked electric guitar, beautiful backing vocals and builds up to the finish with the slow, introspective conclusion which has become one of The Magic Numbers` many trademark sounds. So far, so good.
Boy, a enjoyable, mellow, highly-listenable track complete with a chamber-music flavoured string section, glockenspiel and some interesting changes of tempo & time is a nod towards a more mature sound from The Magic Numbers, but it doesn't come at any price - an excellent track. The next song, Undecided, highlighting Michelle's rather gorgeous lead vocals, is a wonderful piece, full of soulful, melancholy melody. Sadly, the winning streak comes to an abrupt halt with the next track, Slow Down (The Way It Goes) which, as a slow-paced, gentle, reverential piece, obviously tries to push all the right buttons, but regrettably just comes across as rather mundane and laborious, albeit perfectly pleasant and listenable. Ultimately, you can tell that a track is dragging when you're willing it to finish and I'm sure that's not the effect The Magic Numbers wished to have with this song.
After a mid-album lull, it takes a talented bunch to pick themselves up and to draw the listener's attention back in. Most Of The Time, however, isn't the kick in the pants the album needs and is merely an adequate, moderately enjoyable, but over-long plodder. The next track provides complete redemption - Take Me Or Leave Me is a genuinely touching story of broken love which is set to beautiful music which could have easily been penned by Burt Bacharach, but instead is rather surprisingly written by Michelle Gannon and, on the strength of this song, you have to wonder why Romeo Stoddart writes the majority of The Magic Numbers` material! Track ten, Let Somebody In, is another generic Magic Numbers cut - perfectly nice, but uninspiring.
Runnin' Out, at this juncture of the album, is what the album was crying out for in the form of an up tempo song with a little passion - but, frustratingly, it isn't a particularly brilliant song. All I See, on the other hand, is. A softly-delivered paean to lost love, it is unquestionably one of the highlights of this decent album which finishes well with Goodnight, a well-produced track which charms and beguiles you with it's pizzicato strings, violin, gently strummed (and later picked) acoustic guitar and the perfect vocals of Romeo, Michelle & Angela.
Simply put, if they wanted a masterpiece and an album to justify their reputation then they haven't succeeded. It's a good album and there are definitely some tracks of great quality on this collection, but perhaps if this album had have been postponed for a while, just so that a handful of stronger tracks could have been written to fulfil their obvious potential, then you wouldn't be left listening to Those The Brokes thinking that The Magic Numbers have a bit of a quality control problem. This is, like their debut album, a mixed bag, alternating between the exciting, the emotionally involving and the very ordinary. If your heart has been recently broken then this album may strike a chord with you and may be as near to essential as music can be, other than that - for the objective listener - it is an album well worth having, but you will definitely feel that it could have been so much better.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love you best, 27 Jun 2007
Longing and broken love, played in uptempo indiepop and wistful ballads.
That's what the Magic Numbers played in their self-titled debut, and that's what they play in their sophomore album "Those the Brokes" -- painful, prettily sparkling pop music. It would have benefited from a song or two being trimmed off, but the English quartet sound more polished and assured.
It opens with gentle glockenspiel and a murky guitar melody, before blooming out into a sprightly little pop tune. "I don't wanna tell her/No don't want to tell her/I lie awake in the dark/Lost in the beat of my heart," Romeo Stodart sings mournfully. "And if it hurts me baby you know why/I go it alone/Hurt me baby if you like/It's already gone..."
It's a bit too pop, I have to admit. But they embrace a more sweeping, catchy melody in the layered "You Never Had It," with some squiggle synth and ringing guitar riffs. From there, they try out all sorts of pop music: peppy dancey stuff, mellow bouncy tunes, some fun alt-rock, folk-edged string melodies, and meditative little ballads, ending with the folksy, fond "Goodnight."
If "Those the Brokes" has a flaw, it's that it's about two songs too long. But on a musical level, it's a great combination -- like Camera Obscura, the two brother-sister pairs meld the mournful, wistful, achy lyrics encapsulated in shimmering, smooth pop confections. You're sad, but still the music is a bit uplifting.
Those melodies are spun out of some solid guitars (both solidly acoustic and blurrily cycling), some undulating basslines and drums for the basic beats. But they're also dressed up in some extra instrumentation -- melodica, weeping strings, some really exquisite glockenspiel tinkling, and what sounds like a trumpet in "Undecided." It's much the same as in their first album, but here it's deeper, smoother and more layered.
Siblings Romeo and Michelle Stodart provide most of the vocals, and they both have mellow, full-bodied voices that can be either mournful, or sprightly (depending on the tune). They mainly sing about loves lost or broken, with writing that's solid but not exceptional just yet: "What you gonna do when she turns around/And says you broke another heart that was broken down/It's a crying shame, that the love you've made/Is a cross that you bear when it's cold..."
"Those the Brokes" is a solid, polished second album, and expands on the sound that the Magic Numbers crafted in their debut -- an enjoyable pop album full of woe.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
That Difficult Sophomore album !!!, 7 Nov 2006
Whoa - I must confess I'm impressed with this new Magic Numbers product !! And believe me-it's not often I say this!You can clearly understand now why the M.N.debut album made such an impact:they've made an even better (more mature is the accurate definition)record but don't expect to be overjoyed after the first listen!It has a kind of subtle craftmanship only great records possess - definetely worth watching this band!
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