81 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
Ears Open.
I don't really wish to dwell on the other reviews here. I've heard the album so I feel some of you might like an actual review of it....
Firstly, I'm not a massive Snow Patrol fan. I've liked the odd track in the past, An Olive Grove Facing the Sea and Off/On being notable examples, but generally speaking I've found their stuff a little too lightweight to...
Pretty good but not great
You can't go wrong with Snow Patrol but there's not much new here. Nothing quite matches the classics like Chasing Cars, but what does?!
I don't really wish to dwell on the other reviews here. I've heard the album so I feel some of you might like an actual review of it....
Firstly, I'm not a massive Snow Patrol fan. I've liked the odd track in the past, An Olive Grove Facing the Sea and Off/On being notable examples, but generally speaking I've found their stuff a little too lightweight to enjoy - especially live where Lightbody really struggles voice-wise.
So when the promo of this album plonked into my lap at long last I listened with a pretty impartial ear. And I liked what I heard. Even though it's without doubt Snow Patrol by numbers....
It's clear that the band are aiming for a Coldplay-esque stadium World attack with this album. The first track "If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It" starts as the album goes on and in exactly that fashion. Tuneful plink-plink intro, followed by a heartfelt, delicate Lightbody vocal all about missing his ex-bird before opening up into a huge indie stadium-rock shaped hug. Awww bless.
"Crack The Shutters" follows the same pattern really, with SP sounding more like Chris Martin's bunch with every fretful bash on the piano during the track. Think a more tuneful, less guilty "Chocolate" from Final Straw and you'd be along the same lines. "Crack the shutters open wide/I wanna bathe you in the light of day" says Gary. Again, the stadium swoons.
"Take Back The City" is the oft FM-played lead single, so we all know what Gary's paen to Belfast sounds like by now. Tightly strummed guitars, a bit of woooo o and the story of a city that exists against all odds in many ways. It's clear the bad are proud of where they're from, at least in terms of their Irish roots anyway.
"Lifeboats" is a mellow, groovy track, based around a simple piano and guitar chord structure which opens into a funky basslined story of a relationship set against stormy skies and starry skies.
"The Golden Floor" with it's quirky handclap percussive line shares a great deal with the last track, and once again we're into Snow Patrol by numbers territory. Lightbody sings "I'm not afraid of anything/Even time" over the softly strummed guitar and light handclaps yet sings like he's possibly scared of the sound of his own voice. The track ends with a lush acoustic guitar refrain that ties things up nicely.
"Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands" features those tightly strummed guitars again, except this time their amped up and the knobs are turned up to 6! At least! This track has a massive chorus that's sure to see the live gig going throngs bopping up and down. It gives the track a feel good factor perhaps not best befitting the yet-another-failed-relationship nature of the lyrics.
"Set Down Your Glass" sounds like Snow Patrol of old. It's pastoral, it's acoustic, it's simple and it's honest. It's almost a follow up to "Olive Grove..." with it's chorus of :
"And I'm shaking then I'm still
When your eyes meet mine
I lose simple skills
Like to tell you all I want is now"
Another Coldplay-esque track follows in the shape of "The Planets Bend Between Us" a track that sounds a little mournful but actually is incredibly uplifting lyrically :
"I will race you to the waterside
And from the edge of Ireland shout out loud
So they could hear it in a America
It's all for you"
Perhaps Mr Lightbody has found happiness at last? The track has a simple piano, bass and drum backline with some of those chiming guitars that uptight white indie boys love so much these days. There's no huge climax. Just a band pouring out their hearts, or so it sounds. Expect it to punch your heart out when you least expect it through an FM station near you soon.
"Engines" thunders it's was along in a bassy, widescreen way before it blossoms into a chiming anthem for the lost. Quite beautiful really. All that techno sample from the first minute or so transforms from rainclouds musically, into a sunny day. Something the Snowies do so well I think. And a definite little niche they've carved for themselves.
"Disaster Button" sounds like every track you hated by US college boy frat bands. Best leave it there I think. The weakest point on the album I think. But another Snow Patrol big chorus, sure to please new fans.
The album closes with, as you've probably read already, somewhat of a departure for the band in the shape of a brave three song-spliced-together orchestral masterpiece entitled "The Lightening Strike". Part 1 of this piece sounds like A Frames track; menacing, crescendoing, orchestral, dark and worried....dare I even chuck in a Beatles reference here? Think the end bit to "A Day In The Life" and you won't go far wrong, especially not in the sampling work. The Beatles thing continues in the middle section, with a backwards percussive line a jarring guitar track. The song ends with an expansive, stadium friendly rock out where it all comes good in the end, replete with guitars, rolling chorus and lots of chiming and stuff.
To summarise then, a good album and one that'll surely please the old SP fans who enjoyed the bands' more commercial offerings, and will excite to the point of rapture new fans who love huge choruses, lyrics about being rubbish with girls, staring at the stars thinking how unimportant we all are and plenty of stadium friendly chiming guitars with the odd dashing of a choir and a string section thrown in. This album is full of them. And I suspect they'll soon be up there in the musical heavens on both sides of the Atlantic, with those very same stars.
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A Hundred Million Suns Having listened to the new awaited album a few times, Im not as into this one as I would hope to be. Love Lifeboats though.
It ia a mediocre album from the boys - whereas Eyes Open had a fair few good tracks, this albumn has about 3 at best.
I am quite dissapointed really..................
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Snow Patrol have been unfairly judged by some of the public. When Eyes Open was released, chasing cars was a phenomenal hit. But because of the song's popularity, some people had the idea Snow Patrol was missing some masculinity, and gave the idea that their soul purpose was only to impress bored housewives with soft music.
This is the furthest from the truth that you can get about Snow Patrol however, but after being seriously insulted by ignorant metal heads, Snow Patrol have decided to take a much bolder step to the future and made this album a much heavier one than Eyes Open, or Final Straw for that matter. But not too heavy, just heavy enough that no one can actually make fun of them this time round.
What makes this album great, is the amazing balance that's been pushed into it. Some people might think of this as a bad thing, but not one song stands out like Run or Chasing Cars did. Ok, maybe there are no tracks here that could rival the quality of those two songs but maybe that's the point. As all the songs in the album are good, nothing as groundbreaking as Chasing Cars or Run, you can't really have a favorite track, and you would like to play the whole album over and over again, which always feels a load better. I adore this album because every track's quality is equal to each other and doesn't feel like Eyes Open or Final Straw when you had one epic track which always overshadowed the rest of the tracks in the album.
It's also matured from previous albums, I think it's the first Snow Patrol album to show some profanity in it, and that's respected by me, definitely proves that they're trying to show how bold their new attempt at music is. One thing I also love about this album is the epic behemoth that is the lightning strike, a sixteen minute long track that seems to work. To make a song that lasts sixteen minutes without making it a chore is a difficult task, but Snow Patrol have succeeded into making it just as gripping as all the other songs in the album and have somehow managed to make every single piece of the track interesting.
If you weren't a Snow Patrol fan, you might find this refreshing, although there are a couple of soft tracks which won't appeal to those who hated Eyes Open, the astounding balance and the general fresh feeling to the album should be enough to make anyone respect the growing success of an already great band.
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I joined the Snow Patrol ride at Final Straw, a cracking album with some pretty hard edged rock. Eyes open came along with a bigger mix of chillout tunes and softer rock. Now comes Hundred million suns which has again slowed things down even more - the guys are getting old! The single is as heavy as things get so those expected a Final Straw may want to give it a miss.
I've held back on a review until now because it takes a few listens to get into. It is slow but it is also brilliant. Mug of coffee and pretend you have an open fire time.
I'm sure that as with Eyes, we'll be hearing some of the tracks appearing as backdrops to TV shows. To quote FHM '...it plucks at your heartstrings. Just don't get caught singing along to it.' Couldn't have put it better meself!
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Snow Patrol used to make music that few people listened to. Their first two albums were lo-fi affairs, often containing ideas for songs that weren't quite fully formed but interesting, edgy and in the case of 'An Olive Grove Facing The Sea' so simply beautiful that I had it played at my wedding. I used to keep telling people about the band and when their album Final Straw was released I had that curious sensation when friends started saying how much they loved it at the same time that I was shrinking away from the slicker, more commercial sound. A Hundred Million Suns sees them continue in this vein.
It's an album filled with tracks for the festival and stadium gigs. Big arm wavers like 'Engines' and 'Take Back The City' and guitar thrashers like 'Disaster Button' and 'Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands'. There's also the odd carrot for those who prefer something a little more challenging. 'Lifeboats' has some melodic touches familiar from earlier work and 'The Golden Floor' does the same whilst playing with the rhythms. The overal tone is rather fraught, a bit like reading a teenager's poetry, which is the appeal for some I guess, but it could have done with the odd quiet moment to break up the onslaught. There are simple joys like 'Set Down Your Glass' but they are few and far between. There's nothing more grand than the album closer, 'The Lightning Strike', a 16 minute opus with plenty of false endings and more like three songs joined together in which producer Jacknife Lee throws everything at us: orchestral backing, big brass and choral singing. It's a confident finish and quite good in places but flirts dangerously with over-indulgence.
If you're a fan of the lighter-waving chorus, big stadium production and enjoyed the latest from Coldplay, Kings of Leon etc then this is for you. If however you were a fan of their earlier output then this album may well be the final straw (but you could wait and see whether Gary Lightbody puts together another Reindeer Section project).
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Despite the very mixed and predominantly lukewarm reviews (and poor title), this is actually a rather good album which is always going to suffer by comparison following, as it does, two very good and similar-sounding releases. If you enjoyed either (or both) 'Final Straw' or 'Eyes Open' then there is a very good chance you will like 'A Hundred Million Suns'. There is no huge departure from their trademark, well-honed Snow Patrol sound, no massive progression, simply another set of well-written, well-performed songs, although perhaps it could be said this is their most laid-back album yet, overall, and their harder edge seems a mite softer on this release. Other than that, it is business as usual.
Worthy additions to the Snow Patrol catalogue include 'Take Back The City' (the verse of which sounds very much like 'Stranger' from ELO's 1983 album, 'Secret Messages') the energetic 'Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands' and the adventurous final track 'The Lightning Strike', a three-part Snow Patrol epic which is probably the most remarkable song on the album. With each repeat play, this album sounds better and better and its individual charms begins to make their mark, however, with nothing here as immediately striking as 'Chasing Cars', 'Spitting Games' or 'Run' you really do have to give 'A Hundred Million Suns' a fair hearing to get the full benefit of this album - but it is eventually worth the effort.
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Another album of well-crafted, radio-friendly stadium rockers? Oh no, call the fashion police!
The world has turned on its head for Gary Lightbody. A few years ago no-one could care less about his new album. He was admired by the few and ignored by the rest. Now, he is adored by millions, and apparently despised by roughly as many. He has a great ear for a melody, a fine voice, and a way with a lyric. And, of course, a band that can deliver. Kind of the point of popular music, I feel.
When I busk Chasing Cars (nothing much to it) it strikes a huge chord. People stop to listen; no song in my repertoire has that effect. The man who wrote that has my greatest respect, and I'm always hungry for more. Of course, we can't expect a classic song every time out; there is no real standout, just a very consistent album - though I do love Lifeboats.
Widescreen, intimate, heartfelt. Pretty much what you'd expect - like that's a bad thing? Keep it coming.
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A different album than Eyes Open.
A step forward? I think so.
Listen to Lifeboats and The Golden Floor. A more acoustic aproach (almost singer/songwriter) and the beautiful voice of Gary Lightbody.
The songs sound more mature as so do the lyrics.
The threepiece The Lightning Strike is one of my favourites.
Almost a Classical suite with a typical Snow Patrol ending in Daybreak.
It' daring and that's why lots of people will dismiss it before truly giving it a chance. TOO BAD!
If you'll judge the album only having heard the single you can better stop reviewing albums.
Give it a listen, give it a try and you will discover one of the best albums of 2008.
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Ok so there are going to people out there that will knock this record before they have even heard it, the build them up knock them down mentality has befallen Snow Patrol and the band that it's ok to like has become the band its fashionable to hate. But after their last album which tried to hard to recreate the success of `Run' it is with out hesitation that I can say this record is a return to form and the best since `Final Straw'. Yes the tracks are ludicrously catchy sing-a-long and radio friendly but they also have some great depth to them. `Crack the shutters' is a genuinely honest love song `the sun seems to want you as much as I want you' Gary sings beautifully. First single `Take back the city' shows the band have lost none of there rock/pop sensibilities and sure to be single `Please just take these photos from my hands' is another fine example. Right from the opener `If there's a rocket tie me to it' with its `fire, fire you can only take what you can carry' refrain up to the 16 minute closer `The lightning strike' this is pure Snow Patrol and will see fans lap it up like a cat with spilt cream. There are still ballads like `Set down your glass' and `The planets bend between us' which aren't as strong as some of the others but it's the closing track that shows us the band are not afraid to experiment and challenge themselves, told in three parts the piano drives the melodies across which the band flow with great ease and it contains some of Gary's best lyrics yet. With Jacknife Lee (U2, Bloc Party, Rem) at the helm this will be the bands most commercially successful album to date but that doesn't mean you can't love it. I'm not ashamed to say I do.
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