Like the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon or Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch, the Navin brothers fill the songs of the Aluminum Group to the brim with sweet, sad melodies and hopelessly romantic aspirations. Using mostly archaic synth sounds and some exceptionally tired drum machine rhythms, the Aluminum Group nonetheless make pleasing music by which you can cry in your beer or get all mopey to. Brothers Frank and John Navin sing most songs in thick unison, sounding like Pulp's Jarvis Cocker with a chest cold. Heavily influenced by the Bacharach school of arranging, the songs glide along, informed by chatty trumpet, wafting strings, and swaying beats. When it all clicks, as on the effervescent "9 Months Later" or the oom-pah perk of "Sad Gay Life," TAG reveal a shining talent. But too often the songs resemble a droopy, drippy blend of the Human League with the Pet Shop Boys ("A Boy In Love"), or '60s pop duo Peter & Gordon about to get sick ("Sunday Morning"). Aluminum? Maybe brick and mortar would be better.
Every time I listen to Oasis, I have a hard time getting the image of the Bros. Gallagher drunkenly beating the living clay out of each other on Celebrity Death Match out of my mind. Yep, these boys are wankers, tosspots, and living, puking proof that being a Rock Star is a backdated, stupid, and useless idea, but they still manage to generally operate on an accomplished enough level that even collections of B-side detritus like this one may be classified without reservation as pretty damn fine. O.K., so thereΓÇÖs nothing quite in the "Live Forever" pantheon here (one of the best songs of the last decade, that), but meaty 'toons like "Acquiesce," "Going Nowhere," "Half The World Away," and "Stay Young" deliver the anthemic goods. Even slop like the soundcheck jam "The Swamp Song" and that perennial encore "I Am The Walrus" skates by dint of sheer musculature. Sure, Liam and Noel are arrogant slobs and thieves to boot, but they steal from the best, and they know the road to Rockville.
Every time I listen to Oasis, I have a hard time getting the image of the Bros. Gallagher drunkenly beating the living clay out of each other on Celebrity Death Match out of my mind. Yep, these boys are wankers, tosspots, and living, puking proof that being a Rock Star is a backdated, stupid, and useless idea, but they still manage to generally operate on an accomplished enough level that even collections of B-side detritus like this one may be classified without reservation as pretty damn fine. O.K., so thereΓÇÖs nothing quite in the "Live Forever" pantheon here (one of the best songs of the last decade, that), but meaty 'toons like "Acquiesce," "Going Nowhere," "Half The World Away," and "Stay Young" deliver the anthemic goods. Even slop like the soundcheck jam "The Swamp Song" and that perennial encore "I Am The Walrus" skates by dint of sheer musculature. Sure, Liam and Noel are arrogant slobs and thieves to boot, but they steal from the best, and they know the road to Rockville.
