In 1993, a dance trio called
Sub Sub put out a single that climbed to number 3 on the UK charts. The group collaborated with Tricky and New Order frontman Bernard Summer in the same year. In 1995,
Sub Sub released theif first album, "Full Fathom Five".
That year, however, the future of
Sub Sub dissapeared. While band members and also twin brothers, Jez and Andy Williams were celebrating their birthday with a party, an electrical fire completely destroyed their studio. The fire took all of their recordings and equipment. Although
Sub Sub were changing, they decided to completely leave the dance scene. This was due to both the electrical fire and the growing danger of gangs and such at clubs where they did gigs.
In 1998,
Sub Sub became
Doves. In 2000,
Doves released their debut album, "Lost Souls" which was a fairly gloomy effort, during the gloom era of brit-pop, as ushered in by the likes of Radiohead, Elbow, Coldplay, Travis and Starsailor. "Lost Souls" was well received, and after two sold out US tours and five recording studios,
Doves released their second album. However,
Doves sound completely changed on the next album. The song "Catch The Sun" hinted at this.
"The Last Broadcast" was much more happy and unlifting than "Lost Souls", including things such as orchestral instruments and arrangements, three different vocalists and percussion jams.
Doves had made a great album with "Lost Souls" but "The Last Broadcast" showed the true potential of
Doves, that they were more than just another standard brit-pop band. With many guest musicians playing orchestral instruments and such, this cd is unique.
The Band
Jimi Goodwin - Bass/Vocals
Jez Williams - Guitar/Vocals
Andy Williams - Drums/Vocals
Intro- Not really a song, but it sounds pretty cool. It consists of a noise (I don't really know how else to describe it) on the first beat of every bar and some synths making some cool melodies and accompaniments around it. Not really essential to the album, but like I said, pretty cool.
3.5/5
Words- A really happy song, which you know straight from the start. The main riff comes in at the start, it's a really nice riff, and it's played pretty much throughout the whole song. There is some additional percussion in the form of handclapping. The drumming is relatively simple drumming, which sounds cool for the song. The vocals sound quite influenced by
The Verve. Towards the end of the song, there is a bridge type thing without any lyrics, and then the riff comes in sounding a bit different. Overall a really great song. Uplifting and catchy as hell.
5/5
There Goes The Fear- The first single to be released from the album. A different vocalist on this song, and he does a great job. Once again, the riff is gorgeous and and the bass and guitars do some really cool thing. The drumming is nice, with some cool hi-hat tricks. In one part of the song, the music drops back to a nice relaxing volume. Just when you are about to fall asleep, the drummer comes in loudly with some snare work. The lyrics of this song are excellent and make you feel very nice. There are some parts that give you real big chills. Towards the end of the song there is a breif percussion jam, and some wierd effect that for some reason reminds me of rabbits.
5/5
M62 Song- A bit different to some of the other stuff on the album. The song is entirely acoustic, and has some really nice licks. I have no idea about the lyrics to this song, I can't really understand them. The verse, in my opinion, isn't that great. It is, however, saved by the chorus which is really good. To be perfectly honest, I hated this song when I first heard it, but it's grown on me, and now I quite like it.
3/5
Where We're Calling From- Very nice instrumental, it's actually a bit trippy. Nice synths and guitar stuff. Then the mood changes and some synths are left with some vocals. The guitar riff comes back in and it all sounds very nice. The song then ends and goes into...
4/5
N.Y.- Starts with some noise and then a nice acoustic technique. Then it goes into the verse with some good lyrics. After the verse and chorus, some really nice orchestral sounds come in, it sounds like it could be from a musical or something. After the second verse, some really cool noise comes in, a lot of electronic bleeps and the like. Some of the electronics sound like you might hear them on a techno album, which goes back to the
Doves origins in dance music. The song ends with some nice sounding vocals and guitars.
4/5
Satellites- Some electronic percussion and noises begin the song, and then a guitar that starts and then stops. The vocals come in a bit later on, sounding really good, with some nice lyrics. The electronic percussion works very well and sounds similar to hand clapping. The song is mainly vocal driven, as most of the other instruments are noises. Once the chorus comes in, you feel very happy, it's a very nice sounding one, and rivals a lot of the others on the album. The chord progression of the chorus is extremely nice. The guitar melodies of the chorus kind of remind me of The Edge from U2. The song ends with some vocal "oooo"s. A real treat.
4/5
Friday's Dust- One of the darker tracks of the album. The track is mainly vocals and orchestral instruments. There is an instrument after the chorus that plays a really nice melody....I'm not sure what it is...some kind of woodwind instrument, possibly a bassoon. The song has a fingerpicked guitar melody and some nice vocals. Not one of my personal favourites, but a good track nonetheless.
3.5/5
Pounding- In my opinion, this song is the best song on the album, and probably the best song that
Doves have ever done. The song starts with some guitar chords and a crashing snare based drum beat. The lyrics are extremely feel good and have lots of emotion, they are simply amazing. The verse is great, but once the song gets to the chorus, you are almost in heaven. After the second chorus, the best part of the song happens. A sort of guitar solo/instrumetal thing comes in and the vocalist does some really cool stuff. This song is simply amazing, from the second it starts to the last note played. Towards the end there are some really nice melodies, and the vocals are sung over the top of it. The only thing I can find wrong with it, is the slightly weak ending.
5/5
The Last Broadcast- The title track of the album has some cool electronics in it. The main riff has some vocal samples or something in it, which makes it very cool. The rest of the song gets pretty samey, except for the end when some cool electronics come in. The electronics are pretty cool, and diversify the song a little bit. Overall a nice track with some decent lyrics.
4/5
The Sulphur Man- The intro to this song is amazingly beautiful. The rest of the song is pretty good, but it's really the intro that's the highlight of the song. The intro has a full blown orchestra and sounds amazing. There are just some sustained notes and then some runs from strings (most likely violins). The rest of the song has some nice glockenspiels and stuff in them. The chorus is pulled back and bit, which makes the vocals sound amazing. The guitars are nice and the drumming fits rather well. Lyrically, this song is amazing, with the awesome music and unconventional instruments adding to it enormously. Towards the end there are some woodwind runs, which sound amazing. Overall one of the best songs on the cd, really, really good.
5/5
Caught By The River- An acoustic song, which starts with a really nice acoustic guitar strumming a beautiful chord progression. An electric guitar with a wah effect plays a nice little lead part. The verse of this song is really nice, and then the chorus comes in with an extremely catchy line "You give it all away...". If you've heard a
Doves song, then it's probably this one. There are a couple of instrumental bridge parts in this song, which highlight the full emotion of this song. Lyrically, this song is amazing and packed full of emotion. I think it is about someone who is depressed and having suicidal thoughts. The song is comforting them. This was the song that got me interested in the
Doves and a lot of other british bands, such as Elbow and Coldplay. One of the best tracks on the cd this is, I never skip it when listening to the album.
5/5
Well there you have it, the second effort from what I think is one of the best british bands to come around in recent years. I'd encourage fans of Radiohead, Coldplay, The Verve, Elbow, Ocean Colour Scene and Keane to check these guys out. This cd is definitly worth it. A wonderful journey, a sophistocated work of art and a joy to listen to.
FINAL RATING: 4.5/5
