Review Summary: Broke the horse's leg, now it's time to put it down
My Little Pony has become a sweeping spectacle among not only its intended target audience, but also a surprisingly older group as well; spawning a subculture of men and women who identify with the cartoon in more ways than one. While with any fandom there are extremes that push the envelope; never in my years as an avid music listener, have I heard a classic album re-recorded with a newly ingrained message of cartoon horse lullabies before, so naturally my curiosity was piqued. My first question was plain and simple, was this a gimmick made to further pony culture or a surprisingly well crafted musical piece? Despite some flashes of genuine talent, it's mostly horseshit.
Clopping into the album we open with "Blank Flank (Come Together)", and right off the bat we notice three things; terrible production, uncontrolled vocals and lyrics about ponies. Almost all of the instrumentals were re-recorded, and they simply do not carry the impact, nor the atmosphere of any of the original tracks; various flushes, keys, and amalgamated instrumental segments were left out in favor of keeping songs more consistent to put the vocals at the forefront. The drums in particular are severely under-produced, allowing the rest of mix to stomp all over them, and force them into a bale of hay. The acoustic guitar work is possibly the best aspect of this release, with some well recorded strumming and picking to be found here and there in portions of multiple songs.
The vocals are widely inconsistent and will jump from being slightly in-key, to neighing horridly out of tune. While he manages to match the original style in songs such as "I Bring The Sun (Here Comes The Sun)", he vaults over considerable opportunities to make the songs his own in more ways than just the lyricism. The lyricism is about ponies; Abbey Road themes juxtaposed with ponies. Take that as you will, it's not poorly written but the subject matter is arguably insincere to those outside its niche audience.
After all the horsing around, this album is still a decidedly underwhelming experience on all fronts; and while the intentions may have been good, it comes off as contrived and poorly amalgamated. So unfortunately as to whether I'd recommend this release or not, I have to say.
Neigh.
