|
| |
|
|
|
Review Summary: The Lovin' Spoonful once again take a walk in the vast forests of instrumental music, and ultimately lose their way. After a massive success with the hit "Summer In The City", The Lovin' Spoonful return with a new soundtrack album; this time for the movie "You're a Big Boy Now". The Oscar nominated comedy, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, tells the tale about a teenage boy who moves to New York to get away from his sheltered childhood. His goal: to meet his true love. The band themselves were born and raised in New York where they originally started out. The folk music scene in Manhattan is where The Lovin' Spoonful have their roots. Their last soundtrack effort, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?", was a lethargic, dreary mess with a lot of stale concepts that never should've been made into songs. Lead singer and songwriter John Sebastian -- the pinnacle of The Lovin' Spoonful -- wasn't able to play to his strengths, which hurt the album in the end. The question is: can "You're a Big Boy Now" succeed where "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" failed?
"You're a Big Boy Now", 28 minutes and 9 seconds long, suffers from the same flaws as the previous soundtrack album but somehow manages to exacerbate these flaws. The songs are all very brief and very forgettable. They have nothing interesting that'll draw you in. Instead they'll make you want to hammer the skip button. A great portion of the songs sound much the same, the musical arrangements being the only minor difference. The few songs that actually do feature vocals aren't that much better. Tracks "Girl, Beautiful Girl" and "You're a Big Boy Now" bring nothing new to the table, and are also plagued by the ongoing theme of feeling uninspired. One would think that John Sebastian's songwriting prowess would be able to give this album some dignity. But, this is not the case. Neither his vocal performances are much to write home about; he doesn't even sound like he want to be there. The band's musical efforts aren't that bad: guitarist Yal Zanovsky, drummer Joe Butler and bassist Steve Boone do what they can, yet what makes the album poor is the lack of direction and creative songwriting.
Hit single "Darling Be Home Soon" is the only decent song on the album. It's reminiscent of the old Lovin' Spoonful days and sounds like something that would be on "Daydream" with its calming guitar and simplistic bass line, with the addition of an orchestra that adds a whole other level to the song. The lyrics don't give much to offer, but when put in context with the movie they work. But it, too, has that empty, uninspired feeling to it. Sebastian's vocal performance isn't superior to those on the other songs. Although it sounds like a song from the "Daydream" era, it certainly doesn't have the same quality melody-wise. The melodies that used to be Sebastian's greatest trait are nowhere to be found on "You're a Big Boy Now". An argument could be made that this is because it's short and mainly consists of instrumentals. While this is true, it doesn't justify the lazy songwriting.
Is "You're a Big Boy Now" a product of complacency? Maybe. Is it a product of laziness? Most likely. The band's intentions were not to create a musical masterpiece. But it also doesn't seem like they tried to make a solid album, either. One fact that remains very clear, however, is that instrumentals wasn't The Lovin' Spoonful's thing.
|
Album Rating: 1.5
If you neg'd this, it would be great to know why.
| | |
I didn't neg but I can tell you how to improve the review if you'd like.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Please do! It just irritates me a little that people won't tell me why they didn't like the review.
| | |
most of your reviews for this band have a low score
did they release any good music?
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
The thing about The Lovin' Spoonful is that their albums usually consist of a few singles and a lot of fillers. My ratings are based on the album as a whole. Their music isn't bad by any means, it's just that their albums tend to be a bit inconsistent. 3.5 for "Daydream" isn't that low, is it?
| | |
Damn, this sounds pretty abysmal.
I pos'd, but perhaps people neg'd because it was too short and maybe you didn't explain enough WHY the tracks are 'dull.' Just a suggestion, I understand it's hard to write a negative review
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Yeah, that might be it. But, like you said, it's hard to write much about it since it's so short and, quite frankly, bad. I'll see if I can add anything.
| | |
I didn't neg, but I do have a major problem with the review, mainly that it's extremely short, you
do describe the songs, but I can't help but feel that you're leaving something out. you could maybe
put a bit of info about the band,
"There are four songs with vocals on them but they aren't that much better than the instrumentals."
you should probably explain why they aren't much better
this time for the movie "You're a Big Boy Now"
maybe talk a bit about the movie, what's the story? is it any good?
"And one could only hope that it would do better than the last soundtrack effort, "What's Up, Tiger
Lily?""
I know you already reviewed it, but you should probably do a little explanation on why that
soundtrack sucked
the thing is your review is lacking description it would probably benefit if you put more
info about the album itself and why it sucked, because what you are giving here is pretty vague
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
I understand that it's short. But the album itself is so short, which makes it hard to write anything interesting about the individual songs. You have a point though, and I should probably explain more on why it's bad. I do, however, agree with what you said about it lacking description and information. Thank you for giving me some constructive criticism!
| | |
Damn, this sounds pretty abysmal. [2]
So you're reviewing the entire discography of something you think mostly sucks? Eh why not?
I looked them up and they appeared to be some sort of 60s pop hit machine (they had 7 top 10 singles in the span of two years) Weird...
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Well, when you put it like that it sounds pretty stupid, haha. I don't think they suck. They do have a lot of great songs but, unfortunately, their albums suffer from a lot of fillers. They're pretty much a singles band.
| | |
Hey, sorry about taking so long but after I wrote that comment I fell asleep  .
Anyway, your review is not 'bad' but it is quite short. With that breifness, it is also vague, as Shark has already addressed. Some of the information you included was also pretty obvious stuff such as;
"28 minutes and 9 seconds long"
"There are four songs with vocals on them
Then there is this; "Some of the songs are exactly the same, with different arrangements."
That sentence collapses on itself because you tried to reason that the songs were the same by telling the reader that they are different.
Not to repeat what Shark said, but he is right; the main problem is that you don't explain enough. You make some good points and your opinion matters, but you need to back it up with well reasoned arguments. I realise that this album is brief but, not to self promote, I wrote this review here on a 3-track EP: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/61022/AGERASIA-Headlines/
I'm not saying you have to go to that extent, I just suck at doing short reviews. You do need to go much more in depth with what your saying though.
"There's one decent song: "Darling Be Home Soon". It's reminiscent of the old Lovin' Spoonful days and sounds like something that would be on "Daydream". But it, too, suffers from the same lifelessness as the other songs on the album."
there is so much more you can add here such as;
-why thats a decent song
-what makes it sound like a 'Daydream' track
-what e,ements the song has
-how 'lifelessness' plagues the album and why you think that is
So, to sum it up, I think that you have potential, you just need to expand and explian the review .
| | |
You're*
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
ScuroFantasma: Thanks for your criticism! I think it all boils down to me being lazy. My previous reviews have been longer and more detailed. I guess I just wasn't that motivated with this one since I absolutely hate the album, haha. But, yeah, I'll edit the review when I can.
| | |
I just read your review on 'Daydream' and it's miles above this one in terms of content and quality. You definitely have the required skill, you just need to apply it better I think.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
I completely agree! Thanks again. I really appreciate the feedback!
| | |
Is it just me or is the review even shorter?
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
What do you mean? I haven't changed anything yet.
| | |
So it's just me then
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
The review has been edited.
| | | |
|
| |
