Review Summary: Let it come my friend, revive/Bring it on my friend, revive
Steadman's second album -
Revive, is the best UK album ever made. Am I perhaps a bit too ambitious, opening my review with this statement? Am I even being an arrogant? Maybe even a jerk? Yeah well, an album as ambitious and ridiculously arrogant as this deserves an ambitious and ridiculously arrogant review.
So what makes this the, in my opinion, best UK album ever made, and one of the best worldwide albums ever made? Well... for starters: the little things. Though making a catchy backbone may be a challenge in itself, the little details that sets a melody apart from all other melodies as well what makes it not "just a good" song, but a marvellous song, are the biggest challenges to composing. And
Steadman pulls this off. On every song. It's full of remarkable little details from the thumpy drums and energetic guitar harmonies on "
The Bitter End" all the way to the epic "
Revive". One great example would be how the alarmingly brutal electric guitar on top of the relaxed yet intense and passionate acoustic guitar, bass and angst bunny vocals found on "
Carried" are all perfectly synchronized and timed. The electric guitar is not too dominating nor too lazy; and let me tell you, if guitars could kill - this electric guitar would.
Another thing that sets Steadman apart from basically all of their contemporaries are the lyrics, and the voice singing them. What makes the lyrics so interesting is
Steadman's simplistic approach. Nowadays it's becoming increasingly popular to write semi-complicated pseudo poetry about simple stuff, but
Steadman tries to write simple words about complicated stuff, making the lyrics easier to identify with as well as more intelligent. And he succeeds greatly, because his words are good enough on their own. He doesn't need pompous imagery or those long dictionary-words that no one understands anyway. He's just a very gifted lyricist. And where
Coldplay,
Starsailor,
Keane and even older bands such as
The Verve,
Radiohead and
The Stone Roses are melancholic and at times just depressing,
Steadman is basically
always optimistic, yet extremely sensitive (and usually mid-paced). As is the voice singing the lyrics - the voice of
Simon Steadman. Sensitive and fragile, yet powerful and attention-seeking. It has a kind of
Thom Yorke nerve to it, yet an
Ian Brown semi-angst. But I don't like comparing it to every other British voice out there, because it is definitely a unique voice with its own edge and quality to it. And an impressing diversity as well! From the extremely fragile performance on "
Good to Go", to the borderline shouting on "
Sun Lotion". This diversity is probably best demonstrated on the powerful title track, "
Revive" - where
Steadman really goes through the full spectrum of human emotion.
These two beforehand mentioned things are what makes
Revive excellent. But what makes it superb, classic even - are two very different things. The first one is how
Steadman pretty much incorporates influences from the very elite of British music the last forty years. You hear obvious
The Bends/
OK Computer-era
Radiohead influences on the somewhat psychedelic "
Good to Go" and the tight "
Carried", just like you get
The Verve vibes on the upbeat and extremely feel-good track "
No Big Deal", and on the though just as feel-good and optimistic, but more relaxed track - "
Create Your Fate". And in these songs are not only these apparent
Radiohead and
The Verve influences, but also a
The Stone Roses feel to the guitars on "
Wave Goodbye" as well as the sharp and cutting early '90s guitar, brilliantly layered somewhat in the background of "
Live it Up"'s melody. But at the same time there's heaps of
The Beatles,
The Dave Clark Five,
The Kinks and all of these great British popular rock bands. They even manage to fill this with some
The Rolling Stones and
Led Zeppelin influenced blues-like chord progressions. And the production and mixing shines so bright, it'd make
The Dark Side of the Moon's production and mixing shine less than the dark side of the moon shines on the earth (mild exaggeration). So basically, what I'm saying is - you put this on, fifty years from now, you'll probably be wondering what decade it's made in, because it possesses the finest trademarks of British rock the last forty years.
But the second, and most important thing that makes
Revive so impressing is that despite of all these obvious and strong influences, it's all very much
Steadman, at all times.
Revive is a very funny and danceable album, guaranteed to put everyone in a good mood. Not only is this perhaps the most accessible album ever made, but all of the tracks are dangerously catchy. And this is what makes this worth fifty-thousand stars on Sputnikmusic. Where contemporaries seem to take themselves to seriously,
Steadman is just this really good rock'n'roll band that puts a smile on my face. There are very few albums that are as fun as
Revive. It's just... good clean ol' fun. And it provokes feelings. Good, happy feelings. It makes me think of the girl I love. It makes me think of my favourite dish. It makes me think of spring break... You get the picture. It just literally makes me forget all my worries and troubles. When I put on
Revive, everything just feels right. And I can't help but think, if everybody listened to this once a day - would there be a single available job for psychiatrists in town?
So that's why I
love Revive. That's why I said that this is the best UK album ever made, and one of the best worldwide albums ever made. Biased? Hell yeah I am! And proud of it too. Though I guess I could've written a more in-depth review, or a track-by-track guide... it'd be pointless, and way too long. There's just too much to say about
Revive, and talking doesn't do anyone any good. You need to listen to get this. You can't just read about it. So if you're feeling down, or if you're just looking for good tunes... or even if you just don't have anything to do - go get this album. It's free, so you haven't got anything to lose, just plenty to gain.
