Review Summary: Feeder's most overlooked album proves to be their best.
In 1999, Newport rockers
Feeder released
Yesterday Went Too Soon, the follow-up to their heavy, grunge-influenced
Polythene debut. In the two years that had followed
Polythene, however, Feeder had matured.
The album starts with
Anaesthetic, which at first sounds like a mish-mash of the
Cement and
Stereo World riffs from the previous album. However, suddenly the chorus arrives, and all volume drops. While
Anaesthetic is a somewhat repetitive and banal song on its own, it is a suitable opener, and lays down themes that the rest of the album will follow.
The first theme is the smart lyrics from Grant Nicholas. The lyrics can convey a broad range of feelings, and can make you laugh, cry, think, or go nuts. While not the most complex, the lyrics can certainly be deep, and this is evident in the title track, which in itself is an album highlight.
Lost another week
Feeling like a leper in a world of vanity
It's killing me today, addiction pulls you down you know
And she's the drug I need
The next theme would be the blend of loud and soft. There are songs on here that are unrelenting fist-pumpers, such as
Hole In My Head and the brilliant
Insomnia, and there are the mellower, laid-back cruisers, such as the superb closer,
Paperfaces. To sum up the contrast,
Paperfaces contains a hidden song,
Bubblehead, which is loud, and not much else.
However, the album does have a few small negatives. Songs like
Radioman and
Dry never really stand out, while some of the heavier songs, most notably
Waiting For Changes and
Hole In My Head sound somewhat similar, even if they are good songs.
So what about the album's highlights? Songs such as
Insomnia and
You're My Evergreen are great rockalongs, and to be honest, all of the more upbeat songs are good in some form or another. However, the introverted, slower songs such as
So Well and
Paperfaces, while far less frequent on the album, tend to steal the show. The album's golden track would have to be the title track; a song desperately reaching out for what once was, but never quite grabbing it, and as a result wishing everything could just be easier. It has smart lyrics as mentioned earlier, some decent orchestration and is somewhat more three-dimensional than some of the songs on here (
Day In Day Out).
This album is probably Feeder's most balanced. It chugs along at a good pace and keeps the listener interested with good track placements and Feeder's trademark catchy-as-sin hooks and riffs. It contains a mix of the old, and what was to come (but mainly more of the old), and the band had matured since their debut. Needless to say, this is probably Feeder's best album.
