Review Summary: A sheer slice of youthful brilliance.
'Hope Is Important'... I think the title of this LP says everything that you need to know about this record. Hope is indeed important. And on this album, the first from current folk-rock champions Idlewild, there is a lot of hope. In fact, I'd even say that hope courses through this record. It's songs are made of it and it's existance is coupled with it.
Oh yes, hope is a young man's game, and 'Hope Is Important' is one of the most exhuberant, youthful albums I've ever heard. The simple sound of four boys caining ten shades of s**t out of their instruments and enjoying every second of it. And if that's not hopeful, then I don't know what is.
This album is just so much fun to listen to. An album to play when no-one else is around, to listen to on headphones whilst throwing yourself all around your bedroom pretending to be the frontman / guitarist. It's a shot of adrenaline, a mildly drunk round of frantic kareoke. And it's fantastic!
There is very little down time on this record. Everything is quick fire, to the point and exhilerating. It starts with a shriek of feedback before dovetailing into the beathless speed thrash of 'You've Lost Your Way'. A song so utterly pointless, that I couldn't resite a single lyric from it to you. But man is it energetic. It's like the energy of an entire album squeezed into two minuets of blistering punk.
The album slows down a little for the second song, one of the band's early singles 'A Film For The Future', which sounds very much like 'The Reckoning' era R.E.M. It's not one of the strongest songs on the album, but is one of the tighter, more restrained tracks. Next up is 'Paint Nothing' which really reminds me of a punk rock version of The Smiths. The band has actually said it was their attempt to do jangle-pop but with shed loads of distortion. Well, boys... It worked a treat.
Fourth on the agenda is the fairly successful single 'When I Argue I See Shapes', which was my entry into Idlewild all the way back in January 1999. It's a great anthem, firing up wonderfully in the chorus but restraining itself for the piano tinged middle-eight that always becomes a full-on singalong.
Next track 'Four People Do Good' is a statement. Much like the album's title. Frontman Roddy Woomble screams "I got no motives! / Four people do good / Four people do good" over a intense sonic assult of blitzkrieg guitars. It's pointless and brilliant. Youthful and hopeful. Everything that is good about this LP. The next tune 'I'm Happy To Be Here Tonight' turns the racket down and pulls acoustic guitars and echo-laden piano out of the bag. It's all very, very R.E.M-esque but makes for an essential change in tone and another memorable addition.
The two back to back singles that follow are the highlight of the LP. 'Everyone Says You're So Fragile' is two minuets of searing catchy punk, replete with a break that is just a gutteral scream. One for all the pogo lovers amoung us. 'I'm A Message' is one of the quintessential Idlewild tracks. A full-blown punk classic with fantastic lyrics about "Tearing your soul" that is so insane catchy that you'll be singing it's refrain at all manner of times and in all manner of places.
Following the two singles are two almost autopilot tracks. Both are very typical of the overall theme, feeling and energy of the album. 'You Don't Have The Heart' has a lyric that seems almost random, which just adds to the songs excitment and unpredictabillity. 'Close The Door' is another speedy, noisy effort with hillariously incoherent lyrics about math tests and, apparently, tearing peoples faces up. Although the thought of little bookish Roddy Woomble trying such a thing is fairly amusing. I know the band themselves don't like the latter track for some reason. But it's beyond me as to why.
The penultimate track 'Safe And Sound' is, I think, the weakest on the album. I know Woomble has a soft spot for it, but I just don't like it. It's the one boring moment on the record, but it is mercifully short and contains a nice spiraling violin part at one point. The closing track 'Low Light', however, redeems the prior by being brilliant. Restrained and frantic at turns, it's growling bass line relentlessly pushes the song through it's strikingly stark verses to it's ultra noisy conclusion, and stands as something of a mini highlight. Leave them wanting more, eh?
Anyways... 'Hope Is Important' gets a bit of a bad rap compared to some of the later albums. People seem to think it's a chaotic mess of an LP. And they're right, it is. But I love it for that very same fact. When I was 18 years old, this was exactly what I needed to get all that frustration out. It was an almost cathartic experience back then when I used to bounce off the walls in my bedroom listening to this record. Those memories have stayed with me... And so has this wonderful LP.
