Tracklisting:
01. We Are The People
02. Itsumo
03. Miss You
04. Tracing Lines
05. Silent Cry
06. Fires
07. Heads Held High
08. 8:18
09. Who's The Enemy
10. Space
11. Into The Blue
12. Guided By A Voice
13. Sonorous
*14. Yeah Yeah
*15. Every Minute
*Bonus Tracks Exclusive to Deluxe Edition
---
We’ve been criticised at times over the past few years for being a little hard on Feeder and their directional choices. We are supposedly a fan-site after all, but some of our reviews have left us looking more like an angry “you’re doing it all wrong” site instead. We can’t help it – it’s like a parent who refuses to accept that one of their children has grown up, had a sex change and introduced them to his new boyfriend; Ted.
Fortunately, there seems to have been some sort of revelation in the camp, and now Ted is gone hit over the head with a spade, presumably and replaced by the new lady in Feeder’s life; Silent Cry.
Sure, she doesn’t talk much and she doesn’t sound like she’d be much fun at a party, plus, if we’re being honest, she does bear a remarkable resemblance to a bestraggled crow - but rest assured - all that piddly-diddly-medley nonsense that’s been plaguing us and our fun loving rock ways for the past seven years has been well and truly put to bed.
As a result, Feeder have returned to form with a grand cocktail of a rock album which picks up the baton dropped some seven years ago by our former favourite album Echo Park.
Don’t get us wrong, it’s not quite the complete U-turn - there’s still plenty of Comfort In Sound and Pushing The Senses in here to appease fans of those two albums, we’re looking at you, Fires, but the mellower moments keep themselves anonymous just enough to add a little subtle depth to what is first and foremost a traditional Feeder record in the vein of the old.
…And whilst Silent Cry isn’t going to win any greatest album of all time awards, that title became forever obsolete with the release of 2003’s ‘Poodle Hat’ by Weird Al Yankovich, as far as Feeder albums go, it comes pretty shitting* close.
‘We Are The People’ kicks things off, in a lyrically ambitious, but slightly laid back approach, you know, like it wants to cure world hunger, but doesn’t have the motivation to actually go out there and do it, opting to post Africa a copy of ‘Delia’s How to Cook’ instead before rolling on into Japanese-titled ‘Itsumo’ after a nice little ‘We Are One’ jingly-outro thing. We’re big fans of jingly-intros, outtros and Waitrose here at FFS, but they’ve been criminally underused by Feeder in the past.
Itsumo roughly translated as ‘Always’ for us English speaking types is the proverbial dogs bollocks. It drives headlong in to a catchy drumbeat, surprisingly straight-up lyrics a million miles from anything on Pushing The Senses and beats your ears with a sweet sweet stick fashioned from the secretion of Grant himself. If this is what Feeder sound like now, sign us up to the mail listing, because it’s good, oh so very good.
Track 3, ‘Miss You’ has Lost & Found Part II tattooed all over its arse. As mental as a bag of squirrels, the music is fantastic fun, but the song is let down by some miserably predictable lyrics which brings the whole thing crashing down like your mum bringing you a cup of tea whilst you’re immersed in a whole load of artistic nudes on DeviantART.
How about instead of, say,“You’re Coming Back, Coming Back, Coming Back, ‘cos I just don’t see it, Coming Back, Coming Back, Alone” you have “Massage my back, don’t give me flack, you’re starting to slack, put you’re back in to it, Massage my back, it hurts like crap, come on”? The lyrical possibilities are, evidently, endless, yet we seem to be trapped in some sort of weird forever-repeating parallel universe where the music changes but the lyrics stay the same. ALL THE TIME. And they’re depressing too. Miss You is a fun vibrant song, destroyed in some ways by lyrics that make you want to stick your head in an oven and turn it on. It’s like your best friends dancing the funky chicken… all over your grave at your own bloody funeral.
And then everything we just said goes out the window with ‘Tracing Lines’, which, for the first time in a long time, demonstrates Grant’s own brand of wicked dry humour. “I Fell into Water. The Water was Deep” is like lyrical sex, smeared all over a catchy, fun, extrovert track that vocally challenges Love Pollution for the crown of “Best ever Grant’s vocals”. Tracing Lines is single material and has a real good tune about it – plenty of scope there for festival sing-alongs and arm waggling.
After a lively four-track introduction, the album suffers something of a self-inflicted hangover – with the title track ‘Silent Cry’ slowing things down to snail-pace with some modern Feeder balladery. The drums become much lighter and slower, whilst the guitars go loud for a typically big chorus.
The tempo is dropped further with Fires, probably best described as Feeling A Moment & Bitter Glass soup - Indeed, it is the biggest nod towards Pushing The Senses on the album, but, just like straggly mole-hairs and toe-nail fungus, it does tend to grow on you after a while. A little while.
It’s followed up by Heads Held High, which goes all out to steal Summers Gone’s wallet, before smashing it’s acoustic guitar on the pavement and legging it. It grows as it progresses, with some restrained drumming by Mark and another big chorus, offering a little bit of variety to the album before drawing a big black line under ‘the mellow stuff’ and returning the album to the overall theme set with the first four tracks.
The slow paced lull dissipates just a few seconds into 8:18, which starts out with a similar build; with a focus on vocals rather than instruments before blasting the album back on course with some really big sounds - woo-wooing and all. 8:18 is a powerful song, much in the same way as sister tracks Itsumo & Guided By A Voice, but suffers from ‘middle-child-syndrome’ and doesn’t quite capture their essence in the same way.
Stormy ‘Who’s The Enemy’ is probably the heaviest song of the album and just a little bit 1980’s; sporting super-tight stonewash jeans and trademark mullet/moustache combo, it has a ‘Run, Shoot and Jump’ feel to it from the start with a military chorus, but just does enough to stay true to Feeder style, at times, sounding almost like a peculiar rendition of Bitter Glass by Duran Duran. Not a bad thing mind, just a bit weird. Like finding Catherine Zeta Jones in your living room, dressed as an elf.
Actually, it’s nothing like finding Catherine Zeta Jones in your living room dressed as an elf – we just like the thought of it and felt the need to squeeze it into the review somehow.
Space follows; not a proper song at just thirty seconds long, but a musical interlude leading into ‘Into the Blue’. And whilst this was the point where Pushing The Senses had uninspirationally (not a real word) ended with uber-mellow Dove Grey Sands, Space is used to connect the third and final chapter of Silent Cry to the rest of the album. A nice little jitty that mercilessly beats the lyrics right out of ‘Lose The Fears’ cold dead hands.
If handled properly, (ie. Not by anyone at Echo) ‘Into The Blue’ could well become the next Feeder ‘Mega-Hit’ on a Buck Rogers or Seven Days In The Sun scale. Probably, according to us, the best track on the album, and like Itsumo, could easily slip past security on the door of Echo Park - Into The Blue is a catchy, larger than life song that isn’t plagued by half-glass empty lyrics like Miss You was. Most of all though, Into the Blue is fun. Yes that’s right, fun – fun like going on a roller coaster, eating a cake or putting socks on a dog. It’s something we Feeder fans haven’t tasted much of lately, but that only makes it all the more sweeter. If Feeder can write an entire album like this then the need for other bands will become obsolete and Grant can finally be declared Prime Minister of The World.
And as good as Into The Blue is, Guided By A Voice manages to keep the momentum going with something even more catchier – an in-album sequel to 8:18 which bounces off all the walls and drops out of the chorus in such a lovely way you’ll want to take it to bed with you. Definitely a sing-alonger, GBAV builds the album up for a stunning climax…
…with the final track, ‘Sonorous’, offering resolution to ‘We Are The People’. The album really does come around full circle, with an almost Muse-like mix of heavy rock and light melodies and another big epic chorus, reiterating the messages we were listening to way back at the beginning of the album, only this time with a twist of hindsight. As it turned out, that signed copy of ‘Delia’s How To Cook’ fetched Africa a good £250 on eBay, and finally; the orphanage could be saved with the proceeds.
-Bonus Tracks** –
‘Yeah Yeah’ is a mental track which oozes old-school Feeder rock – that’s real old Feeder rock too – we’re not talking Pilgrim Soul or anything like that, this is proper Cement and Crash stuff, which we probably delusionally feel would make quite an imaginative choice as a single with some kind of psychedelic video involving the band dancing around. In Panda suits. Ironically, ‘Yeah Yeah’ is one of our favourite songs on the album; thank god it made it on.
‘Every Minute’, the real-real final song on the album, is another of our Silent Cry favourites too, but not only that - lyrically and vocally; Every Minute is probably one of our favourite ever(!) Feeder songs***. We don’t say that lightly, in fact, our faces are so straight and serious we’re almost German, but Grant’s delivery turns a song that, to be fair; doesn’t have an awful lot to it, into another of Silent Cry’s many many highlights.
---
Silent Cry is the best Feeder album since Echo Park.
It’s so much better than Pushing The Senses that comparing them would be a complete waste of time. The band has taken on board all of the criticisms levelled at the previous two albums and they’ve put it all right. Literally all of it.
Our biggest moan besides the slight course deviation during the album’s mid-section is probably the album title, which made us shudder the first time we heard it and still draws little inspiration from our drunk and mostly lifeless brains today. It really is an odd title because apart from the namesake track, it does little to describe what the album is actually about.
Anyone who hasn’t heard it might surmise, going by the title, that this be another selection of piano-led soft pop-rock, ripped straight out of the Coldplay school of ‘how to be bland’… and that’s not a good thing.
We much preferred the original ‘Songs from the Crypt’ title, which at least went someway to explaining the crow themed artwork, but we’d also have accepted ‘Itsumo = Awesomeness’, ‘Into The Blue Rocks Our Socks’ or ‘Feeder Are Back : and they’re going to punch you in the face’.
8.5 out of 10****
Sub Notes
*If you don’t like the word “shitting”, feel free to change it in your mind to the word “darn” instead, and then it’s all-good.
** That’s right, Silent Cry has bonus tracks – two of them, with the band offering up a ‘deluxe’ version of the album, rather than running the risk of doing another “Shatter & Victoria”.
*** We don’t know who Sarah is, but we bet she has huge t*ts.
**** Rockin’!
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'Tracing Lines' release date has been moved from 11th August to 25th August. More to wait! :(
A good thing is that you can download 'Somewhere to Call Your Own' by digital download.
I wonder if the next single will come out on a physical copy as well as a digital one...I hope it does...
New single is on the Feederweb:
http://www.feederweb.com/releases.php
What the f. The Forum just went down.
oh go on stace, listen to it on the bus... just don't sit next to me while you're doing so!
That is possibly my favourite review...of anything...ever.
I'm never gonna be able to listen to Miss You without laughing away to myself ever again. Maybe i should avoid listening to it on the bus then...hmmmn.
and FFS does it again, brilliant review
(and thank god, someone else agrees that Songs From The Crypt was a much better title idea!)
I'm curious for that review too... I hope FFS will write a good one.
Will we be seeing a Silent Cry review soon?
Nice banner ;D
You're forgiven xD
Feeder! Feeder! Feeder! Feeeeeeeder!
sorry guys, mad moment :P
Bloody hell, I hate it when a decent album like Feeder's doesn't get well known. I guess give it another month or two, it will probably get more popularity when an advert pops on TV or something.
Agree... Feeder need to come to Australia. If small little indie artists can make it over here, why can't feeder?!
What happened to the lyrics page? Is it being updated?
I love Feeder's new album :]
what i hate is that i live in Australia and they havent toured here since 2000 i think its time for another visit its been so long and its time to come back around again.
what marcus said its so true...plus they deserve more then what they got now but hey at least there selling records and got a good fan-base too
thanks Rach :)
Yeah Suey, it really annoys me, EVERY TIME Coldplay put out an album there's this big media fanfare, but when it's Feeder it's all hush-hush in comparison :-(.
Nothings funny about a mean review when it's band you like. Why is it when Feeder get bad reviews the writer really, REALLY rips into them?!, it don't happen to other bands. Pathetic and childish, that's what it is.
er... yes. Leo's post was so good he had to post it twice.
Chloe, I love yer tour diaries. Ace reading!
I just listened to the album for the first time there now and i blew off a load in my underpants
I just listened to the album for the first time there now and i blew off a load in my underpants
Feeder photos from Proud Galleries online now at ThrashHits.com
cheers
Raz
it´s a good record, but since Jon Lee was gone, the band has lost the typical "feeder-sound". YESTERDAY WENT TO SOON" is the best record...cheers from germany.
got the Deluxe version and have been listening to it ever since monday! Great album :)
just bought We are the People off iTunes. i love these guys =)
I've just got the new CD, oh... it's marvellous!
It's so great to hold a new Feeder record in my hands! These are the beautiful moments of life! Cheers!
*shouts* :D
I like this album, lots!
Silent Cry in my hands baby! The three years were worth the wait.
Got my deluxe version through the door today :D
Must say though, the bonus tracks aren't really anything special...oh well, so happy to have the CD in my hands.
Whats with the xmas decorations at the top of the page? ;)
ooooo its all pretty! ta for putting my diary up dude :)
Ooo a new look...very swish!
Love the new look! Looking forward to the reviews...
DJ Rodney Bingenheimer on KROQ in Los Angeles played "Into the Blue" on his show. That was pretty cool to hear.
calling out for days is quality! haven't heard the other bside though cos my parents record player is bust :(
Miss You was on Euro 2008 yesterday. There must be a Feeder fan at the BBC!
summer of sport coming up though, euros, olympics and wimbledon.. bound to be some feeder music in the background there ;)
Thats a shame, cheers Nance
Not sure there will be a TV ad. The Singles had one because of the EMI collaboration...
Yeeeehhhh.
We're back on
I meant TV advertising, It's just that I am sick of seeing the ad for the new Coldplay album,
How awesome was Bristol! Who's The Enemy, MPD, YWTS, Insomnia, High, All My Life crowd takeover (!) and a chance to see the guys outside before/after the gig. My best Feeder gig so far :)
sue - what sort of advertising do you mean? street teaming has officially started, brighton seemed to be covered in silent cry posters already...
Any ffs'sers that have myspace feel free to add me - www.myspace.com/staceywatkins - :o)
I don't think there's been a "fire". I reckon Pro Boards haven't paid their credit card bills and have had all their servers repossessed.
When are we going to see some advertising for the new single or album.
Hell yeah, I dont start my new job till the 23rd I'm there :D
If anyone's bored, I just put the recent Kerrang interview with Grant on the Scrapbook :) Well it will kill five minutes anyway...
Hello Fellow Shout Boxers!
A Hate crime? lol
been trying to work out the time-scale from the proboards support forum but most of it is greek to me! sounds like ffs server (20) is one of the worst hit - they have all the data but no power or something (so we won't have lost any posts, though once the forum is back we might have some missing temporaily). from what i can make out they will have power for our server back either tonight or tomorrow night (doesn't help its all in american time :p)
i got that info from here: http://support.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=networkdiscussion&action=display&thread=245186
if anyone can figure it out more clearly please do!
So glad they did a small london gig! got 2 tickets! WOOO! is the FFS "Fire" not put out yet?
maybe ffs doesn't actually exist and we all dream it!
"this product is out of stock" - camden gig sold out it seems.
I love the way FFS has put the words fire and hosting facilitiy in quotation marks... like it's fake or something ;)
check the email... it says something about must be in the venue for 9 :D
Bought 2 tickets for the Galleries, but it'd be nice to know what time I need to be there!
Hmmmn i'm probably gonna be in Leeds....not that i have the money anyway, even itf it is cheap. Oh well.
Glad people like the announcement ... sounds like a good little gig! :-) We'll already be on the Isle of Wight at the time :-(
well done , Chloe , have a great time . By the way i was in Camden earlier on this year with my hubby , i enjoyed it muchly .
i know some of the people in the London area were a bit disappointed with the recent mini tour venues , so hope this makes it up a little bit for you ( you lucky Londoners ) good luck everyone , hope you get tickets . Also the producing of receipt and i.d should stop people buying them just to sell on e-bay .
2 tickets bought - woop woop! perfect way to dispell the post feeder gig blues. just remind me not to look at my bank statement when it arrives....! who else is there? drinks in camden first??
Special annoucement from feederweb!!!
http://www.feederweb.com/microsites/Feeder/news.html
you ffs londeners grab em'! 6 quid!! feeder!!! its just crazy, enjoy :P
fweb 5pm announcement, mini gig @ camden proud galleries next week, £6. 400 tickets, see fweb for link...
Enter to win tickets to see Feeder at iTunes Live in July; http://www.ituneslive.co.uk/feeder/ (iTunes account required)
hehe that'd impress mr nicholas wouldn't it? ;)
You should go out under the cover of darkness and stickerize every lamp post in Crouch End ;)
what, clangers? where???
chloe is back from oxfam crouch end which now has a little pile of silent cry stickers :D i also attempted to stealth sticker some lamp-posts but this was thwarted slightly by 2 pcso's following me down the street....! oops!
It is a fantastic surname....it'd be even more fantastic if it was Clanger :D
I love that the founder of ProBoards is called Patrick Clinger. What a fantastic surname. :D
Loved the green room, i like the fact Mark fluttered his eyelashes when Gabriella's question was something like what music star would you date hehe cheeky! im glad they sung WATP, really love WATP live!
Also on a serious note i just thought i've give out some useful info i've found out, im on another board powered by proboards and because i joined in the recent month, i'm part of the missing data which means i can't login as i joined recently, so when the forum is up and running i was told by chole the last months posts will be back within a few days after SO...If you've joined within the last month and you can't login and you're using exactly the same password, don't make a new account, wait a few days until posts and members are updated to the system and everything should be back to normal, pain in the bum i know but it saves confusion!! :o)
- Stacey
Still no proboards? I think it's just some evil plot to give me no option but to actually do some work....grrrrrrr.
Oooo a butterfly...
just want to say , i'm loving Itsumo , 1 week to go for the single , looking forward to quality 'b' side and counting the days for the album , can't wait !!
i thought the green room was a repeat from when they sang Miss You . When i just happened to turn the telly on to ch 4 they were singing watp . Will catch the repeat purely for Takas dancing !!
hehe sorry Rach ;)
Green Room will be repeated on saturday for those who missed it - some of it is online but theres a couple of class moments that aren't. (seriously, watch it for the Taka dancing...)
Brighton diary - was emailed to Mr MW on thursday so provided i sent it to right email address (!) it'll be up whenever he has time to.
on that note i'm off to my Oxfam shift, armed with Silent Cry stickers :D
Feeder were in the Nokia Green Room again yesterday, singing WATP, I missed it, but its on line, their server is working
Oh dear, Chlo. You just can't help yourself can you?? ;)
Didn't see the Green Room yesterday, have recoreded it though. Sounds v. interesting!
When's Chloe's Brighton tour diary gonna be up on here then? I keep looking for it but it's never here!
'who's the enemy'? guess that would be the proboards techies? , hopefully this won't be a 'silent cry' and they will be 'guided by a voice' to fix it. cos, ffs, we 'miss you'!
(sorry, i'll shut up now and go do something more productive...)
Someone put the 'Fires' out please cuz 'We Are The People' who are unable to access the board! :D
mornin' rach!
did you see greem room yesterday? Taka scooter dancing...... genius!
Yeah, Feeder obviously tempted fate with that song title!
Me wants FFS boards back now, please. :(
theres a joke in there somewhere about track 6 ;)
Least the Fire wasn't on the Boat!
acording to the proboards update page
http://support.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=status&action=display&thread=244766&page=2
only 2 servers left to get up and running.... sods law ffs is on one of them eh?
while we wait, who wants a cuppa?!!
hope the fire gets put out soon , was eager to hear how the gig on the boat went , maybe tomorrow then , goodnight .
Awww, i miss the forum, hope to speak to everyone soon :o)
Wow, totally loving the Gay Parsnips!
proboards hq in the usa has had some issues with a fire, hence most of their servers are down and they're in the process of repairing/changing them all over. FFS will apparently be back up and running later this evening.
was trying last night but couldn't get on message board either
I can't get past this page. aaaaaarrgh
stevo - spot on about last night! and mpd in a punkrock club - perfect setting. roll on october tour, i already need another feeder fix!
Got lucky enough to get some tickets for the Festivals warm up gig at Brighton...Damn...I know Feeder are good but this was stunning...small sweaty club, a proper Indy Rock band on full power....As Grant said himself...'this is punk rock'... Energy was amazing, Band was amazing, The new stuff sounds great...deserves to be No 1(although there will probably be some manufactured junk that keeps the top spot hogged as usual....dont want real music frightening the populace now do we...). Cant wait for the autumn gigs...Howza about everyone buys the new CD on release on the 16th so it gets the recognition this band deserve...And how is it possible to look that good at 40...Bastard!!! Taka...cool as ever, Mark...like you've always belonged...Long live feeder, good on ya guys. Cheers.
Yep they've played and toured over in Australia before, mainly during YWTS era though.
Has Feeder ever been to Australia? All they ever do is tour the UK.
They're quite big here, so wonder why they never make it over?
Even bloody Malcolm Middleton made it to Brisbane a couple of months ago, so I'm sure Feeder/Echo can afford it!
Great new video - liked the changing faces effect, but were the steps the same as the Tumble And Fall video?
vid for WATP is up on kerrang folks...
http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/05/exclusive_watch_feeders_new_vi.html
loving marks bike cameo
It was much better back then. You waited for a record in excitement and on the day it was released you listened to it with every fan at the same time. This magic is gone.
Anyway I'm looking forward of holding the new album in my hands on 16th June. I hope it will get some nice reviews.
Cheers!
:)
where are you hearing it from!?!
i'd love to wait but suspense is too much of a killer!!:P
Just to let you know the last two posts from "Stephen" is a from a different Stephen than myself who posts on the FFS proboards :P
Pre-ordered album and singles as usual but couldnt wai to hear the songs before the gig in May, downloaded and was no dissapointed!! BUY THIS ALBUM !!
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time for fan power once more guys, lets flex our muscles and remind them why we're the best group of fans around, we did it for Shatter, now add your voice to the campaign to get a physical Tracing Lines/Silent Cry release AND a new track!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/feeder/