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Razorlight – Slipway Fires

Posted on 01. Nov, 2008 by Ashley in Blurb
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Razorlight – Slipway Fires (Album)
Mercury Nov 3rd 2008

‘Los Angeles Waltz’, the closing track from their last album, summed up the last LP. Everything about it was produced with finite detail. It’s flawless production ensured that any emotion expressed in the lyrics, or the skill demonstrated by its musicians, was simply buried away from ear shot. ‘Slipway Fires’ is the complete opposite.

‘Wire to Wire’ opens the LP with a calm piano loop, gently ushering in an new sound to Johnny Borrell’s voice. Gone is the Dylanish gruff that we heard in previous recordings. In comes a discernible, more honest tone to his voice that was lost amid the overblown recordings of the past.

‘You and the Rest’ evokes memories of past Razorlight noise and succeeds in linking Borrell back to his days kicking chords and riffs around with Barat & Doherty. ‘Burberry Blue Eyes’ sees him berate a former public schoolgirl for pretending to be something she isn’t. “I get the daddy-never-noticed-story again” which, coming from a Highgate educated singer who moans elsewhere on this LP about middle class kids, seems hypocritical.

Tuneful ‘60 Thompson’ is veneration towards Simon and Garfunkel while ‘Hostage of Love’ and perhaps future single ‘Burberry Blue Eyes’ are catchy and melodic.

This LP is better than ‘Razorlight’ but impresses less that ‘Up All Night’. Whilst others around them have released another album of boring samey songs (Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis) Razorlight have embarked upon something different. It’s a triumph and ‘Slipway Fires’ shows a progression from a band that have grown up a lot.

Buy ‘Slipway Fires’ from Amazon from November 3rd

Listen To:
Razorlight – 60 Thompson.mp3
Razorlight – North London Trash.mp3
Razorlight – Burberry Blue Eyes.mp3

Razorlight On: myspace // last.fm

Tags: Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, Razorlight