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Rating: In this "Tourist", there's a bit of all that. Originality is not at its peak; it all seems like things we've heard before. Perhaps this is the beauty of this album. The catchy melodies strike immediately, lingering in your mind like the mark of scissors remains on a sheet of paper.
"Chances" is highly reminiscent of early Radiohead, with a piano intro that is as simple as it is impactful. "Half Light" in the distorted part seems like a new version of "Yellow" by Coldplay, with a much more peculiar and incisive bass line. A somewhat predictable lyric ("...I just wanna be with you my baby..." repeated ad nauseam in the title track) makes us skip track number 3 altogether, and perhaps the fortune of the album lies precisely in this. Indeed, we come across "Trading Air", "Wires", and "If I Found Out", which are a cut above the rest of the album, as well as the wonderful "Street Map", which even though has a piano intro borrowed from the Veils, remains a track of rare beauty, perhaps among the best that 2005 has given us so far.
The album closes neither with infamy nor praise, with tracks that more or less trace the structure laid out by the previous ones. Not a masterpiece. It will not be remembered in 10-20 years. But for the moment, it's an album that goes more than well...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Chances (04:52)
Take all your chances while you can
Never know when they'll pass you by
Like a sum the mathematician cannot solve
Like me trying my hardest to explain
It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over
If I had the chance to start again
Then you would be the one I'd come and find
Like the poster of Berlin on my wall
Maybe there's a chance our walls might fall
It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over
It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over
I've no idea 'cause
I can't calculate
How to start again
How to start again
How to start again
How to start again
It's all about you
02 Half Light (03:43)
Sun got stuck, as it's making its way back down
We find ourselves, in a familiar part of town
And all that I've seen means nothing to me, without you
So when I see you next we'll make the most of it
Tell the sun to start moving again
The taste of your kiss I've still got on my lips
And I'll take you there with me
Head crashed down, air condition myself to sleep
A great night out, that will continue to the end of the week
And all that I've seen means nothing to me, without you
So when I see you next we'll make the most of it
Tell the sun to start moving again
The taste of your kiss I've still got on my lips
And I'll take you there with me
It's you and me connected to a satellite
It's you and me and love through a machine
It's you and me connected to a satellite
It's you and me and love through a machine
So when I see you next we'll make the most of it
Tell the sun to start moving again
The taste of your kiss I've still got on my lips
And I'll take you there with me
03 Tourist (03:59)
The European air
It always warms my face
I wish I could buy some
I will bring you stories
And bleary eyed photos
Like a regular tourist
We don't go breaking down
I feel like nothing ever will
We don't go breaking down
I feel like nothing
Suitcases down our street
Are rolling once again
I roll away with them
Five days inside Zoo York
To lose myself with friends
I'm nowhere without you
We don't go breaking down
I feel like nothing ever will
We don't go breaking down
I feel like nothing ever will
We don't go breaking down
I feel like nothing
Just want to be with you my baby
Just want to be with you my baby
Just want to be with you my baby
Just want to be with you my baby
I'm counting up the cost of time
And we'll embrace our time away
We cannot save ourselves alone
Or rely on a mobile phone
04 Trading Air (04:29)
Covered ground
Just to reach your house
I know we need to talk
But I can't catch my thoughts
Insides gripped
Scared of what you'll think
Words I can't repeat
Could change all we've got
Set it off
Someone better hit the alarm
Set it off
Someone better help me
Disarm myself
I don't want no-one else
All I want is you
All I want is you
Trading air
Once more from the start
I can't open up a thousand paper cuts
People hear
What they want to hear
But they won't change a thing
No they won't change a thing
Set it off
Someone better hit the alarm
Set it off
Someone better help me
Disarm myself
I don't want no-one else
All I want is you
All I want is you
Disarm myself
I don't want no-one else
All I want is you
All I want is you
05 Wires (04:22)
You got wires going in
You got wires coming out of your skin
You got tears making tracks
I've got tears that are scared of the facts
Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
I see hope is here in a plastic box
I see Christmas lights reflect in your eyes
You got wires going in
You got wires coming out of your skin
There's dry blood on your wrist
Your dry blood on my fingertip
Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
First night of your life, curled up on your own
Looking at you now you would never know
I see it in your eyes, I see it in your eyes
You'll be alright
I see it in your eyes, I see it in your eyes
You'll be alright
All right
Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
I see hope is here in a plastic box
I see Christmas lights reflect in your eyes
Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through
First night of your life, curled up on your own
Looking at you now you would never know
06 If I Found Out (05:04)
Out of energy
I don't know what to do with myself
Made it eventually
And now I'm resting on the very last breath
All I needed was this one
To get me back on my way
It wasn't long before I realised
There was no time to waste
There was soul all around me
Everybody let go
It wasn't long before we realised
There was no time to waste
Like I'm eleven again
I was the highest kid in the world
Reached a point with no end
Just looking out so I can take it all in
All I needed was this one
To get me back on my way
It wasn't long before I realised
There was no time to waste
There was soul all around me
Everybody let go
It wasn't long before we realised
There was no time to waste
All I needed was this one
To get me back on my way
It wasn't long before I realised
There was no time to waste
I thank you for soul
No point unless you got soul
This world has got to have soul
Looking around for your soul
Digging down to your soul
I found out you got soul
Holding out all your soul
Lifting up all your soul
I thank you for soul
07 Yesterday Threw Everything at Me (03:47)
Switch on the light, between each other
Elevated to your side, now I'm nervous
It's time to tell you honestly, so we can alter history
You are, first on my list
When everything around is gone I know
You are, first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is
Plastic flowers that fight for colour
Shadows floating on the ground, that always follow
Like international acclaim, it comes and goes never the same
You are, first on my list
When everything around is gone I know
You are, first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is
And I will run with it
And sunlight will break into my eyes
And it seems like you plugged the world in
'Cause sunlight is streaming from your eyes
You are, first on my list
When everything around is gone I know
You are, first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is
Let's take our time, it won't change over night
We got a chance we didn't have before
Let's take our time, it won't change over night
We got a chance we didn't have before
You are, first on my list
When everything around is gone I know
You are, first on my list
When everything is shown up for what it is
08 Street Map (04:40)
I would like to think our paths are straight
Disconnected from choices we make
That there is no reason why it can't be like you said
One day it's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept off your feet
I would like someone to make a map
Mark my home and draw some lines that match
All of the reasons why
It can be like you said
One day it's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept off your feet
I don't know when
I don't know why
I don't know when
I don't know why
One day it's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept off your feet
But all that I know is it's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept off your feet
09 Modern Mafia (02:47)
Tell me something I don't know
'cause we've been there ten times before
Make it up as we go along
In so deep it can't be wrong
It's obvious that
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
It's time for us to redefine
So fix your eyes, fix your eyes
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
I don't want to be on my own
I need a home, I need a home
There's a look in your eye
Dancing like a samurai
In silence you're still listening
'cause somewhere something's happening
It's obvious that
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
It's time for us to redefine
So fix your eyes, fix your eyes
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
I don't want to be on my own
I need a home, I need a home
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
It's time for us to redefine
So fix your eyes, fix your eyes
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
I don't want to be on my own
I need a home, I need a home
This is modern mafia
They're scared of us; they're scared of us
It's time for us to redefine
So fix your eyes, fix your eyes
10 Twenty Four Hours (05:03)
People rushing left to right
There's pretty faces left to right
I'm just frozen staring into space
I'm holding on I'm holding tight
'Cause stars are gonna crash into this place
And it's caught wide screen so we don't miss a thing
Now I'm standing clear
'Cause all I waited for is
Closing in
Still got twenty four hours
We're closing in
Still got twenty four hours
This is more than daily bread
It's three degrees, it's something else
And you just take it all into your stride
Couldn't be an accident 'cause I can't see no ambulance
I know that we will work it out this time
And it's caught wide screen so we don't miss a thing
Now I'm standing clear
'Cause all I waited for is
Closing in
Still got twenty four hours
Now we're closing in
Still got twenty four hours
Closing in
Still got twenty four hours
Now we're closing in
Still got twenty four hours
It's not over
It's not over
Still got twenty four hours
It's not over
It's not over yet
Still got twenty four hours
11 I Love (03:49)
Fire on the hill
Fire in me still
I feel out of my league
But you turn around and you say to me that
I love everybody here
And I agree
I love everybody here
Sun has long gone out
Sun comes up like it's been about a year
I don't mind if we
Drink again my friend
'Cause there is so much left to say
There is so much left to say
There is so much left to say
There is so much left to say
People for miles, opening up
People for miles, in focus and not
We'd be OK if
We had answers to questions in rhymes and in reasons
You leave it to me to be all of four seasons
I love everybody here
And I agree
I love everybody here
I love everybody here
I love everybody here
I love everybody here
I love everybody here
Life is beautiful for sure
'Cause I love everybody here
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Other reviews
By Alex1965
"A beautiful album that grows with each listen and is destined to remain through the years for its simple originality and straightforwardness."
"Joel Pott’s magnetic vocals and guitar arrangements create splendid sonic visions, as if Dinosaur Jr. fell hopelessly in love with Coldplay."
By GrantNicholas
"An album that significantly improves on what was previously done and places the 'athletic' Londoners in the golden world of great Albion bands."
"'Wires' is a swirl of piano and acoustic guitar upon which a melody with considerable radio appeal is set."
