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Rating: On May 10, 2004, "Hopes And Fears," the debut album by Keane, was released. A decidedly original and unconventional band, given the complete absence of guitar in their original and somewhat melancholic sound. This might seem insane, but when listening to the CD, you absolutely don't miss this instrument, as it's brilliantly covered by the excellent use of the piano by Tim Rice-Oxley and the drums by Richard Hughes.
The singer, Tom Chaplin, has an excellent voice that can wonderfully adapt to different sounds, such as the urgent rhythm of "This is The Last Time" or the measured pace of "She Has No Time." The album captivates from the very first listen: Keane's music is of that kind which immediately reaches the hearts of those who listen to it. "Somewhere Only We Know" is an excellent debut, with lyrics dominated, like most of the other tracks, by an obvious melancholy. "This Is The Last Time" and "Bend and Break" follow the same track as the first song, while "We Might As Well Be Strangers" represents almost a shift in gear, transporting us into a more tranquil atmosphere. We thus arrive at the gem of the album, the standout piece, "Everybody's Changing," unfortunately instrumentalized by Vodafone in its continual commercials, and thus rendered almost commercial. It's a real pity because both the lyrics, dealing with the sudden change that everyone around us undergoes and in which we are involved ourselves, and the music, are astonishing in this track. The excellence in both components, along with Tom Chaplin's beautiful voice, make it the best song on the CD. This is followed by "Your Eyes Open," a slightly more optimistic piece, which marks the end of the first part of the album. The second part opens with "She Has No Time," a poignant, slow, and nostalgic ballad, which clarifies the leit-motif of the ensuing songs, except for "Can't Stop Now." "Sunshine" and "Untitled 1" indeed develop on the same mixture of elements that gave rise to "She Has No Time." And now, the concluding piece, a fitting epilogue to this beautiful CD. "Bedshaped," with its almost psychedelic start, is perhaps the song that best synthesizes Keane, having a very pleasant and immediate melody, but not for this reason banal.
Overall, an excellent album that can be listened to from the first to the last song and leaves good hopes for the next eagerly anticipated work of the Anglo-Saxon band.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Somewhere Only We Know (03:57)
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
(break)
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
So why don't we go
HmmmaaaAAAA.....Ahhhoooooo....
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
02 Bend and Break (03:40)
When you when you forget your name
When old faces all look the same
Meet me in the morning when you wake up
Meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake
Bitter and hardened heart
Aching, waiting for life to start
Meet me in the morning when you wake up
Meet me in the morning then you'll wake up
If only I don't bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake
03 We Might as Well Be Strangers (03:12)
I don't know your face no more
Or feel the touch that I adore
I don't know your face no more
It's just a place I'm looking for
We might as well be strangers in another town
We might as well be living in a different world
We might as well...
We might as well...
We might as well...
I don't know your thoughts these days
We're strangers in an empty space
I don't understand your heart
It's easier to be apart
We might as well be strangers in another town
We might as well be living in another time
We might as well...
We might as well...
We might as well be strangers! Be strangers
For all I know of you now...
For all I know of you now...
For all I know of you now...
For all I know of you now...
04 Everybody's Changing (03:35)
You say you wander your own land
But when I think about it I don't see how you can
You're aching, you're breaking
And I can see the pain in your eyes
Says everybody's changing
And I don't know why
So little time
Try to understand that
I'm trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same
You're gone from here
Soon you will disappear
Fading into beautiful light
Because everybody's changing
And I don't feel right
So little time
Try to understand that
I'm trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same
So little time
Try to understand that
I'm trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I'm trying to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same
Oh, everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same
05 Your Eyes Open (03:23)
Well it's a lonely road that you have chosen
Morning comes
And you don't want to know me anymore
And it's a long time since your heart was frozen
Morning comes
And you don't want to know me anymore
For a moment your eyes open and you know
All the things I ever wanted you to know
I don't know you and I don't want to
Till the moment your eyes open and you know
That it's a lonely place that you have run to
Morning comes
And you don't want to know me anymore
And it's a lonely end that you will come to
Morning comes
And you don't want to know me anymore
For a moment your eyes open and you know
All the things I ever wanted you to know
I don't know you and I don't want to
Till the moment your eyes open and you know
For a moment your eyes open and you know
All the things I ever wanted you to know
I don't know you and I don't want to
Till the moment your eyes open and you know
07 Can't Stop Now (03:38)
Oh, whoa, oh, oh
Oh, whoa, oh, oh
Some days, feel my soul has left my body
Feel I'm floating high above me
Like I'm looking down upon me
Start sinking, every time I get to thinking
It's easier to keep on moving
Never stop to let the truth in
Sometimes I feel like it's all been done
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one
Sometimes I wanna change everything I've ever done
I'm too tired to fight and yet too scared to run
And if I stop for a minute
I think about things I really don't wanna know
And I'm the first to admit it
Without you I'm a liner stranded in an ice flow, yeah
I feel like a thief who has no faith
Made immoral by the grade
Of the drugs you took that day
Sinking in the pain he's been inflicting
Yet he's feeling like the victim
Just the horoscopes to blame
Sometimes I feel like a little lost child
Sometimes I feel like the chosen one
Sometimes I wanna shout out 'til everything goes quiet
Sometimes I wonder why I was ever born
And if I stop for a minute
I think about things I really don't wanna know
And I'm the first to admit it
Without you I'm child and so wherever you go
I will follow
Uh, yeah, and baby, you are just beautiful
From crown to your cuticles
You held down my two sons
You never frown when duty calls
You know me, I gave you more than you can handle
But you still keep a handle on it
Even when I take something beautiful and vandal on it
No more females, well, how come my emails got notes on a scandal?
It's like Eve with the apple, a priest in the chapel
Overcome by the devil's tackle
I'm still shackling the bad 'til I know
I'm such a hassle
And every time I let my thoughts go
I get baffled so I hardly pause
I just cross seas with these nearly broads
'Cause it hurts me to see what I finally lost
So I guess I'm just a fiend consumed by the scene
The stage and the screens
Where it's just me and Keane
And if I stop for a minute
I think about things I really don't wanna know
So I guess I'm just a fiend
Consumed by the scene
And I'm the first to admit it
Without you I'm a liner stranded in an ice flow
The stage and the screens
Where it's just me and Keane
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
08 Sunshine (04:12)
I hold you in my hands
A little animal
And only some idiot would let you go
But if I'm one thing then that's the one thing
I should know
Can anybody find their home?
Out of everyone can anybody find their home?
Lost in the sun can anybody find their home?
Come on, come on, come on
Can anybody find their home?
I hold you in cupped hands
And shield you from a storm
Where only some dumb idiot would let you go
But if I'm one thing then that's the one thing
I should know
Oh can anybody find their home?
Out of everyone can anybody find their home?
Lost in the sun can anybody find their home?
Come on, come on, come on
Can anybody find their home?
09 This Is the Last Time (03:29)
This is the last time
That I will say these words
I remember the first time
The first of many lies
Sweep it into the corner
Or hide it under the bed
Say these things they go away
But they never do
Something I wasn't sure of
But I was in the middle of
Something I forget now
But I've seen too little of
The last time
You fall on me for anything you like
Your one last line
You fall on me for anything you like
And years make everything alright
You fall on me for anything you like
And I, no I don't mind
This is the last time
That I will show my face
One last tender lie
And then I'm out of this place
Tread it into the carpet
Or hide it under the stairs
Say that some things never die
Well I tried and I tried
Something I wasn't sure of
But I was in the middle of
Something I forget now
But I've seen too little of
The last time
You fall on me for anything you like
Your one last line
You fall on me for anything you like
And years make everything alright
You fall on me for anything you like
And I, no I don't mind
The last time
You fall on me for anything you like
Your one last line
You fall on me for anything you like
And years make everything alright
You fall on me for anything you like
And I, no I don't mind
10 On a Day Like Today (05:27)
On a day like today
I looked at you and I
Saw something in the way
You stared into the sky
I saw you were sick and tired
Of my wrong turns
If you only knew the way I feel
I'd really love to tell you
But I could never seem to say
The things I needed to
On a day like today
No other words would do
I saw you were sick and tired
Of my wrong turns
If you only knew the way I feel
I'd really love to tell you
But I can never find the words to say
And I don't know why
I can't find the words to say
And I don't know why
11 Untitled 1 (05:36)
A house on fire
A wall of stone
A door that once was opened
An empty face and empty bones
Who ate your heart?
You're cold inside
You're not the one I hoped for
I'll see you on the other side
I'll see you on the other side
The wind wouldn't blow me home
To lie in your heart of hearts
Will I ever see you again
And lie in your heart of hearts?
Who ate your heart?
You're cold inside
You're not the one I hoped for
I'll see you on the other side
I'll see you on the other side
The wind wouldn't blow me home
To lie in your heart of hearts
Will I ever see you again
And lie in your heart of hearts?
12 Bedshaped (04:38)
Many's the time I ran with you down
The rainy roads of our old town
Many the lives we lived in each day
And buried altogether
Don't laugh at me
Don't look away
You'll follow me back
With the sun in your eyes
And on your own
Bedshaped and legs of stone
You'll knock on my door and up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know?
What do I know?
I know
I know you think I'm holding you down
And I've fallen by the wayside now
And I don't understand the same things as you
But I do
Don't laugh at me
Don't look away
You follow me back
With the sun in your eyes
And on your own
Bedshaped and legs of stone
You'll knock on my door and up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know?
What do I know?
I know
Oh and up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know?
What do I know?
I know
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Other reviews
By charles
"Keane's debut single, 'Somewhere Only We Know,' is a perfect mix between the vocal part of Travis and the instrumental part of Coldplay."
"It is a very simple album, which sounds very, very calm and light, an 'easy-listening' certainly not innovative but always pleasant to listen to."
By senior86
I thought to myself: 'these guys know what they’re doing.'
This little masterpiece capable of making us dream while staying awake.
By ocipuk
"Somewhere only we know is a piece of great class, it relaxes but at the same time does not slip away without leaving its melody on you."
"Keane hits the mark with their debut, offering something original without wanting to disrupt the rules of music."
