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Rating: I feel it is only right to include this positive review to counterbalance the one already submitted that barely gives a "barely adequate" rating to the album in question, so that one can better decide which side to take.
The Keane were immediately categorized as Coldplay imitators, even though in their home country they haven't exactly received the same accolades and certainly less than abroad. Perhaps this is because bands in the long wake of Chris Martin and company have sprung up at every corner in the last 4-5 years, but also because Mr. Tom Chaplin can try as much as he wants to play the role of the frontman that suits him, but with his teenage face that managed to sneak into a pub dodging security and grab the first glass of beer that came under his nose, he will hardly make the Gwyneth Paltrow of the moment swoon.
The fact remains, however, that Keane is a great band that has placed a debut album among the best of recent years, with all the tracks in the right place, sticking to you like pitch (in this, I would say we are on par with Coldplay), creating their own precise distinctive feature, unlike the numerous other pop groups that were said to always resemble each other too much (Snow Patrol, Embrace, Hope Of The States...).
So we arrive at "Under The Iron Sea", the dreaded second album where you shouldn't try to deviate too much from what you've sown with the first, but neither propose photocopy tracks that get you labeled as someone who always tries to re-propose what worked well
once: well, Coldplay were fantastic with their "A Rush Of Blood To The Head", but I believe Keane were no less, also having the advantage of being able to experiment with the incorporation of the guitar (or at least something that sounds damn close to the guitar) creating that deviation from the sound of the first album that brings a little bit more grit.
The tracks on this album contain all the elements that characterized their debut, namely the catchiest pop-rock ("Is It Any Wonder?", "Crystal Ball") but also that feeling of electronic dissonance that brings the sound closer to the Radiohead area ("Atlantic", "Try
Again", the final part of "Put It Behind You").
There are also tracks that need to be digested little by little ("Nothing In My Way", "A Bad Dream", "Try Again", "Broken Toy"), but they have what it takes to bring Keane into the Olympus where the "usual" Coldplay now stand, with whom I like to continue making comparisons, and for whom at the release of "Rush" I had the same sensation that they wouldn't enter my heart as with the first album, but gradually the tracks on that album continued to dig to reach the core and I do hope Keane succeeds in the same endeavor.
Now Coldplay are in a position where they can no longer deal much with themes of humility, misery, and misfortune from atop their billions, and indeed the fatigue was evident in their latest album. We shall see what will happen to Keane on that occasion, in the meantime, we can continue to feel the sensation of a "Rush of blood to the head under the iron sea".
P.S.: Tom Chaplin doesn't have the same physique du role as Chris Martin, but in terms of stage presence, he is certainly not the last to arrive: watch how he incites the crowd and holds the stage during their Live 8 performance.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Atlantic (04:13)
I hope all of my days will be lit by your face
I hope all the years will hold tight our promises
I don't want to be old and sleep alone
An empty house is not a home
I don't want to be old and feel afraid
I don't want to be old and sleep alone
An empty house is not a home
I don't want to be old and feel afraid
And if I need anything at all
I need a place that's hidden in the deep
Where lonely angels sing you to your sleep
Though all the world is broken
I need a place where I can make my bed
A lover's lap where I can lay my head
Because now the room is spinning
The day's beginning
02 Is It Any Wonder? (03:06)
I always thought that I knew
I'd always have the right to
Be living in the kingdom of the good and true and so on
But now I think I was wrong
And you were laughing along
And now I look a fool for thinking you were on my side
Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder that I feel uptight?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Sometimes it's hard to know where I stand
It's hard to know where I am
Well maybe it's a puzzle I don't understand
Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm
Stranded in the wrong time
Where love is just a lyric in a children's rhyme, a soundbite
Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder that I feel uptight?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Oh these days!
After all the misery made
Is it any wonder that I feel afraid?
Is it any wonder that I feel betrayed?
Nothing left beside this old cathedral
Just the sad lonely spires
How do you make it right?
Oh but you try
Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Is it any wonder that I feel uptight?
Is it any wonder I don't know what's right?
Oh these days!
After all the misery made
Is it any wonder that I feel afraid?
Is it any wonder that I feel betrayed?
03 Nothing in My Way (04:00)
A turning tide
Lovers at a great divide
Why do you laugh
When I know that you hurt inside?
And why do you say
"It's just another day
Nothing in my way
I don't want to go
I don't want to stay
So there's nothing left to say?"
And why do you lie
When you want to die
When you hurt inside?
Don't know what you lie for anyway
Now there's nothing left to say
A tell-tale sign
You don't know where to draw the line
And why do you say
"It's just another day
Nothing in my way
I don't want to go
I don't want to stay
So there's nothing left to say?"
And why do you lie
When you want to die
When you hurt inside?
Don't know what you lie for anyway
Now there's nothing left to say
Well for a lonely soul you're having such a nice time
For a lonely soul you're having such a nice time
For a lonely soul it seems to me
That's you're having such a nice time
You're having such a nice time
04 Leaving So Soon? (03:59)
You must think I'm a fool
So prosaic and awkward and all
Do you think you've got me down?
Do you think I've never been out of this town?
Do I seem too eager to please to you now?
You don't know me at all
I can't turn it on turn it off like you now
No I'm not like you now
Now you're here
I bet you're wishing you could disappear
I'm trying to be kind
I get the feeling you're just killing time
You look down at me
Don't you look down at me now
You don't know me at all
A slap in the face, in the face for you now
Just might do now
You're leaving so soon?
Never had a chance to bloom
But you were so quick to change your tune
Don't look back if I'm a weight around your neck
Because if you don't need me I don't need you
Leaving so soon?
Leaving, leaving so soon?
You're leaving so soon?
Never had a chance to bloom
But you were so quick to change your tune
Don't look back if I'm a weight around your neck
Because if you don't need me I don't need you
05 A Bad Dream (05:06)
Why do I have to fly over every town up and down the line?
I'll die in the clouds above and you that I defend I do not love
I wake up, it's a bad dream, no one on my side
I was fighting but I just feel too tired to be fighting
Guess I'm not the fighting kind
Where will I meet my fate?
Baby I'm a man I was born to hate
And when will I meet my end?
In a better time you could be my friend
I wake up, it's a bad dream, no one on my side
I was fighting but I just feel too tired to be fighting
Guess I'm not the fighting kind
Wouldn't mind it if you were by my side
But you're long gone, yeah you're long gone now
Where do we go?
I don't even know my strange old face
And I'm thinking about those days
And I'm thinking about those days
I wake up, it's a bad dream, no one on my side
I was fighting but I just feel too tired to be fighting
Guess I'm not the fighting kind
Wouldn't mind it if you were by my side
But you're long gone, yeah you're long gone now
Yeah
06 Hamburg Song (04:37)
I don't want to be adored
Don't want to be first in line
Or make myself heard
I'd like to shine a little light
To shine a light on your life
To make you feel loved
No, I don't want to be the only one you know
I want to be the place you call home
I lay myself down to make it so
But you don't want to know
I give much more than I'd ever ask for
Will you see me in the end?
Or is it just a waste of time
Trying to be your friend?
Just shine, shine, shine
Shine a little light
Shine a light on my life
And warm me up again
Fool, I wonder if you know yourself at all
You know that it could be so simple
I lay myself down to make it so
But you don't want to know
You take much more than I'd ever ask for
Say a word or two to brighten my day
Do you think that you could see your way
To lay yourself down and make it so?
But you don't want to know
You take much more than I'd ever ask for
08 Crystal Ball (03:53)
Who is the man I see
Where I'm supposed to be?
I lost my heart
I buried it too deep
Under the iron sea
Oh crystal ball, crystal ball save us all
Tell me life is beautiful
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Lines ever more unclear
Not sure I'm even here
The more I look the more I think that I'm
Starting to disappear
Oh crystal ball, crystal ball save us all
Tell me life is beautiful
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Oh crystal ball hear my song
I'm fading out
Everything I know is wrong
So put me where I belong
I don't know where I am
And I don't really care
I look myself in the eye
There's no one there
I fall upon the earth
I call upon the air
But all I get is the same old vacant stare
Oh crystal ball, crystal ball save us all
Tell me life is beautiful
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Oh crystal ball hear my song
I'm fading out
Everything I know is wrong
So put me where I belong
09 Try Again (04:27)
I fell asleep on a late night train
I missed my stop and went round again
Why would I want to see you now?
To fix it up, make it up somehow
Baby I'll try again, try again
Baby I die every night, every time
What I was isn't what I am
I'd change back but I don't know if I can
Still I'll try, try again, try again
Baby I die every night, every time
But I was made the way I am
I'm not a stone, I'm just a man
Lay down your arms and I will lay down mine
Rip back the time that we've been wasting
God I wish You could see me now
You'd pick me up and You'd sort me out
Baby I'll try again, try again
Baby I die every night, every time
11 The Frog Prince (04:22)
An old fairytale told me
The simple heart will be prized again
A toad will be our king
And ugly ogres our heroes
Then you'll shake your fist at the sky
"Oh why did I rely
On fashions and small fry?"
All promises broken
Feed your people or lose your throne
And forfeit your whole kingdom
I'd sooner lose it than still live in it alone
You were our golden child
But the gentle and the mild
Inherit the earth
While your prince's crown cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far from the person you are
Let go, brother, let go
Because now we all know
Soon someone will put a spell on you
Perfume, treasure, sorcery, every trick they know
You will lie in a deep sleep
That's when your prince's crown cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far from the person you are
Let go, brother, let go
Because now we all know
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Other reviews
By Adil
Rice-Oxley's brilliant compositions appear more sophisticated in this second work, and unlike the previous one, lack tracks with immediate impact.
'Under The Iron Sea' does not seem to go beyond a skimpy pass.
By GrantNicholas
The first release from the latest album, 'Is It Any Wonder,' showcases an enviable freshness that Bono and company can only dream of now.
'Under The Iron Sea' is a mature effort that attempts a greater variety of styles compared to the somewhat monotonous 'Hopes And Fears.'
