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Rating: "Expectations. It's always expectations that screw you over!" You wait almost three years for the new Chemical album to come out, go to the friendly store that gives you a discount, buy it anyway "in the dark" (but not too enthusiastically after hearing the first single), and put it in the car player convinced you'll: have fun, feel like dancing, drinking, and immersing yourself in that cultured university party atmosphere with a bit of the ravaged Manchester spirit that accompanied you for 5 and a half albums (the half being the last "Push The Button") and instead... disappointment! You hear something else entirely.
Now, I want to clear this up right away. I don't like this album. So, you'll ask why my rating. Because it's a great album. It's a courageous work, full of new ideas, study, thoughts, and reasoning. It's an album that's been thought out and not just thrown in there to make money. I preferred the dance rhythms of the beginnings. I preferred tracks like "LEAVE HOME, BLACK ROCKIN' BEATS, HEY BOY-HEY GIRL, IT BEGAN IN AFRIKA, BELIEVE (the only great track on "PUSH THE BUTTON") but alas, forget about that type of song. You won't find it on this album.
As I was saying, I bought the album and listened to it twice on the A4 TO-MI between one construction site chicane and another, then I sat at the PC to write the review. Convinced (since it came out YESTERDAY) of being the first. Hell no! I already found two reviews of the "promo" version. Fuck! And also two good reviews I must say. Compliments especially to the "crazy one" whose average judgment on the singles I share. So, I refer you to his review for detailed critiques on the tracks. Not wanting to repeat something already written, nor to compete with other reviewers, I propose a different interpretation key, perhaps more broad and all-encompassing of all music genres and all great bands. Does changing genre benefit a band or destroy it?
What do I mean? I mean think of the transition from "industrial" to pop-rock of the last two NINE INCH NAILS albums (see my review on "Year Zero")? Or the transition from "thrash" to "rock-metal" of Metallica in the '90s (see my review "Black Album")? Or the shocking "catharsis" from "cross metal" to "80s pop" in M.Manson's latest album? Or perhaps... the extraordinary histrionic ability in the careers of Queen or Madonna? What's better? Having the courage to propose with different styles and genres, demonstrating also different artistic and musical capabilities, or sticking to a sort of coherence with your audience and offering the same genre ad lividum night after night for years like Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Slayer, or Depeche Mode? Or is a short and fast arc desirable, a shooting star like the Bluvertigo trilogy project or the rapid career of Audioslave? Making 3 great albums and disappearing to avoid the risk of growing old?
As a listener of many and quite different music genres and as a former musician, I often ask myself this question, finding pros and cons to both answers. The dilemma arises again listening to this "We Are The Night" by the Chemical Brothers. An album, again, very beautiful but that I don't like. Due to the expectation argument mentioned in the preamble. A Chemical album should make me dance. This one instead makes me think about many other things. It makes me appreciate, in the first 4 tracks of the album, the happy nods to the early electronic productions of the '70s/'80s (Kraftwerk, Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire above all). It makes me savor the "chill out" vein of the album's core, never entirely abandoned by its English side. I really like especially the last part with clear '80s disco references in a "new beat" sauce... however, this music doesn't get me high!
Sounds, arrangements, and production impeccable. Nice tracks but soulless at first much more cheerful towards the end but my nostalgia for "SURRENDER" and "COME WITH US" remains insurmountable. Regards.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Do It Again (05:32)
Let's turn this thing electric (x8)
Do it again! (x4)
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Turn of my ro-botic brain.
All my thoughts are all the same. (all insane)
Do it again! (x8)
Paint my face and bang my drum.
Throw my bone up to the sun.
Bang my drum and paint my face.
Pump my cave to hyperspace.
Do it again! (x8)
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Turn of my ro-botic brain.
All my thoughts are all the same. (all insane)
06 Das Spiegel (05:51)
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
There's a line in the sand
Put there by a man
By a man whose children who built the castles made of stone
There's a man in the sky
Giving reasons why
That line grows deeper like these shackles round our bones
Move on to my own
Here come battle scars
It's the final charge
Here come battle scars
There's a child born
To a land of scorn
Sneaks past the borders and the lords that hold his hand
He was led like a lamb
All part of the plan
This castle crumbles as he walks out of this land
Move on to my own
Here come battle scars
It's the final charge
Here come battle scars
This is what we own
Here come battle scars
This is where we are
Here come battle scars
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
Living for the reasons
of the dead that moved to
paper from their heads
into my fingers
and my deadly view is
strangled by the rent
I have no purpose in this land
have I forgotten how to stand up
with the humor and the need
I've got to find a way to be
I just turn up the stereo
I can't survive without the cold
This culture's fallen off its feet
I've got to find a brand new beat
beat (beat) beat
beat (beat) beat
beat (beat) beat
There's a road ahead
'tween the live and dead
Church bells are ringing like the panic in my head
Step, step, one by one
Walk into the setting sun
Water's rising, rising fast
History catching up at last
Danger ahead, death behind
No one to follow but old man time
Time, time, take us back before the line was drawn
Before the sky turned black
07 The Salmon Dance (03:40)
SALMON DANCE - CHEMICAL BROTHERS FEAT. FATLIP
Hello Boys and girls, my name is FatLip
And this is my friend Sammy the Salmon
*What it do? *
Today, we're going to teach you some fun facts about Salmon
And a brand new dance
Let me introduce to you a brand new dance
I know you're gonna love it if you give it one chance
It's not complicated, it's not too hard
You don't even have to be a hip hop star
See anyone can do it, all you need is style
Listen up peep gang I'm gonna show you how
Put your hands to the side, as silly as it seems
And shake your body like a salmon floatin' up stream!
I'll float up stream
(You know how we do it, you know how we do it)
Again
*All my peeps spend part of their life in fresh water*
*And part of their life in salt water*
Wow, very interesting
*We change round a couple of days after spawning*
*Then we die*
When I first did the Salmon all the people just laughed
They looked around and stood like I was on crack
I heard somebody say out loud what the fuck is that
This nigga's dancin like a fish while he's doin' the snap
But the more I kept doing it the more they kept feelin' it
And then I heard some bitches say yo that niggas killin' it
By the end of the night everyone was on my team
And the whole club was dancing like a salmon floatin' up stream!
I'll float up stream
(You know how we do it, you know how we do it)
Again
*Most of our friends find their home waters by sense of smell*
*Which is even more keen than that of a dog or a bear*
Wow
*My family also rely on ocean currents, tides*
*The gravitational pull of the moon*(I'm floatin' upstream again)
The moon? Fish pay attention to the moon? Wow. Who knew?
*Did you know? *
What?
*That I could go to Japan, and back. *
You're kidding me. Amazing. Jeez
*Polluted water can kill both baby salmon, that are developing*
*And the adult salmon, that are on their way to spawn. *
Wow what a shame, what a shame
Huh?
Woah
Wow. Hey s-kids, hey give it up for s-Sammy the Salmon and his amazing salmon dance
Huh? Whadda ya say?
Who's hungry?
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Other reviews
By Suonoonous
The misstep made with the boring, verbose, unnecessarily repetitive, and ultimately useless 'Push The Button' remains just a bad memory in front of this new work.
'Pills won’t help you Now' with Midlake is one of the most beautiful songs written and played by the duo since their debut.
By GrantNicholas
"A career like that of the Chemical Brothers speaks for itself."
"There are noticeable improvements compared to the weak predecessor, mostly in terms of sound production."
By Darkboy
"We Are The Night is the worst album by the Chemicals."
"The explosive power of the Chemicals... is consistently missing."
