I've been waiting for this album to become available in the US for quite some time. I was even tempted to buy the import CD, but thought better of those import prices.
Lily Allen is the last of today's PYTs.
For what it is, this is a great album. One strong track after another.
Don't liste too it with the kids, though.
She's a foul mouth bird, that one.
I've been hearing songs off this album since it came out in England on the local public radio stations, and loving it every time I hear stuff of off it.
She has a rather ludicrous 'tough girl' stance and sings with a seriously cockney accent, despite having a rather posh upbringing. I don't care about all that stuff, I just like this album, a lot.
Don't forget to check out her site and visit her blog (can't link direct, but follow the links, plus you can here a lot of her music over there).
On to the music . . .
1) Smile
If this song doesn't make you smile, then I don't know what will. Lovely looping, ska-ish beat with her talk singing a story of revenge. I've already mentioned the video in a post about the director of this video (Sophie Muller). Go watch it again.
2) Knock 'Em Out
Another snotty little song built around a wonderful crazy beat. About being chatted up by a loser.
3) LDN
LDN is text short hand for London, of course, and this song is another summery confection, yet lyrically there's some real darkness below, example:
There was a little old lady, who was walkin down the road
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people from the city havin lunch in the park
I believe that it's called al fresco
Then a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
Cause he's got all her jewellery and wallet
Yeah, that's city life. The layering of the vocals is absolutely brilliant on this song.
4) Everything's Just Wonderful
Another beautiful song, sung bouncily, yet with a sad edge to the lyrics. So many contradictions packed into one pop song. Instead of the ska/reggae influence this song goes with a more 60s flavored pop sound.
5) Not Big
More snottiness, this time slagging off an ex-boyfriend in the foulest, most personal manner possible. Does that sound like fun to you? Well it's very, very fun, indeed.
6) Friday Night
More ska-pop done well. Another song about clubbing, this time she's slagging off some other girl.
7) Shame For You
There is no shortage of mucus on this album, that's for sure. Yes, more snot, and again, that's a good thing. Any song that dares to trot out this bit of rhyme, "Oh My Gosh, You must be joking me, If you think that you'll be poking me" is alright in my book.
8) Littlest Things
A fascinating song, everything is kind of out of synch, nothing really matches, her sing-talking doesn't match the beat, but then when she gets to the singing sort of catches back up to the beat. The piano sounds like it's from a different song. Brilliant stuff, this. It works, surprisingly well.
9) Take What You Take
Great guitar/drum intro, then settles down into a nice little groove. One of the more song like songs on this album (you have to hear the other songs to understand what this sentence means). Excellent stuff, should be radio friendly (minus the swearing).
10) Friend Of Mine
A pretty straight forward (yet interesting and dense) reggae tinged song. Lily has a thin, high voice, but she doesn't push it where it doesn't want to go. She knows her limits as a singer and works brilliantly within them.
11) Alfie
Did somebody say Polka?!? This song brings the oompapa, and brings it hard in a song about how her little brother smokes too much pot. How could you not love that?
12) Nan You're A Window Shopper
Back to the reggae influence about her Nan being too cheap and too old. More bizarre rhymes in this song that just have to be heard to be believed.
13) Smile Version Revisited (Mark Ronson Remix)
Smile remade into something that could have been put together by Phil Spector way back in the day (and around the way).
I don't have words to describe how much I love this album. This will have a permanent presence on my hard drive and portable music players for now and quite some time to come, I suspect.
I can't imagine that she has much more like this one in her, though, this might be lightning in a bottle.
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