Good Shoes - No Hope, No Future Review
Posted by Paul Schofield on 02.06.2010
Could this be the most apt album name ever?
I first heard of Good Shoes when their song 'Morden' came on the radio one night, which is rare as I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore. I also never answer my house phone. 'Morden' was a fairly decent knockabout indie track, and a fairly accurate view on the place in question, which could well be any place in London's suburbia. The Mordor of London isn't Morden, more like Dalston. Avoid like the plague. Good Shoes have also been featured on John Kennedy's Xfm show (which is really worth investigating by the way), and Kennedy noticed them after hearing their demo which was recorded in a shed. Nice. Once they moved out of the shed and recorded a new demo, they received more airtime on mainstream radio, but they aren't quite a household name, despite supporting some very praiseworthy bands such as Kaiser Chiefs, Pigeon Detectives, Maximo Park, and The Maccabees. (I can never think of The Maccabees without thinking of the Holiday Armadillo.) My main problem with Good Shoes before was that they sounded exactly the same as other more successful bands out there, like The Young Knives or a laid back Foals. Can all this change with this new album? Or is it back to the shed for Good Shoes? Read on and find out, although I guess that part is fairly obvious as you wouldn't find out otherwise.
(By the way, if this is one of the unfortunate reviews to have that awful WetheKings noise box in the rop right corner, I can only apologise for it's annoyance. Awful, isn't it?)
The album: No Hope, No Future (currently being streamed on Myspace)
1. The Way My Heart Beats
2. Everything You Do
3. I Know
4. Under Control
5. Do You Remember
6. Our Loving Mother In A Pink Diamond
7. Times Change
8. Thousand Miles An Hour
9. Then She Walks Away
10. City By The Sea
"The Way My Heart Beats" has a nifty, uptempo opening that is ruined by the rest of the song kicking in. It's raucous in the chorus, but sadly seems to be lacking for the verses. It's not a bad opening track, just not a particularly memorable one. "Everything You Do" is a monotonous slower track, that would no doubt work wonders for insomniacs and be the final nail in the coffin for manic depressants. It's really quite horrific, Rhys Jones' vocals never quite settling with the rest of the song, and nothing to recommend about it. "I Know" is a much better step in the right direction, and seems to be the pace that the band are the most comfortable with. The main problem I have is the chorus (I know/I know/I know/Oh no) which is sub-standard at best, especially as some of the verse lyrics are pretty impressive, leaving the chorus as something of a disappointment.
"Under Control" is the lead single from the album, but first look at the video for it. It's... there.
Absolutely terrifying. If the blonde one came up to me and demanded that I take 'her' home and provide horizontal entertainment, I don't think I'd have a choice, and would silently weep while she carried me home on her back. Back to the song, it's the best effort so far, with Arctic Monkeys-esque guitars and lyrics washed with bravado. It's not perfect though, I can't help but feel that if it was song by someone else, a Josh Homme or Alex Turner or someone with real vocal confidence to pull it off, it would be a really creditable song, but as it is it's not quite up there. If you like it, sign up to their mailing list and you can have it for free. Don't say I don't do anything for you.
"Do You Remember" tries its best to be entertaining, the guitars and drums are pretty good in all of the tracks to be fair, but again it's the song itself that holds it back. When it goes all instrumental towards the end it's pretty cool, and then you hear Rhys sing again, and it just disappoints. Musically they seem to have everything down, but the songwriting and vocal skills leave a lot to be desired unfortunately. "Our Loving Mother In A Pink Diamond" wins the best track name on this album, and the song isn't too bad, shockingly. A rare moment occurs when the voice and backing works in harmony, and it could be argued that the reason why this song works better than the others is that there aren't too many verses, there's not even a chorus, to get in the way of the music. I might be being harsh, but hey, that's what I'm here for. "Times Change" is another good song, two in a row now, the lyrics are fine, vocals are acceptable for the most part (the odd ending high note doesn't always work, see Carey, Mariah) and the music is steadily reassuring. An unexpected upturn.
"A Thousand Miles An Hour" follows the less is more approach, while it doesn't quite have the punch of the previous couple of songs it's better than the earlier tripe. It does seem to pass as quickly as the title suggests, as it's over before you know it. You'd think on a ten track album that you wouldn't want a song under 2 minutes. Sometimes more is more, you know. Personally I would have liked to see it develop into a breakneck ending with an ever increasing tempo until you think all hell is about to break loose on the universe and you want to call your loved ones to tell them that you never actually loved them, just tolerated them. That, or anything else for that matter, would have made the song more interesting. "Then She Walks By" starts in the same manner as every other song, and at this point you realise that you probably couldn't guess which song was which from the intros unless you listened to them over and over for a millennia. Again it falls into the same category of average blandness. Nothing to make it stand out, nothing to hook your ear, nothing to make you write lyrics all over toilet walls. It picks up towards the end though in almost grandiose fashion, and it probably saves the song from failure. Whether that failure is epic or not I shall leave to you to decide. Final song "City By The Sea" is actually pretty good, as it has a feeling of passion in it which has been lacking from the rest of the album. It's downright charming, and maybe if every song was in this manner rather than the mathrock approach, they would be more successful. Rhys Jones's lyrics are absolutely perfect for this style of song. It's the unexpected highlight of the album, and a fine track to finish with. It's certainly fine enough to grace radio stations, and to brighten some days.
The 411: The problem here is what to make of Good Shoes. In a few songs they have demonstrated remarkable ability, and in others they have been as unremarkable as plain old cheap vanilla ice cream with no chocolate sauce, chips, cookie dough or anything. The majority of the album is focused on one style, but I feel if they could start to move away from this and embrace a more indiepop approach (such as in the final song) they could be a breakthrough band. It's not going to happen with this album, it's too uneventful with too few shining moments, but there is potential hidden deep within.
