Bush - The Sea of Memories Review

Posted by Ben Czajkowski on 09.14.2011

Bush returns after ten years to release The Sea of Memories. Will this be a post-grunge masterpiece or a monotonous, mainstream rock album? Ben Czajkowski delivers the full review.

Ten years ago, Bush released Golden State; it was a commercial flop, and it would be the last that we would really hear from the band for the rest of the decade. Since then, Gavin Rossdale formed Institute, which didn’t last beyond one album (but produced some solid gems: “Bulletproof Skin”, “Ambulances”, “Heat of Your Love”). He also released a solo album, which wasn’t met with much success. Again, though, I found it to include some solid music (see: "Can't Stop the World" and "Love Remains the Same" ).



1. "The Mirror Of The Signs" - 4:19
2. "The Sound Of Winter" - 3:28
3. "All My Life" - 3:22
4. "The Afterlife" - 4:45
5. "All Night Doctors" - 4:17
6. "Baby Come Home" - 4:15
7. "Red Light" - 3:31
8. "She's A Stallion" - 4:36
9. "I Believe In You" - 3:11
10. "Stand Up" - 4:19
11. "The Heart of the Matter" - 4:22
12. "Be Still My Love" - 4:48

Much like Pearl Jam, Bush has attempted to cash in on their collateral and commercial goodwill from their massive post-grunge era success. Unfortunately, they just haven’t put out anything that comes close to their unique debut, Sixteen Stone. This probably contributed to why Nigel Pulsford (guitar) and Dave Parsons (bass) opted out of the rejoining the band. In addition, lives transform in a decade; families establish; careers and commitments beyond music materialize. So, The Sea of Memories welcomes Chris Traynor and Corey Britz to the fold.

The release of The Sea of Memories is long anticipated; it took over a year just to finish the material. My initial reaction, after several listens, was “there’s some points of potential here, but this is mostly a forgettable album.” Maybe I expected the chaotic, nonsensical poetry of which I know Rossdale is capable, layered on top of complex instrumentals that complement the lyrics perfectly.

Sadly, those moments were few and far between on this album. What The Sea of Memories turns out to be, really, is a straight forward rock album without much in the way of surprises; there’s even less here to really get a crowd energized, yet alone the listener. The first three tracks, “The Mirror of the Signs”, “The Sound of Winter”, and “All My Life” really show what the album could have been; this excited me at first. “The Sound of Winter” is the lead single, for the album, and it’s a solid four star out of five star track. If all of The Sea of Memories was this thoughtful, this would have been a much better album.

“The Sound of Winter”


”All My Life”


“The Afterlife” comes close to that unique style of lyricism that Rossdale is capable, but it quickly gives way to an up-tempo, almost too poppy chorus. This song just reeked of Bob Rock’s signature production; he produced the album, in case that matters to anyone. Somehow the song drags on for almost five minutes. No idea why.

The Afterlife


“All Night Doctors” is a great piano piece, a solid ballad and one of the best songs on the album. It’s a slow, thoughtful melodic tune that really harkens to Institute’s “Ambulances”; it’s a great exercise in how Rossdale’s voice works quite well against any musical medium.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album blurs together for me, at that point. “She’s A Stallion” is the only standout track on the rest of the album, and at four and a half minutes, again, it’s another stretched track, unnecessarily. The closing track “Be Still My Love” is a tired version of “All Night Doctors”. It definitely doesn’t make me want to start the album over again. It makes me want to file the album on my shelf, next to Golden State.

In the end, this album runs close to fifty minutes, and there’s really only about forty solid minutes of material. Bob Rock definitely had his way with popping up what should have been a grungy, gnarly album that would have helped Rossdale and his new bandmates find an identity in the familiar before trying to take on as much of the mainstream as they did. I’ll face it: this was more of a Gavin Rossdale solo album marketed under the name of Bush, as a quick, commercial work.

The 411: The Sea of Memories is the first Bush album in ten years and features two new members. There are moments when this album sounds like Bush, but there are far too many where it sounds like a faceless rock album or a Rossdale solo, pop record. Rossdale doesn’t really deliver captivating lyrics, and the instrumentals rely too heavily on the safety in not experimenting. There are some solid tracks, though: “The Mirror of Signs”, “The Sound of Winter”, “The Afterlife”, and “All Night Doctors”. These four tracks, however, aren’t enough to carry what is, ultimately, a mundane exercise in music composition.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]