Review:

on 2011-03-08 CharlesMartel Said:

When a band produces the highlight of their entire musical career on their debut album, subsequent albums are always going to provide a difficult challenge. It would be true to say that, after "The Cedar Room", the Doves have found that challenge quite extraordinarily difficult to manage. "The Last Broadcast" therefore comes with the weight of quite unbearable expectations. It is hardly surprising that the band should consequently have studiously avoided any attempt to make a repeat of "Lost Souls". They have by and large succeeded, though whether that success was a success of its own is harder to justify.

Having said that, if "Intro" is not the bastard brother of "Firesuite", then its purpose on this album is a mystery. Starting any album with an instrumental is risky. Though it was successful on "Lost Souls" in this case the result seems either to provide a rather pointless delay to the real opening of the album or to reduce the expectations of the listener that this album is going to be as good as its predecessor. What then follows is disappointing to say the least, made more so by the band apparently floundering around imitating a succession of other bands in a concerted attempt to confuse the listener into thinking that this isn't really the Doves at all.

"Words" is the best track on the album, and that is followed (in both senses) by "There Goes the Fear". By now, you are totally confused as to who you are listening to. The swirling synthesisers of the "Intro" were pure Sigur Ros; the languid and sometimes off-key signing of "Words" is reminiscent of the Charlatans; the third of the opening trio sounds too much like the Stone Roses to be coincidental. By now, you are convinced. This album is a serious attempt to distance the band from their first album.

And it doesn't get any less convincing. "Pounding" relies on Joy Division-esque bass lines to thump the title into your head. "N.Y" could have been written by the Verve and (I swear, honest to the God in whom I do not believe) "Satellites" was written by Queen. Just what the hell is going on here? This isn't an original album any more. It is a tribute to the various influences of the individual members of the band across the years. And when you reach the title track and it sounds like something which could have been written by Bonnie Prince Billy, you give up. But worse is to come. I swear that, despite the attempt to disguise it by recording it under a flyover of the M62, the song with the motorway's numeric in its title is nothing more than a poorly produced cover of some prog rock track. Sadly, my knowledge of that particular genre is limited by broad dislike and so I can't pinpoint it.

You are half expecting the next track to sound like 50 Cent, and by the time you get to some semblance of originality, your patience has snapped. "The Sulphur Man", which would not have been out of place on "Lost Souls", fails to lift you. Second albums are often difficult beasts, especially if they follow triumphant debuts. For many, they are a trap which exists simply to fall into. The Doves, in seeking to avoid the obvious trap of trying to emulate their first album walked straight into another - not knowing who they are. The result is an album which serves only to disappoint.
Rating: 5/10