Doves - 'Some Cities' (Heavenly) Released 21/02/05

 

Opening salvo and title track ‘Some Cities’ has more in common with Oasis than Radiohead (whom they were often compared to). Pounding drums and rough edge distortion combine to form an eloquent bluster, but without sneering vocals this doesn’t succeed in moving you the way it should. The afore-mentioned ‘Black & White Town’ is up next and is a delight, but definitely a grower. Coldplay seem to have informed some of the tracks here principally ‘Almost Forgot Myself’ which surprisingly is superb. Beautiful melodies on lead guitar and falsetto “la la la” backing vocals and Jimi’s “You made me high ahhh-gain, I almost forgot myself ahhh-gain…” make this one of the stand out tracks of the album. Elsewhere on the album ‘Walk In Fire’ is a great ‘There Goes The Fear’ style manc shuffle that reminds us just how good they can be when they put their minds to it.

 

Disappointingly, such moments feel few and far between compared to ‘The Last Broadcast’. That’s not to say that this isn’t a good album it’s just not a great one. They retread old ground again on ‘One of These Days’ which is a far inferior clone of ‘Pounding’ and sounds flat. ‘Someday Soon’ is so plodding and linear it reminds you why CD players have skip buttons as does ‘Shadows Of Salford’. The latter being too insincere with it’s “You will walk aahhh-gainnnn” refrain being so overblown it might have you in stitches. Penultimate song ‘Sky Stars Falling’ is vaguely reminiscent of The Strokes ‘I Can’t Win’ and suffers as a result - I mean the choice is yours hairy mancunians or gorgeous New Yorkers?

 

All in all I think this will keep fans of the former ‘Sub-Sub’ (it had to get a mention) happy but does little to spark interest in non believers. There are gems here but on the whole it lacks consistency and the immediate reaction upon listening to it is to revisit their superior previous work. Let’s just hope they make their way back home from ‘Some Cities’…