FLC - Livin’ In The City
Today I ramble about an album for no apparent reason and to no good end. The back button is up and to your left if you’ve got better things to do.
I’ve just got “Livin’ in the City”, the latest Fun Lovin’ Criminals album. The ultra-short review is that it’s great, and sees them getting back to the level of their first two albums after losing their way for the last couple of releases.
What I really wanted to talk about, though, is that they’re one of the weirdest bands I know. Lots of people immediately dismiss them because of the cheesy Godfather-esque lyrics and vocals; they were briefly famous in Britain and as far as I know were always almost unknown in the U.S. If you can get past that, then you realise that the music backing it up is absolutely great, and they write some of the best choruses going.
Their best stuff is on “100% Columbian”, which I still listen to really often even though I’ve had the album for something like 7 years. I’ve posted a couple of the tracks at the end of this entry, and you should give them a listen if you haven’t heard them before. Ignore the vocals during the verses unless you really like Stereotyped-Nu-Yawk posturing. Listen to the chorus, but mostly listen to the music behind it all: It’s the coolest stuff this side of John Coltrane. The album is so cool that B.B. King does a guest spot on one track! Why aren’t they absolutely huge? If ever another Streets of Rage game is made, they are the band who should do the soundtrack. That’s how good they are.
It turns out that I don’t really have much of a point for all this. I guess I’m just baffled that 3 of the best instrumentalists around are ignored while shit like McFly and The Pussycat Dolls just won’t leave us all alone.
In short, go buy the new album. I want to live in a world where quirky, cool stuff like this comes out every day!
Tracks
We Are All Very Worried About You
The View Belongs to Everyone