Keane: Whats Your opinion?

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Point me towards some current Earth-stopping music then.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Everybody's Changing has a nice piano bit. It just so happens that it's rather own3d by the piano bit on 'Godhopping' by Dogs Die In Hot Cars. And more or less every other bit on 'Godhopping', too.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyone ever should go Goth. Name me one artist that could not be improved by doing this.

They do not sound like A-Ha. I cannot imagine Keane to be even remotely similar to those geniuses.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:38 (twenty-two years ago)

They don't sound like A-Ha though - the singer does on occasion, but they are NOWHERE near as glorious and pop as A-Ha.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:38 (twenty-two years ago)

So, which band do we need to consider Keane a bad version of to make Nick like them more????

― ___ (___), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Embrace!

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Most late period a-ha stuff is very dark and gloomy; almost goth. Certainly not very pop at all, and they always aspired to being the Doors (true!), the least pop band of all time.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Summer Moved On" is gloomy, but it's still gloriously pop.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Indeed. That's why it was the lead 45 off a very gloomy LP.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:44 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1980

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Somehow I knew Keane would be much-hated here. I guess I can hand in my ILM resignation because I like the record. Overproduced, I'll grant you (the album version of "Everybody's Changing" has too many additional annoying synth bits). And yes, there is a samey-ness to the album as a whole, but I think the songs are great and I don't see what's wrong with his voice. I think he's got good range and the tone doesn't bother me at all.

But then again, I also liked Embrace. There I said it.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Voice = fine, music = fine, songs = samey, text/subject matter = boring.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm interested to hear the album. on the basis of that single they're getting a cautious paws-up from weasel.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

The missus bought the album, so I stuck it on the minidiscman this morning. After six tracks, I can say that I've enjoyed the singles and a nice bit on track two at the end of the chorus. The rest has floated by.

― Buffalo Stan (Buffalo Stan), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Rob, I am a celebrity Embrace fan; you have nothing to fear here.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

'sunshine' is a track i heard yesterday. i liked it a lot.
i hate the singles. and his rubbery chops.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought 'bend and break' and 'this is the last time' were pretty decent singles-in-waiting.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not seeing very strong coldplay parallels. keane are much lighter.

coldplay = indie rock.
keane = indie pop.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

There's something about Keane which reminds me more of Travis than Coldplay. Everybody's Changing is only a guitar away from being on The Man Who.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe people slag them off too much - in that the songs I have actually heard have not troubled me: have been listenable, in truth.

I wrote that before I read the thread and saw that lots of people were sticking up for them. So, OK.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

O, and DC is spot on, above, there.

― the bluefox, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

during the ILXor outage, i actually got my hands on hopes and fears and listened to it. verdict: i like it! (yes, i also like coldplay -- and i don't hear the resemblance, except in the generic lead-singer-kinda/sorta-sounds-like-thom-yorke sense). it's nice, tuneful pop-music and i'm a sucker for the piano anyway. but i don't see why some are so down on them (although i can understand why the singer may annoy some) ... maybe it's another example of the anglo/american cultural divide (i.e.: my yank ears aren't exposed to this kinda thing constantly, and my yank eyes don't have to read breathless yank music crits going on and on about them; so they annoy some brits the way that outfits like wilco annoy me!)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 18 July 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

also, i DON'T hear any resemblance to a-ha AT ALL. the lead singer's voice actually sounds more like freddy mercury (filtered through thom yorke).

(musically, they don't sound at all like queen of course ... and not THAT much like radiohead.)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 18 July 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Thank you for saying you liked what you heard, Eisbar. I was recommended Keane by a friend of mine and after reading much of this thread felt much of my enthusiasm about trying the band's music out diminish, but then after hearing what you've stated, have become even more enthused. I (actually) love late-period Ultravox so comparisons to that kind of music are DEFINITELY fine with me.

The following made me laugh:

Much as I love Robbie K, Keane really is a shit name for a band. Can people not do better than using a bland surname?

Not because it was amusing but because it SO does not fit my own personal reality. Over here, "Keane" would be a rather exotic last name. Bland to me is "Hernandez", "Ramirez", "Gonzales", "Garcia", that sort of thing. I think "Martinez" takes up several dozen pages in the phone book. But Keane? I've never in my life known someone with that last name.

Just thought I'd say that.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Sunday, 18 July 2004 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

STOP PRESS:

Keane's cover of The Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" is absolutely lovely and I can't think of another vocalist who could do it justice without just doing a Hannon/Almond/Reeves pastiche thingum. It's lush, honestly, and he doesn't sound like Midge Ure for once! Mmm.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 16 September 2004 09:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Kevin Rowland should do this in his old Dexy's style.

Heck, we all should...

THE SUN AINT GONNA SHINE ANY MORE!! HRRRRRRRRRPPP!

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

shite

― ruffle bar (grumpy_bastard), Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

"Chart-cosy, devoid of sensory-thrashing bursts of noise and with a fresh-faced lead singer who looks like he's just been scrumping for apples."

This from an NME review. I quote it coz it sums up what's wrong with NME. 'Sensory-thrashing' is por English. 'Scrumping for apples' is used to intimate that Keane, unlike most most people in pop bands (cough) are middle-class. But surely only middle-class people, like NME readers, know what 'scrumping for apples' means. Anyway 'Everybody's Changing' is a keeper, dunno about the rest.

― HKM, Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Somewhere only we know".

After that, you don't need any more Keane.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 16 September 2004 11:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with everyone who suggests that if you approach this as radio-prefab singles-pop, it's a fantastic record. For some reason the popists seem to refuse the notion that a band who presents rockist can be approached popist.

― southern lights (southern lights), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

But what about THIRTEEN SENSES who are Keane WIV GEETAHS?

― Jimmybommy JimmyK'KANG (Nick Southall), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i was shocked as to how much more overblown "everybody's changing" and "bedshaped" are on the album in comparison to the versions on the fierce panda singles. pointlessly so..

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 16 September 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

I'm really diggin' this lately. Is something wrong with me?

If you get past the guy's overly earnest singing style and the band's lack of guitar/bass, it's quite the decent album. Great melodies. Great pop. The last 3 songs are my favorite.

― kickitcricket (kickitcricket), Thursday, 3 March 2005 07:35 (twenty-one years ago)

KEANE = TALK TALK.

Chapter 1: 3 poshboys make soaring pop album without guitars, make a fortune.

Chapter 2: Go nuts with artistic and commercial pressures, hole themselves away in farmhouse and produce epic, organic songs about dying.

I'm so convinced about this that I've decided to get in on the ground floor. So I'm going to force myself to listen to "Hopes & Fears" in the same way as "The Party's Over".

You'll see. In 20 years they will be "who?" but also part of the canon.

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 3 March 2005 10:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I still think Somewhere Only We Know is a great tune. A lot of folks seem to see them as Coldplay-2 but Coldplay could never write a song that good. I've still yet to hear anything else from these cats though.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Thursday, 3 March 2005 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Who says Talk Talk were posh?

― Some Dadaismus Implied (Dada), Thursday, 3 March 2005 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

My mum loves Keane. That pretty much sums them up.

― kate/baby loves headrub (papa november), Thursday, 3 March 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

talk talk were quite posh, but who gives a fuck - they were terrific.
how anyone, even an imbecile with virtually no critical faculties like huey, can possibly say keane are anything like talk talk is utterly beyond me.
talk talk were doing something interesting, keane are doing something considerably less than interesting, their styles of music are entirely different, blah, blah, blah ad nauseum.
and as for the snarky reference to "the canon"... change the fucking record.

― stelfoxx, Thursday, 3 March 2005 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Would it surprise people to know that the singers mum is on the board of governers at one of the poshest private schools in the country?

― Webb Friendly (Webb Friendly), Thursday, 3 March 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

how anyone, even an imbecile with virtually no critical faculties like huey, can possibly say keane are anything like talk talk is utterly beyond me.

It's fairly straightforward - Keane remind me of early Talk Talk, circa The Party's Over. By the way, if the chips were down I'd say that Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock were my two favourite things ever.

What's a Critical Faculty?

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

and as for the snarky reference to "the canon"... change the fucking record.

WTF????

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Talk Talk? A-Ha?

I dunno about the rest of the album (someone can fill me in), but "Somewhere Only We Know" sounds EXACTLY like The Raspberries.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Thursday, 3 March 2005 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "Somewhere Only We Know." Haven't heard anything else from the album. The DJ Shadow Vs. Keane promo we got at the station is stagnant ass.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 3 March 2005 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Keane new single is so dumb

Wimpy Keane vocalist singing along to sub faux U2 guitar chords.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:01 (twenty years ago)

surely only middle-class people, like NME readers, know what 'scrumping for apples' means.

I missed this sentence at the time. Jesus WEPT this place sometimes

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:36 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Huey. The new single's a U2-aping piece of anti-industry nonsense, but watch this album shift 2 million copies and the band go absolutely nuts on LP#3.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:42 (twenty years ago)

srsly DJ, my co-workers would not unnerstand that phrase.

― 25 yr old slacker cokehead (Enrique), Monday, 24 April 2006 12:43 (twenty years ago)

I understand that phrase.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 24 April 2006 13:00 (twenty years ago)

anti-industry?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Monday, 24 April 2006 13:07 (twenty years ago)

Yeah. If I could remember what it's called I'd google the lyrics. Maybe more anti-press, anti-naysayers. Either way, it's politely pissed off, and a little more muscular than you might expect. I always thought, melodically, that The Last Time was a big nasty rock bitch trying to get out of a pussy ballad.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 24 April 2006 13:33 (twenty years ago)

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