I was a bit skeptical about The Futureheads 5th album when I saw it was going to be completely a capella, I know they all provide vocals and they harmonise a lot but I wasn't sure how a whole album would go. But as a huge fan of the band £3.99 on Amazon I was always going to give it a go, and it works far better than I ever imagined it would do! It's a mixture of covers of old folk songs, re-works of some of their own songs ('Meantime', 'Robot', 'Thursday', 'Man Ray' & 'Heartbeat Song') as well as some of more well known songs, Kelis 'Acapella' (their Live Lounge cover in 2010 kicked it off), Sparks 'No. 1 Song In Heaven' and what's without doubt the albums highlight, 'Meet Me Halfway' by Black Eyed Peas. Standing at 13 tracks over 35 minutes they've made this album perfectly, long enough to enjoy but not really long enough for it to annoy. It's a really great concept, and I'm loving it!

 

Heard "Meet Me Halfway" and "No.1 Song In Heaven" and honestly wasn't a massive fan of either.

 

Kudos to them for trying something as ambitious as an a capella album but I don't think it's something i'll be buying/downloading.

Suedehead introduced me to their cover of No.1 Song in Heaven, which I absolutely adore. Not as keen on their version of 'Meet me Halfway', but it's a great album concept. Would love to see it get a Mercury nod.

That Sparks cover is absolutely appalling.

Just listened to #1 Song In Heaven and it reminded me of being forced to watch Britain's Got Talent. Not something I'd normally look for in a musical accompaniment.

 

The reviews do seem to be incredibly mixed, it's certainly something that people either love or hate. All the live reviews are rather excellent though, I'm really quite tempted to go and see them on Thursday.

 

'Beeswing' is now easily my favourite on the album.

I imagine it is quite good live. That's sort of what I meant by my Britain's Got Talent comment, it's the sort of thing that works as a one off spectacle for me but not something that I'd like to listen to repeatedly. I can imagine them doing Hounds Of Love this way too.

 

Listening to Beeswing now and I do prefer it...

They've been playing 'Hounds of Love' and a few other older favourites live too, the show is not entirely the four of them and just their vocals like the album though, they've been doing slowed down acoustic arrangements with guitars and cellos, and they get their support act and a choir to join them on a couple of tracks so it's quite mixed up which stops it from becoming boring and samey.

Heard the album yesterday - although Heartbeat Song wasn't on the CD. The best songs by far are actually the traditional ones which are being sung as they were intended.

 

Didn't mind the Sparks one but my mate hated it and he loves both the Futureheads and Sparks!

'Heartbeat Song' is an iTunes only song I think, I had to buy it separately but it probably wasn't worth the 79p... I must agree that the more I listen the more I like the traditional songs, I guess it's on first listen that ones familiar stand out.

Got round to hearing the album in full yesterday and really enjoyed it. Opinion seems to be divided on the Sparks cover. As a big Sparks fan, I love it. Their version of Acapella is another highlight. I agree with Richie that the traditional songs are among the highlights.

As a long time Futureheads devotee I am really loving the album, great for them to be doing something different, it's certainly a brave move. absolutely gutted I missed their London Union Chapel show, seemed pretty special.

I've been randomly screaming 'McIntyre!' all day actually...