Posted February 13, 20232 yr Hello! For my album of the month for February, I am bringing you something a bit different. My Life Story - The Golden Mile Release: 10 March 1997 UK Chart Peak: 36 I guess you could call My Life Story Baroque Pop, or left field Britpop? Either way, the album My Life Story is theatrical, orchestral and dramatic! The band/group were formed in 1993 and were a group of around 12 musicians fronted by Jake Shillingford. By 1997 the fates were aligned with Britpop to give them modest hit singles and a successful album but their time in the sub-limelight was brief and the band disappeared again. MLF have been compared to the Divine Comedy and I can see the comparison, but their sound at the time was gloriously different to me. All my friends thought I was mad liking this album, I assured them it was really good but it didn't catch on with them! Lets have a look at the singles: Fz1W9EWTdVY 12 Reasons Why I Love Her This is also the album opener and I think sets the tone. !2 Reasons peaked at number 32 in 1996 and numbers 12 reasons why Jake loves a mysterious her. Violins aplenty underscore this track and it is almost Adam and The Ants in its execution. A definite statement of their sound! FoXH4fKKSwc Sparkle Actually a re-release from 1995, Sparkle peaked at number 34 in 1996. This is actually my favourite single from the album and probably the most commercial imo. The song seems to be about a girl that doesn't Sparkle (or even shine) in Jake's eyes, which is a slightly different take given the uplifting sound and chorus. 71j9CaAk3Ks The King of Kissingdom Sunday lunch at the Windsors? It seems there is a new King in town (seems familiar). This bonkers track peaked at number 35 in 1997 and is about a debarchous King and his frills and frolics. Could this be any more flamboyant and glorious?! G85L4TjTPv8 Strumpet This is the song that hit the big time (comparatively) at peak Britpop and is by fair the most guitar heavy track on the album - peaking at number 24 in 1997 and giving them an airing on TFI Friday. It was this song I bought on CD Single that lead me to the album. Strumpet is a bunch of titillating statements relating to said Strumpet. So, those are the singles (aside from Dutchess which I am not fond of so please do wait until a listenthrough). I would recommend the lovely album track April 1st with the opening line of 'I am a singer who can't/but I am a lover who can) for further listening. Imo My Life Story aren't Britpop but slightly related - in an orchestral dramatic performance way. I hope some of you know and appreciate this album as much as me, or hear it and fall in love.....! Here is the delectable Spotify playlist:
February 13, 20232 yr Well, I've never heard this one so it will be a discovery for me. I think I can vaguely recall the singles in terms of the titles but I can't tell you immediately how any of them go
February 13, 20232 yr Never even heard of the band here but the description definitely sounds interesting!
February 14, 20232 yr I know the band name and the song titles ring a bell but don't think I've ever listened, will give it a go
February 14, 20232 yr I've yet to review 1996 and 1997 in my personal charts - but I have to say I have no memories of these! Interesting choice!
February 14, 20232 yr I don't know any of these songs but from the description, I think I would like this album. I can host a listen through on Thursday evening.
February 14, 20232 yr Author Gah can’t make 9 on Thursday. But, I’d be very interested to hear the feedback though. I hope this album will be a good discovery for some of you.
February 16, 20232 yr Author Please let me know what you all think after as I can’t make the listen through :( At least one more fan after this will be a win!
February 16, 20232 yr Not entirely sold on this one I'm afraid (the vocals were quite annoying on a lot of the songs I have to be honest! and not too sure about some of the lyrics either) but there was one song I really liked - not coincidentally the one with the most restrained vocals, but I also really liked the instrumentation on 'Claret' - and enough other ones I quite liked to fill out a decent enough top 5: 1 Claret 2 I Dive (Unanswered Questions And Questionable Answers) 3 12 Reasons Why I Love Her 4 Strumpet 5 Sparkle 'November 5th' was nice too (although why did they get the month and day the wrong way round, the traitors xx). Still nice to hear something that's entirely new to my ears anyway so interesting pick Jester!
February 16, 20232 yr Apologies if my insistence on clashing this with the Apprentice meant a fair few didn't fancy turning up today... I'd never heard the album before so it was interesting to hear something different - this is the second new one to me following Rollo's choice in January. My overarching impression is that this may have sounded better in 1995(ish) than it did today, my main issue was the vocalist who I didn't find to be very strong and (assuming he wrote them) the lyrics at times felt a little quirky for the sake of it. BUT there were some highs to be found here... Top 5: 01 Sparkle - I really liked this one and can see why it was a single. It felt very cohesive as a song and the lyrics were more straightforward too, it still had the interesting diversion in the instrumental breakdown section but I thought it was a strong and catchy song. 02 Strumpet - I felt like this was more understated that the initial run and that was appreciated. I also really liked the harmony sections and felt that they added something very melodic to the track... this was one where I felt it could have been longer though, it seemed to fade out too early! 03 November 5th - this was a nice closing track, it reminded me of some of Patrick Wolf's material. Understated but a lovely vibe to end the album with. 04 I Dive - I wasn't expecting to like this one when it began but it felt like it had a nice groove to it, the flute was a nice addition too. 05 12 Reasons Why I Love Her - Loved it as an OTT opener, it certainly made its presence felt and had an interesting concept to the song. I thought he sounded a little like Alison Moyet's long lost brother though which was odd at first... but there are definitely worse people to sound a bit like :D Out of the remaining ones, I thought that Suited and Booted was another good upbeat track and Claret was a nice track - although I didn't care for the lyrics anywhere near as much as the production. Overall, I'm not sure I would go back to this again if I'm honest. I felt at times there was a bit too much going on - I see they have 11 members though so I can see why!!! - and it felt a bit messy at times. I don't think the singer could match the drama of the production, he seemed to be straining past his ability to me at times :( I'd definitely add Sparkle to a britpop/90s indie playlist though ^_^
February 17, 20232 yr This was an interesting listen. The string section certainly sounded like ELO in places. They used an outside orchestra on their albums from 1974 onwards so I would be interested to know if My Life Story played all the orchestral instruments themselves. If there were eleven of them, maybe they did and just overdubbed them to make them sound like there were more people playing than there actually were. I liked the structure and melody of most of the songs and the grandiose sound throughout the album. What let it down for me was the lead singer's vocals were devoid of any range or personality. A more accomplished singer would have made these songs sound better. I might give it another listen. I wasn't keeping note of which songs I liked the best.
February 17, 20232 yr Author Thanks Rollo, Brer and Dandy* for giving this a listen! Appreciate its not the most instant albums, but glad you had some favourites. My top 5 is: 1. Sparkle 2. Strumpet 3. April 1st 4. 12 Reasons Why 5. Suited and Booted I’ll pick something more commercial for March, promise!
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