Well as the album has now leaked and many of the members have had a chance to listen to it, I don't see why we can't have a thread with reviews on it. Please don't say "Omg its great! love it! best album ever!" and please don't make Sugababes comments as it's silly and has nothing to do with this. I will do my review after I've given the album a listen!

I'm gona do one later coz i need to listen to every track really well first.

I think this is their best album yet! :wub:

I'll review it later after i've given the songs a few listens.

Ok i am only doing the first three songs because i literally cannot move away from them.

 

The promise - well when i first heard this, i was swaying away, very catchy, lovely verses. Not GA's best song by far but just lovely. 7.5 out of 10

 

The Loving Kind - completely stunning, beautiful, heart felt, nice pet shop boys beat. The lyrics are quality and the song structure just flows like honey. I hope this is the second single. Nicola completely shines in it. No sympathy for anyone who doesnt find time for this one 8.5 out of 10.

 

Rolling back the rivers in time - ok, now this is one of those that just makes me go :o This has potential to be my fave aloud track yet. Absolutely beautiful. The music, the lyrics, just everything. The spanish guitars like something from eldorado, cheryl vocoder towards the end is just amazing and just melts me. I would only give this to one other GA song 10 out of 10 (that is major for me)

 

Love is the key - this one is a welcome upbeat one. Sounds chemistry era. Strong Western style beat, i love the strength in this song, something only GA could do well i reckon. This one could really grow on me, its very happy go lucky. I love the end with the mouth organ etc. 8 out of 10

 

 

Oh and on a last note, if this album was just those 4 songs, it would be their best album by far. This is their best, no doubt.

 

And yes, so far, the promise is the weakest on there for me.

Edited October 26, 200816 yr by Robintime11

Album Review On First Listen

 

10 'The Promise', woo yeah love this. Best GA single ever imo.

05 'The Loving Kind', hmmm, it's nice enough I guess. Was expecting better with this after the praise I heard it was getting though.

05 'Rolling Back The Rivers In Time', very much like the last song. Very 'nice' with no excitement and nothing standing out in the track. Still an easy listen mind.

06 'Love Is The Key', again, like the last two tracks it sounds like it's just 'there'. Quite catchy and the vocals are fine but still. A bit better then the last few though. Could see this growing on me.

03 'Turn To Stone', read the last three comments. 'Tis starting to bore me now. ):

05 'Untouchable', oooooh a six minute song. First half of the song is repetitive, boring, bland. The whole thing is very 'nice'. Again. Nice. Woo. :/

01 'Fix Me Up', what is this?! Whatever it is it's not very good, and it's way too long.

04 'Love Is Pain', read all the other comments. Another 'nice' song. Fab!

00 'Miss You Bow Wow', awful. I can't say anything else for it.

01 'Revolution In The Head', see above. Just slightly better. Slightly.

00 'Live In The Country', what is with the beehive noises/chavy intro at the start? Shit song. Worst so far. And that is saying something. The random noises make it no better also.

00 'We Wanna Party', oh dart.

 

Overall the album is pretty rubbsh. It starts off 'fine' but doesn't get any better. GA. :(

Could someone PM me a link please :(

Dissapointing on first listen but hopefully they'll grow on me.

I was underwhelmed on first listen, but with more listens it is growing... will post a review later ;o

Album Review On First Listen

 

10 'The Promise', woo yeah love this. Best GA single ever imo.

05 'The Loving Kind', hmmm, it's nice enough I guess. Was expecting better with this after the praise I heard it was getting though.

05 'Rolling Back The Rivers In Time', very much like the last song. Very 'nice' with no excitement and nothing standing out in the track. Still an easy listen mind.

06 'Love Is The Key', again, like the last two tracks it sounds like it's just 'there'. Quite catchy and the vocals are fine but still. A bit better then the last few though. Could see this growing on me.

03 'Turn To Stone', read the last three comments. 'Tis starting to bore me now. ):

05 'Untouchable', oooooh a six minute song. First half of the song is repetitive, boring, bland. The whole thing is very 'nice'. Again. Nice. Woo. :/

01 'Fix Me Up', what is this?! Whatever it is it's not very good, and it's way too long.

04 'Love Is Pain', read all the other comments. Another 'nice' song. Fab!

00 'Miss You Bow Wow', awful. I can't say anything else for it.

01 'Revolution In The Head', see above. Just slightly better. Slightly.

00 'Live In The Country', what is with the beehive noises/chavy intro at the start? Shit song. Worst so far. And that is saying something. The random noises make it no better also.

00 'We Wanna Party', oh dart.

 

Overall the album is pretty rubbsh. It starts off 'fine' but doesn't get any better. GA. :(

 

 

I wouldn't give much notice to someone who gives 5 out of 10 to songs such as The loving kind, Rolling back the river in time and above all Untouchable ! No offence or anything, but you musn't be that open to GA music if you think that those 3 songs are nothing else than average at best.

I loved Tangled Up but I really dont get this album, will post a full review soon hopefully it would've grown on me by then.

Edited October 27, 200816 yr by J-o-e

:lol: completely disagree with the other comments, I like it a lot more than Tangled Up after the first listen, and Miss You Bow Wow gets at least 9/10 from me, fantastic track

 

there are a few 'what on earth' moments...Fix Me Up did not deserve its place on this album...

Agreed. WHY wasn't 'She' on the album?! It's bloody fantastic! -_-

I wouldn't give much notice to someone who gives 5 out of 10 to songs such as The loving kind, Rolling back the river in time and above all Untouchable ! No offence or anything, but you musn't be that open to GA music if you think that those 3 songs are nothing else than average at best.

 

Why aren't I open to GA's music? I've got both the GH and 'Tangled Up' and I can honestly say this is this albums contains my least favourite songs from them. I just don't get the album, a lot of the songs are very simliar in tempo/tune etc. and there's not much variety, especially later on in the album (which contains some awful songs; 'We Wanna Party'?!). Just my opinion though, I can see a lot of more hardcore GA fans loving the album.

I'm kinda doing this review as I listen to it for the first time so my opinions could change on it.

 

9.2 'The Promise' - Very good, this is probably my second favourite song by them now. At first it was a bit 'meh' but it's such a grower - the chorus is too catchy not to get stuck in your head.

7.7 'The Loving Kind' - Hmm I agree with the comments that this is basically 'Call The Shots'-lite. That's not a bad thing as that is one of their strongest songs but it's just not as good. It's still a nice laid back song and sounds like a grower.

7.2 'Rolling Back The Rivers In Time' - Another 'nice' track, it doesn't really jump out and grab me like I'm used to from Girls Aloud. But I actually like the fact that it's not too 'in your face', another grower probably.

7.5 'Love Is The Key' - Ooh this is more like what I was expecting, a more upbeat track. I don't think the song is as good as the three before it, but the fact that it's more exciting than the previous helps it score a bit higher with me. Again, it seems like a grower but it could also get annoying.

6.5 'Turn To Stone' - I like the music on this, but I don't really like the vocals laid over it. I'm probably just a bad fan of GA by not recognising their voices instantly, but it doesn't sound like a group effort, I could almost mistake it for a solo song.

6.7 'Untouchable' - A near 7 minute song is enough to make me want to delete it before I've even listened to it, I just get bored of songs over about 5 minutes long. This wasn't really an exception. It's a nice enough song but I don't really see why it has to be so long, it just drags on and on. The second half of it is nice though.

8.1 'Fix Me Up' - Aha, I always end up liking the GA songs everyone else hates. (S!NNN) This is the first track I've liked on first listen. (The Promise took a few listens to catch on properly) The only bit I'm not so keen on is the vocode guy. (at least I'm assuming it's not one of the girls) It's one of those songs that I personally enjoy, but I think would be a terrible single choice. This kinda reminds me of 'Back Down' by the Sugababes. (no, I'm not insulting the song or saying they've copied them)

6.6 'Love Is Pain' - It's a bit similar to the rest of the album, it isn't really standing out to me. I can understand why Jonny was bored of the album. Like he said, it's another 'nice' track.

7.8 'Miss You Bow Wow' - A welcome uptempo track now. I don't know if my rating is slightly higher because it's something slightly different or because it's a better song. I really don't like the title of this but it seems like a proper Girls Aloud song. I can't tell if this will grow or tire on me after a few listens.

6.0 'Revolution In The Head' - It could be a grower but right now it just seems rather average at the moment.

5.2 'Live In The Country' - Yeah, don't really like this. The lyrics are quite bad. The music is quite nice though which is the reason it gets over a 5.

5.7 'We Wanna Party' - "We wanna party but we got no soul" well they got that right. I didn't think much of this, it's a bit repetitive. Maybe it will grow. (I feel like I've said that a lot)

 

Average Rating: 7.0/10

 

Nothing on it touches 'The Promise' imo but maybe it will after a few listens. I'm not sure whether the album got worse as it went on or if I was kinda bored of most of it sounding the same by the end so the songs got lower ratings. Right now I feel like they have great lead single and a not-so-great album.

My review after listening to it for the first time:

 

01 - The Promise: We all know whether we like or dislike this one by now, surely? I love it it's a cracking opener to the album and has given the album a good start. 9/10

 

02 - The Loving Kind: Obvious 2nd single choice TBH. Nicola's bit is just so :wub: The thing that is stopping it from being as big a hit as it should be is that people are going to think it's a watered down 'Call the Shots' 9/10

 

03 - Rolling Back the Rivers in Time: Well, this song does nothing for me, I'm afraid. It's not too bad, but I was expecting something better after reading a couple of reviews on it on here. 6/10

 

04 - Love is the Key: What is this? Oh no. I don't like it at all. It's weird, I am actually quite disappointed in the album so far! After such a 'Promising' start! :( 5/10

 

05 - Turn to Stone: Well this brings the album up a bit for me. I quite like this, but still slightly disappointed in the album a bit. 6/10

 

06 - Untouchable: I like this one. It's a good track, but a little bit too long :lol: This has definately given the album a new leese of life for me. I was just about to give up on it TBH! 8/10

 

07 - Fix Me Up: I quite like this one. It reminds me of Spice Girls 'Step to me' though for some reason! :lol: I like it. But it's not the best :lol: 7/10

 

08 - Love is Pain: I can understand people's thoughts on the album that it get's boring after a while. And this doesn't help it too much TBH! It sounds like all the rest and like Aaron, it really isn't a standout 5/10

 

09 - Miss You Bow Wow: Oooh instant, I like this. I actually think it's the best on the album so far! It's the one on here I've heard that's the most single worthy, even though it doesn't sound like a single! I really like it. 10/10

 

10 - Revoloution in the Head: This is OK. The chorus is quite catchy, but as I and others have said before, it doesn't stand-out as it sounds too similar to some of the others on the album! 7/10

 

11 - Live in the Country: Oooh I like this one! I can actually see this becoming a fave of mine after I've listened to the album a few more times! 9/10

 

12 - We Wanna Party: This song is, not as good as I was expecting TBH! With the title of this song I was expecting something a bit more Upbeat and energetic, but instead they play it 'Safe' and make it like the rest of the album 7/10

 

Overall Review: Disappointed :( I had very high hopes for this album, but I got bored half way through and wanted to turn it off. Maybe my hopes were a little too high, but the majority of the album sounds the same, so it's hard to pick out the Standout track. It's not a TOTAL disappointment with a few Decent tracks and one or two standouts, but like Jark said earlier, it's an album full of 'Album Tracks' bar 'Promise' & 'Loving Kind'. Miss You Bow Wow is my fave though but for some reason I can't see it doing too well as a single. I hope it's a grower :( 6/10

My Review :)

 

01 The Promise - No secret I love this song, really strong comeback single and is soooo catchy 9/10

 

02 The Loving Kind - This is good, but that's all it is. It's very second-rate Call The Shots imo. I guess it's an obvious hit though 7/10

 

03 Rolling Back The Rivers In Time - Not keen on the guitar or whatever it is, it sounds like something that should be played on the beach LOL, funky enough though. I HATTEEEEE the Ahhh-Ooooh bit :puke: 5/10

 

04 Love Is The Key - The intro is foul, but the bit after that with the Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo is really good and catchy. The evrses are hideous though and overall the song is $h!t 2/10

 

05 Turn To Stone - My 3rd favourite song on the album. The verses are very atmospheric and the chorus is sang really nicely :) 9/10

 

06 Untouchable - MY FAVOURITE!!!! I love that it's so long and sooo atmospheric. The guitar at the intro is brilliant too, it reminds me of a chillout track. Amazing 10/10

 

07 Fix Me Up - LOL it's soooo Sex Me Up :P I like this too, it's a very sing-a-long song :) 8/10

 

08 Love Is Pain - Mehhh, sounds like all the others really, filler imo 5/10

 

09 Miss You Bow Wow - I see everyone's bumming this? LOL I think it's HIDEOUS, "all i do do do is", not good at all 1/10

 

10 Revolution In The Head - I like the synthy intro, filler again imo 5/10

 

11 Live In The Country - Like it when they try Drum N Bass stuff, or include elements. This one sorta works, the bass line is fierce too 7/10

 

12 We Wanna Party - The chorus is c**p, just the same line repeated, but other than that I quite like this 6/10

 

Overall: 5.5/10

 

I LOVED the clips, I don't know what happened. Oh well it has its moments and some obvious gems on there :)

Edited October 27, 200816 yr by Mikal™

I'll do a review after a couple more listens, but aside from a slightly patchy middle, for me, this is their finest hour since What Will The Neighbours Say? and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it becomes their first No.1 studio album...

I'ts growing on me, I shall do a proper review next week once I have the physical version!

good reviews, very informative thanks guys! :) I'm not gonna think about review until i have the proper album as it's amazing the difference listening to a good quality version can make. Glad to see lots of ppl weren't giving the album 0/10 overall or "10/10 OMG best album eva!!!!!!" type reviews, all seem honest, and the theme seems to be album loses steam as it goes on, perhaps with the promise being one of the strongest tracks. makes me think i may prefer TU...