"RIP IT UP" ALBUM REVIEW
EMBRACE - The Good Will Out
So meet another pair of northern soul brothers, Huddersfield's McNamaras,
widely tipped to be the heirs apparent to the Gallagher's currently vacant
and grimy crown. In fact, not since Oasis' Definitely Maybe has a band's
debut album been so eagerly awaited in Britain, such has been the hype and,
admittedly, the general quality of the band's preceding three EP's over the
last year or so.
Cheers to Lizzie Smith (lizzie.smith@clear.net.nz)
So it's not surprising that about half of the fourteen tracks have starred
in the band's previous releases and fair enough coz 'Fireworks' is a ballad
of Verve class and 'All You Good Good People' and 'One Big Family' nuture a
big compassionate vibe without being too maudlin or corny. But the best
signs lie in their recent or new songs. The current single 'Come Back to
What You Know' is a brilliant anthemic plea complete with a great tune and
a chorus you'd guard the trenches for, while 'I Want the World' is serious
guitar/vocal delirium and 'That's All Changed Forever' could be the best
ballad they've written to date.
On a superficial and impatient level Embrace might be dismissed as
laborious trad rockers with one foot in the 70's and the other in the
terraces, but that viewpoint would be a gross misrepresentation of their
belief in melodic, uplifting and passionate rock'n'roll. With Oasis on
sabbatical and The Verve still singing Urban Hymns, The Good Will Out is
justifiably destined to be the torch album of the year.
George Kay
from NZ music monthly Rip It Up.