One Night Only - 'It's About Time'
Trying hard isn't the same thing as doing well. That's why school reports give separate scores for effort and attainment (or at least they did when I was at school). It's to keep motivation going for children who are working really hard on their spelling but still can't managed to get the vowels in 'weird' the right way around. You basically have to find a way to tell them they're doing the right thing, even when it looks like they're not getting anywhere fast.
There again, if someone is doing brilliantly, but they don't seem to be putting their back into it, teachers can prevent a swell-head by giving them a low effort mark, as if to say "hey! Don't take your talents for granted, you still have to put the hours in!"
And it's exactly the same with music. One Night Only are a band who have done really well off the back of extreme effort. They've clearly spent a long time honing their craft as songwriters and musicians. They are operating within a lineage which leads back as far as the Beatles and takes in modern-day practitioners of guitar-based beat-pop such as the Kooks, and they are diligent in their research, and their homework is always in on time.
Sadly, the results aren't always the grade-A material you would expect from all this hard graft. 'It's About Time' is a well-played, well-written sort of a song, which has been arranged with a good grasp of dynamics and musical structure, in a charmingly skiffly tempo, and some idea of when to bung in a diverting minor chord, just to give the sweet melody a bitter twist. But it's not brilliant.
It's not rubbish either. But if it was brilliant, it would demand to be played again as soon as it finished. It would prevent people from going about their daily business. It would re-arrange the internal organs of the people listening, and make their heads go all swimmy.
That said, they've clearly worked hard to get where they are, so they must deserve four stars. And they would get them too, but for the fact that McFly would've written this song better, and performed it with a bit more oomph too. Blimming swots...
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 28th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comment number 1.
At 27th Apr 2008, Kim-ley wrote:I have to agree about the McFly thing. They would have made this way more fun. These guys are good, but not life-shattering. I don't really like the black and white video thing, don't think it quite works. I'll keep an eye out to see if they get better. Maybe with another single they'll impress me.
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