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Reviews \\ Frank Turner - Try This At Home
 
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By Michael Waters, Thursday 29th July 2010 10.26am (5370 views)

Frank Turner
Frank Turner - Try This At Home
Released: 1st August 2010
Label: Xtra Mile

Ozzy Osbourne once said that the aim of most Sabbath riffs, 'Paranoid' in particular, was not to carry technical merit, but more to cultivate in young fans the urge to go out, buy guitars, and start bands. This is a commendable sentiment, albeit coming from a bumbling victim of excess, and music that serves this role has its valid place.

Frank Turner displays said attitude in 'Try This At Home', however the extent of it is startlingly obnoxious, and his articulation of it is just crude; what Sabbath could satisfactorily express through pentatonic riffs, Turner feels the need to yell out at the top of his voice, sounding like Mike McColgan but megalomanic on mood drugs. His aim is ostensibly to cleanse the world of any music that is ambitious or cerebral by deriding such pursuits, dismissing them as pretentious (people who use more than chords I, IV, V, and vi are “dicks”, so I hear).

The chorus sees Turner preach, as if on behalf of some sinister syndicate of Grade 2 guitarists: “We write love songs in C and we do politics in D / We write songs about our friends in Em / So tear down the stars now and take up your guitars / come on folks and try this at home”. A rallying cry to the imaginary musical proletariat that anything that isn't more or less a Green Day cover is unholy and must be burned at the stake, or drowned in a bag. The song celebrates not having an imagination.

If Führer Turner doesn't want people attempting to write intellectually stimulating music (or perhaps music that doesn't even involve guitars) then he can take his banal, closed-minded, pseudo-inspirational, happy-come-with-me-or-die-lucky smug 'n' roll and bugger off somewhere. It's hard to believe this man used to be in Million Dead, because they weren't nearly as vomit-inducing.

For more information you can visit: http://www.frank-turner.com
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User Comments

So far there have been 12 comments posted...
View Ally90's profile
Ally90 says: 30/07 @ 12:05
This is the worst review I thing I ever read. We can't all be as uhappy as you are. Arrogant man.
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View RightOverThere's profile
RightOverThere says: 31/07 @ 02:14
I 100% agree with Ally, I don't think i've ever read such a spiteful, cynical review in my life! This seems more to me like an exercise in hate than something produced with any degree of consideration whatsoever.
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View Tess_dot's profile
Tess_dot says: 31/07 @ 14:38
Michael must be such a nasty man to have a negative opinion about Frank Turner while articulating it in a witty manner.

Next time try and spare poor ickle Franky Turner fans the pain. They are all such sensitive flowers you know.

As the song suggests they are all really talented and artistic too and don't have to spend their time trawling reviews of his stuff in order to leave accusatory comments beneath them.

The song is a cynical piece of shit and there is no nice way of articulating that.

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View Tess_dot's profile
Tess_dot says: 31/07 @ 14:40
(At least one good thing comes from the song though. We can all have a good laugh at the tossers who listen to this cunt wipe by reading their comments.)
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View RightOverThere's profile
RightOverThere says: 01/08 @ 12:18
Using big words and having a strong opinion is not the definition of wit, actually. Based entirely on his interpretation of one line from one song, the reviewer has built a ridiculously misdirected hatred, and deliberately takes lyrics out of context to suit the purpose of (successfully) pissing off anyone who isn't a die-hard hater, instead of providing an actual review as labelled.
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View Glen.byford's profile
Glen.byford says: 01/08 @ 13:42

i personally like frank turner.

he's a witty and affable chap and seems to have building up a rather devoted fanbase over the years on his own terms and without an awful lot of mainstream support.

and i like the song.

but each to their own, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
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View Tess_dot's profile
Tess_dot says: 01/08 @ 18:32
Hahaha. You're funny. Now that's what I call wit.

(N.B. I was careful not to use big words in case you got upset.)
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View RightOverThere's profile
RightOverThere says: 01/08 @ 19:31
Of course that's what you call wit. The problem is, I wasn't trying to be witty. Also, I'm not saying there's anything wrong using more complex vocabulary, I'm simply saying all it proves it that he owns a thesaurus. Perhaps the article should be on Michael Water's blog or the like, and not in a review section.
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View Laura's profile
Laura says: 02/08 @ 10:40
I always thought a review was someone's opinion on something anyway.

I mean I agree with Glen, I like Frank Turner. I think this song is ok. It's not one of his best, but it's ok.

Everyone is intitled to their own opinion. I just suppose Michael is in a position to be more vocal about his as he writes for this website.
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View RightOverThere's profile
RightOverThere says: 02/08 @ 12:13
Haha it's also personal opinion on what makes a review so I guess it's a debate that could go on forever.
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View Laura's profile
Laura says: 02/08 @ 12:17
Well, what is a review if it isn't an opinion piece?
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View Andetd's profile
Andetd says: 12/08 @ 23:58
Wow, what an absurd review. I can only imagine Michael has a chip on his sholder for some reason. Try This At Home isn't a rant against complex or arty music. Its a song about motivating people to get up off their backsides get involved, to start making music themselves. I'm all for thoughtful reviews dude but make sure you understand the subject matter before you make yourself look stupid...

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