Lostprophets - Liberation Transmission
Released: 26th June 2006
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Lostprophets just want to be loved. And frankly, I’m too old (25) to appreciate this brand (and that’s exactly what it is) of music anymore.
They found some success in the States after signing on the dotted line with Columbia Records a couple of years ago, so you’ve got to give them some credit for that, I suppose. However, the sheer passive-aggressiveness and insecurity the little Welsh tikes exude is something else. The following is, word-for-word, the thank-you note, lifted directly from the sleeve notes of Liberation Transmission (it’s worth reprinting in full):
“A massive thank you also, and once again, goes out to you for reading this, and any fan of what we do. Without you we are nothing, and although if we disagree with your opinion we will challenge you on it, we will never forget that it was, and still is, you that put us where we are and it’s you that continues to keep us here. Thank you for buying our records, for coming to our shows, for reading the magazines, for spreading the word about us, and for defending us when the foolhardy talk shit. We have the utmost respect and love for you and that will never change. (Unless you stop liking us…) X
It’s the last line that really gets me: Unless you stop liking us. How utterly needy and lame can you get? I guess that’s what happens when you hit 25 – you join the ranks of the foolhardy, and start talking shit. Or worse still, you find yourself disagreeing with the opinion of unduly exalted poseurs like the Lostprophets. I’m sorry, but I’m just so diametrically opposed to what this band are all about, i.e. being fashionable, skinny ties, elegantly dishevelled haircuts (thanks to the brilliant Say Anything for that one!), playing up to rock star clichés, trying to appeal to the widest number of kids possible (brazen commerciality, in other words), etc, etc.
Although judging Liberation Transmission on its own terms is like being asked to judge a nu-metal beauty pageant or an episode of nu-metal idol, I shall do my utmost.
To give a flavour of the (vaguely, I’m being a little harsh) nu-metal-emo-rock fare on offer, here is a selection of track titles for you: Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters and the Story of a Lonely Girl. Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time). Always All Ways (Apologies, Glances and Messed Up Chances). Can’t Stop, Gotta Date With Hate.
Opening track Everyday Combat doesn’t exactly start promisingly or bode well for the album as a whole with it’s outro tagline of “Don’t think you’re safe, ‘cos it’s not over” – we’re only one tune into proceedings, and, clocking in at the five minute mark, you’re already beginning to yawn. Yikes. A Town Called Hypocrisy is mid-tempo (in fact, much of the album is similarly mid-tempoed), uninspiring rock. Yep, that’s about as good as it gets. Elsewhere we find the humdrum, pop-rock-by-numbers single, Rooftops, and, even worse, a ballad called 4AM Forever that sounds about as sincere as only soggy British cheesy and commercial pop-rock can.
To kick a bad record when it’s already down is like smacking someone with glasses, but fuck it, I’m going to do it anyway. Another reviewer suggested that anyone over the age of 25 would probably be unappreciative of the Prophets, but I’d be tempted to go one further and say that anyone over the age of 18 would be extremely patronised and disappointed and disillusioned and unconvinced by Liberation Transmission. It’s no surprise that this brand of Welsh cock-rock goes down well in the States – after all it’s a cliché-ridden, cloying, angsty, ill-conceived mess. And the fact that the band are probably as old (or even older) than your humble reviewer is, quite frankly, just plain embarrassing. Avoid like the plague.
For more information you can visit: http://www.lostprophets.com
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