Friday, July 10, 2009

Silvertrain - Waiting 2009

Hear The Track Here

Silvertrain and I have a long, long history, and lots of ups and downs but God bless 'em they have immense stickability - in more ways than one. Although they have yet to repeat the glory days of 2003-2005, I have fond hopes of a return to the Silvertrain style that The One To Blame CD. The problem is getting the two members into the same place at the same time and the real world has other ideas about that. Speaking of which, those with long memories will remember that I did review Waiting (November 2006) and truth to tell I wasn't that impressed at all. This from an act that had gained countless Must Haves from me in the distant past.

See, lots of ups and downs...

The original track was slated for inclusion into the Nine Lives EP (August 2007) but it rightly lost out along the way - Nine Lives btw is a classic example of what John Brandon and Ritchie Allen can do when you DO get them both in the same place at the same time. The thing that appealed to me about Silvertrain - who have lots of other fans besides li'l ol' me - is they are the classic rock pop purveyors. The two minute wonder lives and breathes with this band and even an epic like Waiting (it's a whole 2 and a half minutes) fits the bill - albeit well produced and a tad sparse in arrangement.

Within the first few seconds of the vocal, long time Silvertrain fans will nod wisely, nothing lost here. The surprise comes with the inclusion of what can only be called electronica in what was previously yer average rock/pop song. Strangely enough, it works too, especially going into the ending choruses (chori?) building into the classic Train ploy of extending the hook to infinity and beyond - to quote a well known plastic man. Having said all that, this still has an unfinished feel to it, and is noticably bare in certain parts, the blinding loss being any kind of backing vocal at all. In a song that absolutely BEGS like a dog for it. 'Vocals need more clout!' the song comments state, along with the fact that this is the latest version so I guess it'll all come out in the mix.

Unfinished masterpeice? Highly Recommended Pop/Rock

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