The Feeling - Together We Were Made Review

As pop groups go, the general trend is that they get better and progress as they develop a fan base and grow into their niche. So how is it that you listen to 'Together We Are Made' and think, I'm sure people used to rate this band?!'

The Feeling has had a number one ranking album, but you would never know it to hear this, their third release. Not one track would sound out of place on a really bad Disney Pixar soundtrack, and a substantial few could have been in the running for this year's Eurovision contest.

Take for example the first track, 'Set My World on Fire'. It screams out cheesy pop, reminiscent of a Eurovision qualifier. Yet we'd still probably get zero points! 'Dance For The Lights' continues with that happy love type track, with all the credibility of a CBeebies song. It's that over cheery take on the concept of relationships that would easily transfer to the part of a Disney film where they suddenly burst into song.

There is promise on the musical side of things with the track 'Another Life', where the fast beat and the jingle type anecdotes could offer a great foundation. However, The Feeling needs to rely on hooks and radio friendly chorus lyrics - Something they appear to have forgotten!

Tracks do become less tacky pop and more ballad like, but they lack sincerity. What could be a strong concept, is let down by being too flat. Nothing grabs your attention or makes you want to get involved. You can essentially, take it or leave it....full text The Feeling are less a band, more a collection of jingles in search of an ad sync. Or at least, they were. This third album finds them, with considerable, Herculean effort, getting even shitter, a feat akin to making air less visible. ‘Set My World On Fire’ is a Lion King number sung by Cliff Richard.

The almost-engaging ‘Say No’ is a Cliff Richard ballad sung by The Lion King. ‘Together We Were Made’ is a record with its legs akimbo, its arsehole lubed to dripping and beckoning radio producers, Hollyoaks researchers and Whiskas ad men to go for their lives. Ironically, this limp, watered-down, arse-gravy version of ‘pop’ probably couldn’t even sell cat food....full text So the band that brought us the pop classics ‘Fill My Little World’ and 'I Love It When You Call’ have gone all serious on us. Gone are the unashamedly catchy pop songs that won the band Brit and Q Award nominations and helped them sell two million records. The Feeling’s third album is a more modest affair and sees them attempt to explore their melancholy side.

The album opens with ‘Set My World On Fire’; a pretty pop song built around a calypso beat with summery vibes and soft vocals. It’s an obvious first single and an easy set up for what has the potential to be another collection of their signature twinkly pop songs. Instead, the album moves slowly into a patchy miscellany of forgettable songs.

The Feeling are known for their bubbling vibrancy with hook-laden choruses that invade your brain for days. Those are a struggle to find here and the tracks are riddled with the overriding theme of ill-fated love and melancholy.

‘Another Soldier’ is an almost ambitious attempt at something new, with a soft stampede stride - but what they accomplish sounds more like a B-side for a boy band’s single. They consider how it feels to have to fight for what you desire but the sluggish, marching pace doesn’t reflect the yearning ardor of the lyrics.

‘Leave Me Out Of It’, a duet with singer Dan's wife Sophie Ellis-Bexter is instantly forgettable, which is lucky as it’s an unfortunate cringe-inducing affair.

The album picks up pace on ‘Searched Every Corner’; an electro pop inspired track with a touch of Scissor Sisters and a potential single. ‘A Hundred Sinners (Come And Get It)’ is one of the strongest songs; inspired by the Bugsy Malone soundtrack, this is loud and proud and where the album reaches its high point. Here the band embrace what they do best and don't try to do something more adventurous. The band describe it as “…A nod to being completely stupid and jubilant and decadent” – which is what they should have pursued for more of the tracks as it works....full text