Alphabeat - This Is Alphabeat (Album)

I've mentioned before how high my hopes were for Alphabeat's debut and it certainly doesn't disappoint. 'This Is Alphabeat' might as well be called 'This Is Pop Music' because it really is the definition, every song contains elements of pop hits from the previous 30 years. It's almost unfair not to call this album eclectic because it takes in so many styles from such a large time period that just happen to be covered by the umbrella of pop, not that umbrellas are anywhere in sight on this CD (except possibly 'Rubber Boots') because this is made for the sun. The first three songs will be famailiar to most as they are the first three singles (in the same order) these are followed by a run of 4 more outstanding tracks that shine in their own retro pop way, after that it takes a turn for the weird with a melacholy ballad that could be about fetishes, safe sex or not getting a cold, a cover of 'Public Image' by PiL and the closer which doesn't seem to borrow from such obvious previous chart music, all of which are enjoyable in their own way but unfortunately outshone by the form set in the first seven tracks. Every song on this album is more than capable of lodging itself immovably in your brain and i found the only way to get one song out was to listen to the next one and have that stuck in there for a while instead. 'Boyfriend' is a good example of this, listen to it once and i guarantee you'll find yourself plodding around singing 'don't you touch my boyfriend, he's not your boyfriend, he's mine' or having a go at the echo-ey faux-rap towards the end. Yet again my housemate came up with the best description: 'the sign of a great pop song is when it's so catchy you think you've heard it before' and that couldn't be truer of this album.

Buy it now before:
a) The radio plays it to death
b) Record companies start signing anybody who can pinch a hook from a chart hit and saturate the market with 'surrogate' bands
c) The sun goes away
d) It stops being cool to be kitsch
e) You miss out on all the fun

Alphabeat - Boyfriend

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