ALBUM REVIEWS

The Chelsea Smiles THE CHELSEA SMILES GLOBAL MUSIC 16.3.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Fact: The Chelsea Smiles are not from Chelsea. They are, in fact, from that America place. Is this a bad thing? Well not really, mostly given that they sound like a British rock band. Their sound is full-on rock with punk overtones, but it sounds very much like a group of Londoners have got together to sing along with a fairly good band. The shouts you hear on “Action Coming Down”, for instance, could well have been recorded at Stamford Bridge. Odd. The album itself is good, but a little ill-conceived. Having listened to it once all the way through (and switch off towards the middle), I decided to bung it in my car and stick it on random. Again, I zoned out around halfway through. You see, the issue with The Chelsea Smiles’ eponymous offering is that each track is very much the same as the last. The only standout tracks of note from the entire album, in my opinion, are the authoritative opener, “Take You Away”, “Broken Lullabies”, the surprising acoustic album closer, and “Little Misfit” (track nine of twelve), which could – and should – be a rock anthem of the summer. I get the feeling that the band will be strong live, where you may get a better sense of what each track does to stand apart from the others, but for now I’m afraid this is an average album with a couple of excellent individual tracks. Simon Middleyard www.myspace.com/thechelseasmiles Email Links & Comments to the editor Check the latest album releases