The Killers win hands down with ‘Day & Age’, a camp but fun party record. Coldplay come second because of one song. Kanye West and Guns n’ Roses rely too much on the effects department.

If you only want to listen to one song this week, tune in to Coldplay’s ‘Now My Feet Won’t Touch The Ground’. It’s Coldplay at their melodic best, stripped down to acoustic guitar and melancholic horns. The song is one of the album outtakes on Coldplay’s new mini-album ‘Prospekt’s March’. Ceck out the sample MP3 below!

The rest of ‘Prospekt’s March’ is not that exciting, with the exception of ‘Glass Of Water’.

It’s The Killers who deliver the most consistent album this week with ‘Day & Age’, a romp through the legacy of European Elecro Pop of the 1980’s. It’s camp, it’s trashy, but it’s a solid party record.

Kanye West shows he’s not afraid to stray into new territory with ‘808s & Heartbreak’ which features some cool Jamaican Dancehall inspired rhythms. But West’s insistance to give his voice a cheesy, warbly sound with a piece of software called Auto-Tune is a real turn-off. Check out the drums, however, particularly the sub bass.

Guns n’ Roses bring up the rear with their comeback album ‘Chinese Democracy’. The album was 14 years in the making and the last original band members from Gn’R’s heydays in the 1980’s walked out on frontman Axl Rose during the making of this album. That shows: It’s a fussy, overwrought album which is all over the shop in terms of sound and style.

Album Of The Week
The Killers ‘Day & Age’
Gone are the pretenses of being a Rock band, The Killers finally live out all their Pop fantasies on one album. More electronic than its two predecessors, ‘Day & Age’ drops any earlier road movie references and Rock cliches.

The boys from Las Vegas, Nevada, play their way through a veritable wax museum full of European pop stars. This is the Eurostar blazing through the Belgian countryside rather than a Chevy rolling over Nevada blacktop. Still interested? Then read on.

Pet Sop Boys? Certainly, we got the georgeous ‘Human’ and the ‘This Is Your Life’. Freddy Mercury? We even got some Freddie style, operatic nonsense. Check ‘A Dustland Fairytale’ and ‘Neon Tiger’.

‘Losing Touch’ is an excellent David Bowie pastiche, circa ‘Ashes To Ashes’. On ‘Spaceman’ you get odd X-Files inspired lyrics riding over a bit of New Order. And, finally, The Killers try their hand at 80’s cod funk with the fairly fishy ‘Joy Ride’. Did somebody say Spandau Ballet?

Watch The Killers Perform ‘Human’

This may sound a bit messy, but ‘Day & Age’ is a surprisingly ‘together’ album. The Killers may wear their influences openly on their sleeves but they play their way through it all without losing the plot. It may not be terribly original, but it’s good fun.

When the band stops referencing old Pop records and is content with just being themselves, they still turn out a decent tune. Check out the low key shuffle of ‘I Can’t Stay’.

You can download ‘Day & Age’ here from iTunes UK.

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#2 Coldplay ‘Prospekt’s March’
I’m not a big Coldplay fan at the best of times and their recent album ‘Viva La Vida’ is just too pompous for my taste. So it comes as a nice surprise that the session outtakes collected on this EP or mini-album contain the most stripped down and straightforward Coldplay song in yonks: ‘Now My Feet Won’t Touch The Ground’.

This is a laidback, folky number that almost has a touch of Americana about it. ‘Now My Feet’ comes straight to the point, it’s all over in 2:27 minutes, and boasts a strong melody with no distractions. There’s another hint of Folk on the title track ‘Prospekt’s March/Poppy Fields’, but that song is too fussy compared to the simplicity of ‘Now My Feet’.

The other surprise for me is ‘Glass Of Water’. Is that Coldplay covering Sigur Ros? No, but its Coldplay coming very close to the intensity of Iceland’s post Rock outfit. It’s Coldplay finally crossing the line and making the step that puts them beyond pompous into that operatic, Wagnerian territory than Sigur Ros roam in. In other words, it’s Coldplay pulling out all the stops and sounding better for it.

There are two more new tracks on the EP. Well, one full song, ‘Rainy Day’, and a 48 seconds piano tinkle called ‘Postcards From Far Away’.

In addition to the new material you get three remakes of album tracks. ‘Lost+’ is another spin on
the double whammy of ‘Lost!’, the loud one, and ‘Lost?’, the quiet one - Both highlights on ‘Viva La Vida’ for me. The new version features rapper Jay-Z but doesn’t really add much, ending up as ‘Lost+’, the inbetween one.

To my ears, the versions of ‘Life In Technicolor’ and ‘Lovers In Japan’ on this EP show no great improvements or even just deviations from the album tracks.

I suggest you download ‘Now My Feet Won’t Touch The Ground’ and ‘Glass Of Water’.

You can download ‘Prospekt’s March’ here from iTunes UK. Alternatively you can download Coldplay’s album ‘Viva La Vida’ plus ‘Prospekt’s March’ here

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#3 Kanye West ‘808s & Heartbreak’
Respect to West for turning his back on a successful formula after seven years and trying something different. Gone are the Hip Hop beats and in come touches of Jamaican Dancehall and European Electro Pop. Gone, too, is the rapper and in comes West the singer.

The beats hit you first. Deep bass drums that twist and linger like in Dancehall or Dubstep. On top you get a bit of tribal percussion as on ‘Love Lockdown’ or Electro Pop stylings like on ‘Paranoid’ or ‘Robo Cop’.

Ever so often, West strays slightly into early Chicago House territory (’Street Lights’). Well, West grew up in Chicago and the 808 in the album title is the Roland 808 drum machine, the engine that drove House music. So maybe this is West’s soul searching, me and my hometown album?

Electro Pop features high on the list of influences you can hear on tracks like ‘Say You Will’, ‘Welcome To Heartbreak’ or - West at his best - the cinematic ‘See You In My Nightmares’. That makes sense.

After all, House was created by Chicago clubbers used to high energy Disco records when the homegrown supply dried up and the rest of America went Hip Hop. They first turned to European Pop and, inspired by the simple Electronic rhythms of most of these records, later made their own tracks.

In a way, West is going back to the roots.

If only he could do without the gimmicks.

For an artist with a reputedly huge ego it is strange that West hides his voice behind a nagging special effect. You remember that irritating nasal warble made famous by Cher on her 1998 hit ‘I Believe’ and more recently employed by R&B singers like Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain? That’s what West does on 80% of the tracks here. Check out ‘Love Lockdown’ below and you’ll hear what I’m on about.

Watch The Video For ‘Love Lockdown’

The culprit is a piece of software called Auto-Tune. Used mainly to correct bum notes and polish up vocals in the studio, you can tweak the settings and get the warble. Auto-Tune’s manufacturer even calls it the ‘Cher Effect’. Undoubtedly, the cheesy ‘I Believe’ will be caned once again this season at office Christmas parties everywhere.

Auto-Tune really ruins ‘808s & Heartbreak’ for me. And that’s a shame, because I think the album has a lot to offer musically. Can’t wait for the instrumentals to pop up.

You can download Kanye West’s new album here from iTunes UK.

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#4 Guns n’ Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’
It’s been a decade and a half since their last album, the Punk cover concept album ‘The Spaghetti Incident’. Guns n’ Roses return with an album worth of film music.

Yep, it’s the type of Rock that’s used in blockbuster movies when the director wants some excitement in the audience. A short 30 seconds blast of adrenaline and fireworks going off all over the place.

Only, the songs on ‘Chinese Democracy’ are on average five minutes long. The firework’s become a bit boring by then.

Top example: ‘Madagascar’, all raging guitar plus a touch of 90’s Hip Hop. Sure, it spells ‘tough’ at first glimpse, but after a minute it starts sounding, well, cliched and tired.

You want more? Try ‘Shackler’s Revenge’, cool chorus but the verses are riddled by effects. You’ll find more Effects n’ Roll on the title track, ‘Riad N’ The Bedouins’ and ‘Better’.

OK, not all the tracks totally drown in gimmicks. Guns n’ Roses almost run up to old 80’s form on ‘Street Of Dreams’.

Listen To Guns n’ Roses New Album Here!

In a nutshell, half of ‘Chinese Democracy’ would make a good source for movie or game soundtracks. The other half sounds like an odds-and-sods compilation of Rock styles from the last decade. The fact that only singer Axl Rose is left of the original members at this stage and that Axl practically went through the entire L.A. phonebook of studio musicians during the recording of this album didn’t add anything to quality control or the cool factor.

Try listening to it while you’re on the PlayStation/X-box/Wii.

You can download ‘Chinese Democracy’ here from iTunes UK.

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