The wanted 

OK I’m not the best person to review albums as I tend to just write the weird and sometimes totally off-point comments about album songs after I hear them for a few times, but a lot of you lot have been asking me what I think about The Wanted’s debut album so, I decided to do a track-by-track review.  If The Wanted can do no wrong and you’re love for them is purely based on how many of their babies you want to have, well, you’ll probably won’t like my review very much.  But I know a few thousand of you out there deeply appreciate my weird and wonderful album reviews, so here it is. 

I have to say – as a whole, The Wanted’s debut album is pretty much – ok.  With 13 tracks, you could easily cut three of them, but what I think the writers and producers are going for here is pretty much fluffy pop perfection and I think they achieved that with The Wanted.  It’s obvious they haven’t really matured as musicians quite just yet, but there is lots of room for future growth and having said that – I really do like this album.  There are some real gems on here in addition to their singles here like “Personal Soldier”, “Lose My Mind” and “Let’s Get Ugly” that are very good.  For true fans of The Wanted – this album will be the shit.  For real pop music fans, the album will be just ok, but the lot of you will agree that it isn’t most artistic piece of work ever created, but it’s perfectly enjoyable…

All Time Low: Like most famous boybands, they all have their signature song that they will always and forever be remembered for and I think “All Time Low” will be The Wanted’s biggest hit.  Like JLS has “Beat Again” and Take That have “Back For Good”.  Perhaps it’s a bit too early to say that, being that they are only on single number two, but after the hearing their debut album in it’s entirety, that’s just my prediction.  I still fucking love this song and there is a reason it shot to the top of the charts.

Heart Vacancy : The Wanted’s current hit single is such a joy to listen to.  Classic boybandery if I ever heard it and I just love love love the video.  Mostly when Tom sings to everyone – “This aint the heartbreak hotel”…  It’s no secret, Tom is my favorite member of The Wanted.  If you didn’t read my thoughts on the video – you can read my review of it on EQ.

Lose My Mind: Ever since the four song sampler came out, this song was the one that stuck in my mind the most, but from the early MySpace days, “Let’s Get Ugly” was my favorite, but it’s so hard to choose favorites really, but if I must – “Lose My Mind” is my fave from this album.  Killer chorus and the brilliant lyric “If heartache was a physical pain, I could face it, but you’re hurting me from the inside of my head, I can’t take it – I’m gonna lose my mind.”   It’s just makes much more sense if you listen to it instead of me waffling on about it…I hope they release this one as a single.  They must.

Replace Your Heart: Totally uplifting little diddy.  A song about the boys running out of patience while they are looking for a girl to make them feel better about their last girlfriend who broke their heart.  Totally original yeah I know – like no one ever sings about this subject matter right?!  But the way The Wanted sing about it, it makes you just feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Hi And Low: OK, time for a bit of criticism.  This song doesn’t really fit on the album if you ask me.  In fact, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it was The Wantedif you heard it.  It’s kinda a bit wobbly this song and I have to wonder why it was given such a high tracklisting on the album.  OK – it’s not a bad track at all, just probably my least favorite track and if I had to cut the album down to ten or eleven songs, this would be one of them.  But in all fairness – it kind of sounds like Coldplay – perhaps this is what they were going for here and who cares about what I think.  I’m not really a fan of Coldplay, so in essence, not a fan of this song.

Let’s Get Ugly : Now, it may seem a tad cheesy with the nod to the wild wild west and all in this song with it’s western movie samples and vocals that sound like cowboys and indians are singing in the background, but I just LOVE this song.  It’s a great little track with great orchestration and perhaps it’s the song that kinda defines how they came up with the name for their group.  Definitely not single material, but a nice little middle-point for the album – I think you’ll enjoy this one for it’s sheer pop cheese.

Say It On The Radio: Big thumpin anthem here.  Pop heaven with a bit of rock flair thrown in for good measure.  One of the more memorable songs from the album.  A song most hummable.

Golden: This song really shows the vunerability of the boys and showcases a bit more of the falsetto in their voices.  A song about how a couple goes through their ups and downs, the rise “like a Phoenix from the flames and it’s all just golden” in the end.  A totally light and fluffy song but enjoyable.  This song is quite versatile too – it could be used in pancake adverts.

Weakness : I love the crescendo of snare drum beats that slowly build up in the background of this song.  It’s basically about how the boys are pretty much pussy-whipped.  Proof positive that The Wanted aren’t really the bad boys that the girls want to date.  They are boys that all the girls want to marry and have babies with.  Gary Barlow would be proud.

Personal Soldier : OK my second favorite song from the album.  It’s got the “left, left, right, left” thingy in it that makes all modern day fluffy pop sound sound amazing ie: Jordin Sparks “Battlefield”.  But seriously, this song is major single material – why it’s pushed back towards the end of the album is pretty weird.  Who mastered this album?  Who thought it was good to put this song towards the end of the album?  Off with their head.

Behind Bars : Oh how I love a good song with violins and drums machines.  Another Bon Jovi-esque rock anthem, except with violins, it makes the song sound less macho and more boybandish.  Bon Jovi would never have a violin in their music now would they?  Imagine Bon Jovi after he got his ass thrown in the slammer when being caught…dead or alive…Oh, that was bad.

Made : Another soppy love song about two kids being “made” for each other.  I do like the key change in this song though, but that’s it’s only redeemable quality in this song.  This song could have been cut.

A Good Day For Love To Die : Catchy chorus in the vein of Kelly Clarkson.  A perferctly acceptable little song.  Someone tweeted me sayingthis song was the best song on the album and I didn’t even resond, because, well it’s not.  Hello – it’s “Lose My Mind”.

The Wanted’s debut album drops on October 25th.