What a turnaround in fortunes in the life of Headie One. From serving time to having a number-one album. Earlier in the year, he released the “Gang” extended play. It needed to be more trendy among his fanbase as it was too experimental, and they preferred his conventional material. However, Headie decided not to listen to their pleas and pressed on in the same vein with his debut album, and no one can say that it didn’t work as it hit the summit.
Although for me, this was an album of two halves (Once again, the tracks are spoiled by Autotune.), there are some weighty subjects he addresses about his past, struggles in relationships, and his late mother. The album has many guest features, Skepta and Mahalia among them.
On the track “Breathing”, Headie talks about the tension between music and the still alive and well road. This bar alone sums up the song, “In this life that we’re living, you can make the wrong decision, then have to spend longer than you’ve lived stuck in prison”.
I also enjoyed “Parlez-Vous Anglais”, which features Aitch. This song is about making it out of the ends and living the life that your struggle on road is all worth it; as the two of them brag about the life they now have, you can picture them sipping champagne in a penthouse suite of a luxurious hotel in Paris.
I also enjoyed “Everything Nice”, which has stunning vocals by Hailie and sees Headie switch up his delivery and mood with a track about being happy in life and love. This track feels more like Headie sweet-talking a girl to try and win over her affection.
Although I didn’t enjoy the first half of this record, it is worthy of the memory of his late mother, whom the album is named after, and you can see through his lyrics that Edna still inspires him to this day.
Song recommendations: “Everything Nice”, “Parelez-Vous Anglais”, “Breathing”.
Who isn’t a fan or was a fan of Queen? I have been listening to this band for as long as I can remember. I am glad they decided to continue even without their great frontman, the late Freddie Mercury, who essentially made the band the success they still have. Adam Lambert isn’t a bad replacement, but MIKA was the ideal replacement for Freddie because he seems like a modern-day Freddie with his onstage persona and vocals.
This live album features songs performed over the last six years from the tour, with Adam adding his unique persona and showmanship. The “American Idol” (I forget which year.) runner-up doesn’t pretend to emulate Freddie, nor should he. It is about being unique and bringing something new to the band while still being capable of delivering the vocals well, if not better than your predecessor, which Adam does.
Let’s look at how he does that in “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Since his inception, Adam has given this track new life in the live capacity. He teases the crowd by stretching out notes when the crowd is ready to jump up and down and go nuts. Thus, by doing that, they have to wait for the note to reach the summit. After this happens, Adam gives a cheeky wink and a nod to the crowd. I am not a fan of the next track, which I must confess I first heard being performed by Father Noel Furlong (Played by Graham Norton.) while he was under a pile of rocks in “the Tentacles of Doom” Father Ted episode. The track in question is “Fat Bottomed Girls”. There’s another reason why I am highlighting this track: it was performed at the AT&T Stadium, which is the home of my beloved National Football League franchise, Dallas Cowboys. Queen performed at this particular gig in Arlington, Texas, with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders dancing onstage. Adam cheekily threw in “Not true” after the line “Ain’t no beauty queens in this locality”. Now, he said it about himself rather than the Cowgirls, which makes this ad-libbing somewhat comedic.
Adam could be considered one of the best vocalists around at the moment (In rock, anyway.), and sometimes, he even surpasses Freddie by taking risks to reach higher notes, which makes drummer Roger Taylor redundant in the vocal aspect. Whereas Freddie often relied on him for backing vocals to look after his vocals, Adam would instead go it alone and take the risk of being vocal-weary over a long and arduous tour. So, Freddie would want to take care of his vocals and pace himself, whereas Adam would give it his all every show regardless of the health of his vocals. It’s not a destructive mindset for Adam, but as the years pass on the tour, some in the crowd might feel short-changed by hearing tired vocals.
“Who Wants to Live Forever” is another standout on the record. Adam dedicates it to those unfortunately caught up in theOrlando shooting earlier in the year, and this live performance is taken from the night before the concert. You can hearthe emotion in his vocals, especially as he reaches the chorus.
As well as a plethora of the band’s hits, they found room for two solo tracks by their beloved late frontman in the shape of “Love Kills” and “I Was Born to Love You”. Just to let the crowd and Freddie know that he is remembered and his legacy lives on even though he is no longer on stage.
There are bad points to the record, and I was highly disappointed that two of their most iconic tracks were shortenedto just over two minutes. I mean, how on earth can “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Voted the best song of all time.) and “We Are theChampions” be given such short shrift and disservice? I find this insulting. I looked forward to hearing them the most and was left cold by the time they were performed.
Song recommendations: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We are the Champions”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”.
I remember a lady talking to me about great music acts out of Bristol, and funnily enough, she was a Bristolian. And Ihadn’t heard of them then, but she asked if I had heard of IDLES. To which I replied, “No”. Anyway, she recommendedthat I listen to them as they are very much the Sex Pistols of the 21st century. It wasn’t long after that conversation; in fact, a mere few hours later, they were making their debut appearance on Later…with Jools Holland, so naturally, I was always going to give them a listen. I remember they played their pro-immigrant song “Danny Nedelko”, which alsohappens to be a friend of theirs from Poland. I can’t remember the name of the other song at present, but it was abouta dad telling his son to be macho and stop moaning about how he truly felt. The next thing I knew, they were nominated forthe Hyundai Mercury Prize and performed “Never Fight a Man with a Perm” at the ceremony. I didn’t think much oftheir lyrical content, but the energy they created with the music could have caused the world’s end (You knowwhat happens in Akira when Tetsuo goes mental?). They spent over a decade in the underground scene before finallygetting their break two years ago, so when they released their latest and second album, there was more of a fanbase thatthey built up mainly on the festival circuit.
Now, there appear to be many ready to shoot the band down and have nothing but contempt for them because they like tostick up for the people and attack the establishment at every turn, but once again, they have shown they don’t fuckingcare what their critics have to say and have decided to be even more controversial on this record with their politicalopinions, which I loved. If you follow me on Twitter or whatever, you will know I dubbed the album “Energetic Rebellion”; that is precisely how I would describe it in short.
“War” and “Grounds” are just the beginning of the band’s assault on the political spheres, and Joe screams on “Grounds”,“Do you hear that thunder? That’s the sound of strength in numbers”. From that alone, you can see the band alreadycalling their listeners to rise and attack the establishment.
On “Model Village”, they attack nationalism and even lay into the current government and their cowardly leader. It ismy favourite off “Ultra Mono” just for that reason alone. I fucking despise the current government and the prime ministertoo.
“Anxiety” is another brilliant track off the album and gets even more political. These lyrics stand out and grabyour attention “Our government hates the poor, cold leaders, cold class war, keeping drugs you can’t afford, so the poorcan’t buy the cure.” in “Reigns”, the band accuses the government of selling the working class down the river with theirbullshit over a bullshit referendum that happened in 2016. The instrumentation and production on most of the record sync perfectly with Joe’s passionate and aggressive vocals.
I can’t remember a calm moment on the album, save for “Kill Them with Kindness”, which starts with a loungeJazz piano but then launches into an attack on the royal family and so forth. “Seize the Day” is another track that talks about chasing pricks away who threaten humanity.
Although the lyrical content is minimal, what it does offer is utter honesty on the political sphere and how the bandcouldn’t give a fuck if you hate their anti-establishment opinions. You can see why they have gained a rather largefollowing with these views and hard-hitting punk with their songs that are bound to create mosh pits at every venue orfestival they are at. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Song recommendations: “Model Village”, “Anxiety”, “Grounds”
Honest Opinions 