Spanish Amanda - Brave New Girl
by Benjamin Howarth
published: 17 / 12 / 2001
Label:
Firestation Tower
Format: CD
intro
I'm sure that many of the visitors to Pennyblackmusic would have been tempted by the raving write up that this album received on the site when it was released at the end of last year. I bought it, and
I'm sure that many of the visitors to Pennyblackmusic would have been tempted by the raving write up that this album received on the site when it was released at the end of last year. I bought it, and I was initially disappointed but when I got over the fact that this group were not perhaps the greatest band of all time, I began to really enjoy the album. The Spanish Amanda are clearly very talented, with several of the songs on this, their debut CD, being really excellent (in particular 'Aberystwyth' and 'Sunday Goes'), but I would rate this album as very promising rather than as excellent. They have a wonderful sound, even if it is not very contemporary (essentially somewhere between The Smiths and New Order), but the album tails off towards the end and some of the songs are rather weak. As a huge fan of The Smiths, the highlights of the recording come for me when the guitarist gets a chance to show off his guitar skills. He sounds just like Johnny Marr on 'Ask' or 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'. The Spanish Amanda couldn't be described as ripping the Smiths off though because the main focus for their sound is on New Order style dance beats. The vocals are delivered in a reasonably distinctive untutored style, which at times ( particulary on 'Aberystwyth') are very effective, but in equal volume can be quite mediocre.Lyrically the band are from the same kind of mould as Hefner and Cinerama, and lost loves and failed relationships appear on nearly every track. As debut albums go, this is pretty good, but while it is thoroughly enjoyable there is still room for improvement. I have nothing against bands borrowing styles from other groups, but I would have liked it if The Spanish Amanda had utilised some more originality. Also, if the singing and songwriting hit the heights of 'Aberystwyth', 'Sunday Goes', 'Go-Betweens', and '(the day i lost my heart to the)Spanish Amanda' more consistently then this album would be truly outstanding. It is, however, still very much worth checking out
Track Listing:-
1 (The Day I Lost My Heart To The) Spanish Amanda2 Aberystwyth
3 How Much Validation Does One Girl Need
4 Sunday Goes (Milk Snatcher Remix)
5 Working For Mister Banks
6 Poor Sunlight
7 Go Betweens
8 The Ballad Of Clinton Bill
9 Getting Naked With Anais Nin
10 Palomar
11 Babyfever
12 Fuschal
Label Links:-
http://www.firestation-records.de/https://www.facebook.com/firestationrecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/FirestationRecords/videos
interviews |
Interview (2002) |
It is to be feared that Huw Bucknell, driving force behind the delightful, addictive tunes of The Spanish Amanda, has missed his calling not once, but twice. When he is not scrawling out pop gems the |
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