Spanish Amanda - Brave New Girl

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

---

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 Amanda
2 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

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg