Future Clouds & Radar - Future Clouds & Radar
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Artist: Future Clouds & RadarEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Music Label: Star Apple Kingdom
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Birds Of Prey
- Let Me Get Your Coat
- Hurricane Judy
- Drugstore Bust
- This Is Really A Book
- You Will Be Loved
- Quicksilver
- Where'S My Drink / Holy Janet Comes On Waves
- Wake Up And Live
- Our Time
- Green Mountain Clover
- Devil No More
- Quicksilver 2
- Get Your Boots On
- Build Havana
- Dr. No
- Back Seat Silver Jet Sighter
- Malice
- The Great Escape
- Letters To Juniors
- Altitude
- Cowboy Weather
- Armistage Shanks
- Christmas Day 1923
- Wake
- Safety Zone
Music reviews of Future Clouds & Radar
Music Review: Ambition pays off again for Robert Harrison...
Rating: 5 Stars
Cotton Mather were a great band, simple as really, and with the endorsement of the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, they did manage to get a reasonable fanbase in the UK. I must admit having purchased Cotton is King at a record fair in the mid 90's I hoped that they would forever be my little secret but alas no.
Anyway, Cotton is King came and went and I thought that was my lot but then to my surprise I sourced Kontiki from the USA and my love affair with Cotton Mather was back on. Further releases including the stop gap Hotel Baltimore and their final effort The Big Picture confirmed the fact that Robert Harrison was a very ambitious and talented song writer. When I heard they had disbanded I was extremely upset, although I was proud of the fact I had managed to see them live on two occasions in London. Something I never thought would have been possible when I purchased Cotton is King all those years back.
So then silence for a few years and then I got wind of new developments, it looked as though Harrison was going to be working on solo stuff and a new record was possible. It then turned out that he had indeed formed a new band, the name Future Clouds and Radar. Word from the camp was that Harrison had got a huge number of songs written and being the typically ambitious songwriter that he is, had decided to release a double album as FC&R's debut.
The problem with double albums is often quality control and when I heard some of the tracks were overly experimental I must admit I was very concerned. Sure Cotton Mather did experiment but at the end of the day the classic songwriting shone through. Had Harrison really gone away from his Beatle-esque beliefs and gone totally experimental? In a word "no".
On first listen FCR's debut release is not as instant as a Cotton Mather album, however on repeated plays the songs really come into a world of their own and standards are kept at an unbelieveably high level during the entire 27 tracks. There are a couple of fillers "Letters to Junius" and "Cowboy Weather" are snippets of sounds but with each clocking in at just over the minute mark, they don't really do any harm to album as a whole. The rest is just brilliant.
Highlights for me are:
Disc1
Let Me Get Your Coat
Hurricane Judy
You Will be Loved
Holy Janet Comes on Waves (the most Cotton Mather sounding)
Our Time
Green Mountain Clover
Disc 2
Build Havanna
Dr No
Malice of Stars
Altitude
Armitage Shanks
Christmas Day 1923
Safety Zone
If I had to choose, I would say that Disc 2 is slightly stronger than Disc 1 and really ends on a high note with the classic pop of Armitage Shanks, the Irish sounding Christmas Day 1923 and very Cotton Mather-esque Safety Zone.
The double disc is ambitious and as with most albums of this variety you do wonder whether slimming it down to one disc would have made it even better. On this occasion I think not, the 2 discs flow extremely well with a very clever track order.
Classic songwriting doesn't get much better in my book and Harrison must be applauded for once again coming up trumps. If you liked Cotton Mather you will certainly like this, although it may take a couple of listens to really appreciate it.
The best release of 2007 so far.
Description of Future Clouds & Radar
Heavily influenced by cameras, the asterisk, loss of any kind, and Bill Monroe's falsetto, Future Clouds And Radar is the latest creation of Robert Harrison, best known as the leader of Austin cult-reggae-heroes Cotton Mather; hailed by NME as "the most exciting new guitar pop band since Supergrass", handpicked by Oasis to join them on tour, and most recently, featured on Little Steven Van Zandt's "Coolest Songs In The World Vol. 1". Paste Magazine hails this record as a "magnificent double-disc collection of Flaming Lips/13th Floor Elevators/ELO-inspired psychedelic pop gems. Move over, Robert Pollard."Robert Harrison, the creative force behind Future Clouds & Radar, set an ambitious goal for himself and his musical cohorts: to create a double album that sustained itself in every regard from beginning to end. Having suffered a serious spinal injury five years ago, he was confined to his bed for a couple of years as he slowly recovered. The 27 songs he brought to his band are not so much a portrait of a man on the mend as a look at the emotional and creative forces that whirl through an active mind in a still body. While the utter sprawl of pop smarts, riveting hooks, mesmerizing arrangements, and alluring lyrics bring forth comparisons to Robert Pollard, there's greater sonic variety (including judiciously deployed horns at crucial junctures) and painstakingly finessed production decisions. The songs call out for attention on first play; subsequent listens yield a world of subtle nuances and surprises. Harrison met his goal: file this next to the White Album. --David Greenberger
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