Labels: Vagrant
Review by: Ian Cavell
In case you missed the fuss about the first LP, the ‘Effect is what happens when members of the Get Up Kids and Coalesce get together and write songs. Thankfully they sound very much more like the former than the latter; the difference being that they’re twice as poppy and with extra cheese on the keyboards.
And I’ve got to say it, when this band cranks out ultra-poppy ditties such as ‘From Me 2 U’ and ‘Ode to Manheim Steamroller’ I couldn’t be happier. Totally sappy lyrics but when songs are this infectious I’m more than willing to let that slide. Similarities between this album and the last Get Up Kids LP are obvious but while the songs aren’t quite that good, they’re definitely well on the way.
But there are only about 6 or so of these ‘proper’ songs which is where this album falls down big style. Because the rest of the tracks are merely joke songs where any clinging strands of humour have been well and truly blown away after the first listen. The exception to this is the last track Dwarf Invasion which still manages to raise a smile but the remainder is simply unfunny filler. So while there are some great pop songs residing on the disc, it falls short of the great LP it had the potential to be. I think if Vagrant had released this as a mini CD and cut out the chaff they’d have had a real winner.