The Good
Move Along LP
The Good have recently hopped over to the UK from their native Australia to promote their album and accompanying singles. With some hefty musical achievements behind them, they have cleverly managed expectations by way of a biography that simply states that this album contains some indie-rock music.
You need about three seconds of the first track, ‘Yoko’, to understand that The Good can funk-rock with the best of them. An equal amount of time on the chorus will demonstrate that they know how to stick a huge hook into a mixing bowl that also includes a dark indie verse and powerful combination of vocals from Heather Barnes and Gareth Hudson.
‘Curse of Mine’ has a more simple rock agenda, albeit with a lot of class, opened by a riffy intro that drops off onto the bass during the verse. The chorus isn’t quite as large as the opener, but the riff kicks back in straight away to remind me that hooks aren’t the sole property of the chorus melody.
The muso technicality returns for ‘World Gone Crazy’, which is stripped down almost to a solo effort on the drums in an emotional build to the chorus. This song is almost pop in nature except for the cable-tight tempo-change break in the chorus that prods the finger of rock in to the unsuspecting ribs of expectation.
‘Send in the Cavalry’ is one of two tracks to be released as a single and has an uncomplicated rhythm and structure along the same lines as Bryan Adams’ and Mel C’s ‘When You’re Gone’. This is evidenced further in the stop before the final chorus, although they skip the usual key change trick that the aforementioned pair would have insisted on.
The other bits not to miss on this release include the upbeat positivity of ‘Your Warmth’, the bittersweet anthem of ‘Down’, the venomous twist in the melody of ‘Over You’, and the metallic-edged ‘In the Name Of’.
The technical bits that are the feature of the opening three songs do go missing as the album progresses and, in this respect, The Good are missing a trick, with the style of muso riffery on offer being something of a trademark that they haven’t explored too much. However, philosophers of the past 10,000 years have almost always recommended moderation (eh?), so while it’s a shame they haven’t used it a little bit more it may well be a good thing that they haven’t overplayed that aspect of their sound.
Written by Fenton on
