Boukabou - Forward in Reverse (Album)
There is this show on television at the moment called Grey’s Anatomy. In it doctors and other medical staff shag each other, discuss deep, heavy and emotional problems, mope like teenagers with forlorn faces (in slow motion) and basically stand around working out why the world is so tough whilst drinking coffee (in slow motion) and sometimes attending to patients. Regularly, emotive guitar pop songs will play while a voiceover says deep things like ‘I was operating on the patient……but in a way, they ended up saving me.’ Or ‘I was giving a patient a colostomy….but in a way; they ended up giving me one’ etc. Sydney’s Boukabou and his album Forward in Reverse has a track on it called ‘Feeling It’. This track is almost certain to feature on Grey’s Anatomy next season. Or maybe it’ll be the Oasis-esque track ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ which will be played when the attractive Doctor Crapface breaks up with that other lead because she has shagged another slightly less attractive doctor/nurse/canteen person. That’s not to say that these two are bad songs, I quite like them honestly, and it conjures up images of attractive doctors doing CPR on shotgun victims etc, which, frankly, I think is pretty hot.
Actually, the main problem I have with this album, which is choc-a-block full of U2 sounding guitar and epic, emotive vocals and uplifting choruses, is the difference in quality between the better tracks and the filler. My mum always used to say ‘Simon, you’re only as good as your second serve.’ Which, in tennis, isn’t really that true anyway, because if you have a good first serve that has to count, surely? And since when do musician’s ‘serve’ tennis balls anyway mum? What’s your point? I don’t know. Unfortunately for this album, though, it suffers a bit from ‘Similar-sounding-emotive-crap-itis’ which is enflamed shit, really. Tracks begin to blend into each other and I found myself looking at the track number and saying ‘oh, that track’s finished then? Ok.’ Production is slick enough, and the vocals evoke the spirit of Dire Straits, U2 and Oasis, which is no bad thing (sometimes) but the good song/ordinary song ratio is probably a bit off kilter. Having said that, a handful of the tracks are pretty good examples of catchy guitar pop which should drive teenage girls, mums and plenty of American sitcom watchers wild. “Feeling It’, as already mentioned, is actually one of those rare tracks that is both appealing to EVERYONE (yes, everyone… no arguments bitches) AND a good track, something similar to what U2 and Coldplay can do when they’re in form. ‘Doctor! Trim the cancerous filler crap off this album and make it solid EP size…..STAT!!’
I can’t help but fantasize about what emotive track off ‘Forward in Reverse’ will be played when Dr Crapface saves the life of a leper while eating a ham and placenta sandwich….in slow motion, of course.
