Audio CD review:
Embrace - The Good Will Out

Embrace - The Good Will Out

Band: Embrace Title: The Good Will Out Rating: Release Date: 2003-12-02 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Intro - Embrace, 2: All You Good Good People 3: Retread 4: One Big Family 5: Come Back to What You Know 6: Higher Sights 7: My Weakness Is None of Your Business 8: I Want the World 9: Blind 10: Fireworks 11: The Last Gas 12: That's All Changed Forever 13: Now You're Nobody 14: The Good Will Out

All You Good, Good, People..Listen to This!!! I bought that album and did some research and realized that they had been around a while and had other albums. Living in the states, I hadn't heard of Embrace until their album "Out of Nothing" came out, and heard the wonderful song "Ashes". From critical reviews, this debut is/was considered their best work to date, so I got this album immediately. In comparison to "Out of Nothing", (the only other album I have heard so far) I think that "The Good Will Out" is better. And as a stand alone record, this is a pretty darn good Brit-pop album! Yeah, their sound on this album is definitely comparable to Oasis and The Stone Roses, but still, when something is good, it's good, period. At least it means they have good taste in musical influences! This album has a good balance of beautiful ballads and heavier, straight up rock'n'roll tunes. Songs like "Come Back to What You Know", "My Weakness is None of Your Business", and "Retread" are my favorite slower, emotion-felt songs. And heavier songs like "One Big Family", "You Gotta Say Yes", and "I Want the World" are great rock anthems to sing along to. Which brings to the real strength in this album. The ability for Embrace to write real catchy songs with beautiful, soaring melodies. Whether its slow, melodic tunes or foot stompin' rock'n'roll, one can't help but to sing along to most of these songs. But before I get too carried away, this album isn't perfect. Some of the catchy tunes, mainly the slower ballads, are put together beautifully, but a few of them sound too similar. The vocals in some songs sound eerily the same, it just sounds like the lyrics were changed! Also, some the slower tunes are just, I don't know. . boring, I guess you could say. Again, not saying they are bad tunes, but they just don't go anywhere. And that is what is keeping me from giving this one 5 stars is that they are some weaker songs on here. In my opinion, songs like "That's All Changed Forever", "Last Gas", and even the title track "The Good Will Out" aren't that great. Again, not bad by any means, but just average. As far as comparisons to other bands go, the biggest similarities seem to be Oasis and The Stone Roses, mainly on the heavier songs. In fact, on songs like "One Big Family" , "I Want the World', and "You Gotta Say Yes", the lead vocalist seems to be doing his best Ian Brown impersonation, while the musical style sounds much like Oasis. There is also a bit of Coldplay in there on some of the slower stuff as well. All in all, this is a good, solid Brit-pop album from a relative unknown band, well at least in the US. With bands like Coldplay, Keane, Muse, and Snow Patrol getting more popular over here in the states, I hope that Embrace will soon get the attention they deserve. You can see a complete list of all Embrace discography, or go back to the Embrace tabs