seven

initially I was not even gong to mention this album for a few reasons. first off, I guess my synth-pop fascination has (temporarily?) faded away (I guess that's what happens eventually if you listen to the music that has "pop" attached to its title). then it is always hard to mention the album that never lived up to the expectations, especially if those expectations were somewhat of a guilty pleasure.

with "2001: a spock odyssey" the band seemed to cross that fine line between their earlier albums that were full of simple, goofy geeky fun. in that respect it used to be really close to and one, the band that never really took itself seriously (well, maybe until the very last album). but this time the fun is gone - the band "grew up", it is "serious" abot making pop music and this seriousness has killed the spirit and charm that has always attracted me.

all the songs on this album are polished, clean, incredibly melodic, but at the same time they are too "generic", reminding you of so many bands out there. and while the subject matter is still the same, this time around it sounds simply out of place (I was afraid it was a sign of "growing up" at first, so I went back and listen to earlier spock and I was relieved to see that I was still enjoying them like I used to).

I guess a few tracks I did enjoy for their catchiness were "where rockets fly", "satellites", "back on mars", "end of universe" (is that echoing green I hear?). the track that almost knocked me off my feet was "every single day" - I could not believe how incredibly poppy it was - mainstream, in your face, incredibly cheesy "poppy" that is.

it would be interesting to see if my perception will change over time, like it did with last melotron album that was a similar step from oversimplified yet catchy material to more complex and orchestrated sound.