musicmitigator's Full Review: Aurora Gory Alice by Letters To Cleo
If you know who Letters to Cleo are, you very likely are my friend. I have coaxed many a person that I know to go check out "Letters." Luckily we have online stores that will carry their albums, because if your town is like mine, you don't have a record store that will. Stupid corporate stores that claim they "got it," when really what they've "got" is the latest Matchbox Twenty, and little else. We won't mention any names though. ;)
I first heard of them from watching MTV, strangely enough. Of course the only reason that they were of note on that channel is because they landed their song "Here and Now" on the closing credits to that ever popular show, "Melrose Place." Unfortunately, far too many people bought the Melrose Place soundtrack, and didn't give this gem of a rock band a chance, by purchasing their debut album Aurora Gory Alice.
This record is characterized by its catchy tunes. The opener, Big Star will have you singing, "There he goes again," along with Kay Hanley. A very accessible song, it runs out of steam fairly quickly. I See is much more catchy, and jumpy. Of course later in the album we have the song Here and Now, with the all-but-unintelligible chorus: "The comfort of a knowledge of a rise above the sky above, could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the here and now." These words rush past you, leaving you saying, "I don't know what was just said, but I like it." The tune of Letters's most popular song is addictive. I can remember hitting the replay button several times on that one. Mellie's Coming Over and the tuneful closing song, Step Back are in this same vein. Songs like this make Letters to Cleo look like a pop group. That sentiment is by and large, correct.
When you hit rockers like Rimshak, and emotional tracks like Wasted, you know that there is some more to come from this little Boston band. Some driving guitars and feisty vocals can be found in these moments. While Kay Hanley's voice can be a little annoying on the more cutesy tracks, there is some definite strength there. On Wasted, she can really belt, on what is probably the best lyrical line of the album, "I, wanna be alone with what I am: wasted." From Under the Dust lies somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of moods in this record. It's halfway between the more pleasant tracks, and the bleaker moments. Honestly, I can't decide whether I like it or not.
Aurora Gory Alice has it's lulls. Maybe because we don't want to hear the little girl so depressed, or maybe because they are just weak points, Get on With It (which also features the record's only f-word), and Come Around are just not as good. They summon up images of a disheveled Kay Hanley, who has decided that the glass is half empty. At these points I would just like to invite her in for some milk and cookies, to cheer her up.
This album is great, and it satisfies a certain need for sweet melodies and biting guitars at the same time. All in all this is a good intro to Letters to Cleo. There is room for improvement here, and improve they did on the awesome final Cleo album, Go!. If you want their best, go there first. Sometimes you just have to start at the beginning though, and that's what Aurora Gory Alice will do for you, and without disappointing.
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