It was becoming a familiar pattern that TV talent show winners (or near winners) would release an album of cover versions almost immediately after the end of the show and then they would attempt to release an album of original material which would really show what they were about as an artist. Such was the case with Journey South, the brothers Carl and Andy Pemberton who came third in the 2005 X Factor series and found their debut self-titled album filled with covers; it hit number one not long after. But there they were ...
Read More
It was becoming a familiar pattern that TV talent show winners (or near winners) would release an album of cover versions almost immediately after the end of the show and then they would attempt to release an album of original material which would really show what they were about as an artist. Such was the case with Journey South, the brothers Carl and Andy Pemberton who came third in the 2005 X Factor series and found their debut self-titled album filled with covers; it hit number one not long after. But there they were again 18 months after their particular series had finished with two further sets of contestants vying for chart placings, the 2006 and 2007 winners and runners-up, with an album of 12 tracks, 11 of which were written by the brothers, and the question was, as the public knew they could sing, did they know how to write songs? Well, there's an album full of them on their second release, Home, so yes, they can write the material and they have the guts to put it out on an album. The problem was that all the songs, well constructed though they were with lyrics of love and loss, reasonable melodies, and soft rock guitar, were all very similar, opening with soft melodic tinkling or acoustic guitar strumming and building to a crescendo of sound with crashing drums and harder rock guitar, all at the same tempo, with both singers giving it their all. There was nothing special about any of the songs individually, nothing that one could remember five minutes after having heard it. There were no hooks or memorable guitar licks, just pleasant strumming followed by walls of sound. Yes the boys can sing and they can write songs, but what they hadn't learned at this stage was how to write good songs, and the public deserted them in droves, placing their second album no higher than number 43 on release. It remained in the charts for just two weeks. ~ Sharon Mawer, Rovi
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.