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McFLY Review By Caroline Sullivan @ Guardian.co.uk |
AUTHOR RATES: 4/5 |
Remember the days when boy bands were 10 a penny and schoolgirls would wage war over whether Take That or East 17 were more luscious? Most of the people inside the Sheffield Arena don't. For most of their lifetime, the only boy band in the charts has been McFly: the one British male pop group to have got a career off the ground in the past five years, while the kids moved to computer games and High School Musical.
But McFly are not taking their monopoly on pubescent hearts for granted. Lacklustre sales of their latest album, Radio:Active (which, somewhat self-defeatingly, was available free with the Mail on Sunday), seem to have put the wind up them, and this tour sees them working hard to dazzle. No expense has been spared, and if there were any stops, they have been pulled out: when a show includes a glass-floored stage that levitates over the audience, it is a sign that a band are not prepared to return to Civvy Street just yet.
Dazzlement has never been a quality associated with McFly, who are cut from laddish cloth (sleepy-eyed bassist Dougie - ostensibly the sexiest - talks about "crapping my pants", and someone else releases a belch that makes his bandmates howl). But dazzle they somehow do, in 10-minute bursts. The floating stage is the really big deal - it rises 30ft in the air and slowly travels across the arena as McFly play one of their baby-punk stompers; when it gingerly lands in the middle of the crowd, Dougie says they are going to record this year's Children in Need single, Do Ya, right here and now. Beat that, Madonna.
The burning embers that rain down during Room on the 3rd Floor are eye-popping, too, as are the jets of fire that roar from steel barrels during Lies. Then well-spoken drummer Harry steals the show by demanding that the lights be extinguished and everyone take his picture. The thousands of flashes look like a small galaxy has landed. "Spookyvision!" he crows.
The show races through bright, brash hits such as Five Colours in Her Hair, and the boys have a whale of a time, banging their guitars like the frustrated rock band they really are. Vigorously displaying I ♥ McFly banners, the crowd are loath to let them leave. Another five years at the top might not be out of the question. |
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McFLY are sticking to what they're good at By Rick Pearson @ Thisislondon.co.uk |
AUTHOR RATES: 3/5 USER RATING: 5/5 |
When McFly emerged in 2004 as Busted’s rosier-cheeked siblings, you’d have got long odds that four years and as many albums later they’d be selling out arenas.
But that’s exactly what the lads have done: last night’s show was the penultimate night of a 14-date, sell-out UK tour to promote their latest album, Radio:ACTIVE.
Why the enduring success? Simply because McFly have stuck to what they’re good at: writing catchy pop songs for teenage girls.
And McFly gave them plenty to scream about. One For The Radio had fireworks, catch-all harmonies and a thumping chorus. Elsewhere, Everybody Knows sounded like Busted covering Kiss’s Crazy Nights (without the leathers and make‑up, of course.)
Star Girl was performed 30ft in the air on a stage that travelled to the centre of the arena.
Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones shared vocal duties. Fletcher’s sweeter voice led old favourites All About You and Obviously, while Jones’s tones were reserved for the nu-metal angst of Corrupted and the fist-pumping Lies.
Four more years? You wouldn’t bet against it. |
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McFly: 'Radio: ACTIVE' By Nick Levine @ Digitalspy.co.uk |
AUTHOR RATES: 3/5 |
McFly's distribution deal with the Mail on Sunday, which gave away free copies of their new album six weeks before it became available in the shops, has attracted plenty of attention. Sadly, almost nobody is talking about the music. It seems to have been forgotten that Radio:ACTIVE is the first album McFly have made since setting up their own label, Super Records, and therefore the first they've made entirely on their own terms. Whereas previous recordings were, in the words of drummer Harry Judd, "filtered" by the powers that be at Island Records, Radio: ACTIVE should, in theory at least, showcase McFly as they really want to sound.
To that end, Radio: ACTIVE is certainly the group's hardest, rockiest album to date, with nods to everything from Springsteen to nu-metal (yes, really!) popping up over its ten tracks. It's also noticeably less chipper than previous McFly records, featuring songs that take potshots at the band's detractors and useless ex-girlfriends. It's a little more cynical and American-sounding too, as lead single 'One For The Radio' had signposted, but McFly haven't exactly thrown caution to the wind here. The "f**k" on 'Everybody Knows' still gets bleeped.
Because they're consummate professionals, and Fletcher is a talented pop songsmith who seems incapable of writing songs that aren't hooky and melodic, McFly have managed to beef up their sound without sacrificing their pop appeal. The likes of 'Falling In Love', an ace Springsteen homage, and 'Everybody Knows', a fist-pumping stadium anthem that sounds like Bon Jovi, are as joyous and catchy as anything McFly have ever recorded. Meanwhile, 'Do Ya' and 'Going Through The Motions' continue the group's fascination with sixties guitar-pop to winning effect.
Sadly, McFly come a cropper when they try to be too serious. 'Corrupted' and 'POV' tip their caps towards nu-metal, with wailing vocals and lots of loud/quiet/loud dynamic shifts, but the dourness dilutes the group's charm. Similarly, closer 'The Last Song' is sunk by its overwrought arrangement, and lines like "I don't know how the hell I fell in love with you" just don't sound right from McFly, who've always come across like four thoroughly nice boys from down the road who just happen to be in a pop group.
Ultimately, this album suggests McFly are slightly unsure of where to go next. Do they want to crank out infectious guitar-pop anthems that will fill arenas from Belfast to Bournemouth, or would they prefer to gaze at their navels? Perhaps the situation will become clearer when Radio: ACTIVE's Deluxe Edition, which will feature four additional tracks, is released in September. Until then there's enough good stuff here to earn them the benefit of the doubt.
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Review: McFly- Radio:ACTIVE By Lee Sentino @ Femalefirst.co.uk/music |
AUTHOR RATES: 3/5 |
Well it seems that everyone's favourite pop punksters are back with a new marketing strategy. Mc Fly, compromising of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals/guitar), Danny Jones (lead vocals/guitar), Harry Judd (drums) and Dougie Poynter (bass guitar) are giving away new album 'Radio:ACTIVE' for free with the Mail On Sunday coincidentally with the announcement of a forthcoming arena tour. A band with their finger on the pulse, or a shameless cash-in?
Just a few short months ago Radiohead turned the music industry upside-down with their honesty-box release of In Rainbows. It was a brave move indeed. But with the truckload of free publicity, asking fans to pay what they like actually turned out to be a shrewd move.
Unfortunately in this instance it seems a contrived choice to release their 'stadium' album with the torrid Daily Mail. A publication with little interest in independent record labels (Mc Fly recently created their own Super Records) or seemingly with the band themselves before now. But as for the music?
Mc Fly, forever filed under the guilty pleasure title have created some of the best pop songs of the last few years. 'Radio:ACTIVE' is all about finding that critical acclaim that has so far alluded them. For further proof see the lead single's, Green Day-lite, couplet "So don't pretend you hate us when we sing our songs/'Cause we all look the same in the dark". It's loud and punchy sure but you can almost hear the last roll of their creative dice.
One For The Radio? Possibly. One eye on America? Most Definitely.
Album opener 'Do Ya' is at best a weak version of 'That Girl', whilst 'Smile' is a Beach Boys pastiche that won't suffer repeated listens well. Ditto for the achingly pedestrian 'Falling In Love', thus far its all about as radioactive as tap water.
However the album soon becomes worth it's £1.50 price tag when the startling key change of 'POV' kicks in. A raincloud of bruising guitars finally hallmark the return of Tom Fletcher's brooding vocals. Similarly 'Corrupted' treads the successful path of Paramore. A direction you just wish they had followed through as it's quite possibly their best song to date. Lyrically they're reaching out further than before too "Do you remember how it started?/Fairytale got twisted and decayed".
Dark and adventurous, this is the calibre of tune they'll need if they are to make their "LA Temptations" a reality.
A solid album then, but too hit-and-miss to garner the industry applause they so desperately crave. You get the feeling that a couple more listens to 'Dookie' and they may well have got it right. Either way, 'Radio:ACTIVE' is still the best thing to appear in the Mail On Sunday for sometime. It has to be remembered though, that ain't much of a compliment. |
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Rock review: McFly, Radio:Active By Caroline Sullivan @ Guardian.co.uk |
AUTHOR RATES: 3/5 |
Times have changed indeed when even boy bands opt to leave major labels and set up their own operations. McFly's first post-major decision was to give away this album with the Mail On Sunday in June, meaning that, three months on, its "official" release feels anticlimactic. But as a declaration of independence, Radio:Active does them proud. Writers of exuberant solid guitar-pop, there's little separating McFly from Supergrass except, well, credibility. That is, unless you pay attention to the lyrics, which ring with the frustration of being pigeonholed as innocuous pop munchkins. "My voice is gone for screaming and my body aches from giving them hell," they grumble on Everybody Knows, while the nearly punk One for the Radio moans about snobs who pretend to hate them while singing along to their songs. Time to class them as more than just a guilty pleasure, perhaps. |
