Album Review ~ The Cornerstones, 'Stand In Line'

Hello! 

Welcome to blog post 27! Today I have a good ol' four piece British band from Uxbridge called The Cornerstones. 

The Cornerstones is made up of Richard Ruth - Vocals / Acoustic, Dan Bennion - Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals, Kyle Radbone - Bass and Carl Sampson - Drums. This alternative band certainly know how to get those feet tapping with the 2nd album from the band. Their debut Album 'Begin To End' and single 'Smack Me In Face' were released under Redemption records and resulted in tours and support slots with Shed - 7, Oasis, Proud Mary, Finlay Quaye and also national airplay.

So now you have a bit of background on the boys, let's see what the album has to offer!

The album starts off nice and strong with the song 'Drag Me Down' to then move onto 'My Mind' which both have a similar drive to it. You get a good feel for the kind of vibe you're getting from the album. Its now just a case of seeing where the band go from the third song to the last to keep the audience fixated until the dying seconds. 

They keep this album going in emphatic fashion with one of the better songs from the album personally called 'Stand In Line'. Its got more grit and power in the chorus' which give the band a reason to play with dynamics and adds a whole new feel. 

The vocals from Ruth are really shone through in the song 'Ground', his naturally soft tone makes you feel at ease. It doesn't take too much to love his voice, the higher notes are reached with ease and has one of those distinctive voices. The album starts to gain in volume and power at this point which is nice to hear and gives it some great energy!

The start of 'Erased' has one of those beginnings that you know its going to be a good song. Any song that starts with harmonica is a good song and adds a new element to this brilliant track. A sort of more happy-go-lucky tune, but works really well with the harmonica. 

So as we get into the latter stages of the album 

The album has nice little gems if you listen carefully to most of the songs. Its either little guitar licks hidden in the shadows of the tracks, subtle backing vocals or acoustic guitar playing the chords. I like albums that don't show everything to you, it leaves nothing to discover. Its like an island with all its treasure chests uncovered and dug up for you. 

One of the more popular of the slower songs 'Try To Hide' has some harmonica playing that is to die for. Its very mesmerising and can put your mind at ease to listen to for those brief few minutes which is a great feeling. 'Try To Hide' keeps things very simple throughout with the usual line-up, but subtly brings in the electric guitar for the chorus and leaves the acoustics and harmonica to its devices, beautiful. 

The single 'Smack Me In The Face' is a song that you can really immerse into quite easily with some cool guitar licks and vocals. Its different to the other tracks on the album in a good way. Coming to the final few tracks its like a plane landing, you know when you're coming to the end of your journey, but the captains make sure you land safely. The last 3 tracks are simple a great way to bring the album to an end. 

In conclusion, the album has quite a few strengths to it. Nice licks and ideas streaming through the album. Beautiful harmonica playing. A lot of promise for album three and the music is open to a wide audience which is a very strong position to be in!

Go check this album out and support this UK band!

Lewis


Website: http://www.thecornerstones.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thecornerstonesuk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thecornerstones

Paolo Nutini "Caustic Love"

Hello!

So...this absolute gem of an album came out of no-where for me. I never was a massive follower of Paolo Nutini's work apart from the popular songs. Could this record be a contender for the best album of 2014!?

I knew Paolo was a singer/songwriter and I did enjoy his older work such as 'Pencil Full of Lead', but since he had a five and a half year gap between albums I didn't know he was coming back and I was pleasantly surprised. I cannot stop playing this album, it has everything in it to be one of the great albums that I'll be listening to in many years to come. I bought this album on Itunes as it was the #1 in the album charts and I'm now tempted to buy it on vinyl too!

The songs that are on this album have such a diverse range of genre's from funk to soul to R&B to alternative and I love this. There is nothing for Paolo to say that he did this for popularity, there is not one song on this album he purposefully made to be top of the charts like some artists these days. Each one has been crafted into something that all musicians should look up to. He's created some outstanding pieces of music including "Iron Sky". Wow... what a powerful song that is!

Fantastic Artwork

Not only are the structure and grace of the songs well produced, its the musicians he has hired for this job that impressed me. Where he found these musicians is beyond me, they must be some of the best session musicians I've heard in a long time. It's as if they have practised these songs for years it sounds that good. Nothing seems too unbalanced or over-played, everything seems just perfectly balanced for each track. I give those musicians massive credit for making this album. If they weren't apart of it, I don't think I would be rating this album so highly.

My band mate Dan said that he had gone off Paolo Nutini after his last album because his lyrics and overall vibe of the album were too 'childish'. I listened back to his old album and I understood where he was coming from completely, but I guess everybody knew him after that album. The lyrics and overall sound on this record though are a lot more mature. Obviously having five years off does you wonders. One sentence that stands out to me in the album is from 'Iron Sky' and he says "Mass confusion, spoon-fed to the blind". I still do not understand why that sentence stands out to me, but I think its genius. 

The sections that I wasn't too keen on were the interludes between songs, but once you have heard them a few times they really grow on you. Personally 'Superfly' is a great interlude just because of the movie line at the beginning talking about boys playing in the streets, but not making them very popular. A crazy bold move by Paolo! 

One thing that stands out to me the most about this album from anything else is the amount of energy Paolo puts into the songs. You can hear in single one of them that he has poured his heart and soul into every song. Each song he has spent countless hours creating and producing and now they're ready to go onto a record he wants to put every ounce of himself into each one and its fantastic to hear. 

The top songs I would recommend on this album are "Iron Sky", "Scream (Funk My Life Up)", "Let Me Down Easy" and "One Day". The song "Better Man" is one of the songs that shouts out to me a song for a partner because they lyrics are so true from a guys point of view to a girl in a sweet way. Although don't get me wrong the other songs are fantastic, but if you don't have a lot of time these are the ones to check out!

I would seriously recommend anyone who is looking for new material to give this a good few listens and enjoy each song. This may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it shouldn't of been my sort of music, but each one grew on me and its definitely going to be a tough contender for best album of 2014 for myself and maybe in the industry!?

Thanks for reading and enjoy the music!

Lewis :) 

Website: http://www.paolonutini.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaoloNutini

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaoloNutini

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/paolonutini

P.S As a quick pointer, I was so engaged on writing this I wrote it in 20 minutes!? Though this was just the text, without putting links or photos in. Listening to the album whilst writing I guess helps, but this was one blog I've just poured out onto.