…. (Actually sometime in the year 1999) three lads from Sligo and 2 from Dublin formed a band formerly known as Westside later changed to Westlife…………… and now their three albums selling 25 million copies worldwide!
Greetings there! Thought I’d write on something rare in my collection. It’s about Westlife – an Irish boyband with a difference and of course, the self-titled album.
I had to decide hard whether to buy this album or not- because being exposed to almost all genres of music and having a different taste…. anyways it was worth it- it was decent and clean cut but too many ballads so that gave me a headache.
ABOUT WESTLIFE (the band):
Think of boybands and here’s the list in your mind (excluding Westlife): N’Sync(I hate them), Backstreet Boys, O Town, A1, 98 Degrees etc and the newcomer Blue…none of these singers have powerful and soulful voices except Brian Litrelle from BSB. But Westlife vocalits: Shane Filan, Mark Feehily ( who’s got a tenor-like voice), Bryan McFadden (the lead) and Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan (backing) have great vocal skills on par with Litrelle’s voice. They are from Ireland, and there’s that Irish lilt in their voices. One more amazing fact: they are in Guiness book of Records for the highest no.1 singles (7 to be precise) in a row.
Their re-makes of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” and Abba’s “I have a Dream” have been great success and of course no mess ups.
ABOUT THE ALBUM:
If you are wondering why I titled my review so vaguely, here’s the answer—that’s because they sing ballads.
The album’s simply great. I saw their promotion concert on TV then the singles, “Swear It Again” and “Flying Without Wings” and I say those videos were good.
There are 17 tracks in all.
Music: good.
Vocals: amazing, unlike the other bands
Lyrics: fair. Nostalgic and they are ballads (most of them).
My favourite track: Flying Without Wings (winner of Itv record of the Year)
“Swear it again” is a good opening track; “Seasons in the Sun” is a nostalgic track with a real zig-zag sort of tune. “If I let you go” and “Fool Again” are a bit similar sounding tracks with a great chorus and good bridges. I should admit that the remake of “More than words” is exhilarating. The rest are indeed promising and as I said worth it.
THE BAD THINGS:
Westlife is too much into ballads..that’s a bore. Their only first album is good otherwise their new singles sound a complete cliche. Besides, they are not too original. Hence, I advise not to buy more than one Westlife album if pop is not your thing.(If you just love rock/metal/alternative/new age like me this is fine enough for a change)
Now, Ireland simply produces the best in music, no wonder Irish bands are successful on world-pop scene. Westlife shows us more of their world and is definitely not too influenced by the rest.
eowyn