Hoosiers - 'Goodbye Mr A'
Apparently the debut Hoosiers album is going to be out in a couple of weeks, and frankly, I'm a little concerned. So far we, the general pop public, have enjoyed one ELO/10cc/Supertramp-style pop confection in 2/4 which contains batty harmonies, squeaky yelps, and a slight lyrical nod towards the world of science-fiction, fantasy and comics (Ray Harryhausen, in this case), and now here's a Supertramp/ELO/10cc-style pop confection in 2/4 which contains batty harmonies, squeaky yelps and a slight lyrical nod towards the world of science-fiction, fantasy and comics (Mr A was a character by comic artist Steve Ditko, who designed Spider-Man, among other things).
Now, I'm not saying the Hoosiers don't have other sorts of songs, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with sounding like ELO, Supertramp or 10cc. But you have to admit, as an advert for your debut album, in an era of downloading individual songs, releasing two singles which essentially do exactly the same job is a little odd.
One the one hand, it implies they've really found their sound, and they're focussing on that to an almost autistic degree, so that we all know exactly who to turn to for our sci-fi '70s pop needs - assuming the Feeling are away from their desks. And in any case, no-one ever moans about the Ramones, AC-DC or Snow Patrol only having one musical idea, do they? OK, they do a bit if it's Snow Patrol...but still...
On the other hand though, the message the band are sending out - on purpose or otherwise - is that their album will contain 12 facsimilies of this exact song. All set to a BOOM-bip, BOOM-bip ticky-tock drum-beat, all containing a fair few falsetto moments, all containing tinkly electric piano and all chock-full of references which will only be got by Comic-Book Guy from the Simpsons...and possibly Jonathan Ross.
Now, this almost definitely won't be the case, and anyone who has seen the Hoosiers live will already know exactly what kind of musical range the band have, but seeing as you can still download 'Worried About Ray', and maybe you'll want to get this one too, cos it's still an upbeat, chipper ditty, surely there are going to be some people who perhaps won't see the point of buying anything else, on the assumption that this is all the band can do.
Just a thought. LOVE the video tho. Maybe that's where the real money is!
Download: Out now
CD Released: October 8th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
ohh! It's Mr.A! I thought it was Mr Ray, as in the same guy from their first song and they had a whole story thing going on...
anyway i'm not really digging all these indie-pop bands...
meh. just not my cuppa tea :>
I love this! Better then 'Worried About Ray'.... I was thinking the same thing concerning The Feeling: They've gone, so listen to The Hoosiers!
Yeah, well, they don't just sound like ELO...go listen to Mr. Blue Sky. It's almost a note by note rip-off... er..."tribute" to them.
I liked it anyway, though. Not something I'd listen to on a regular basis, but not bad.
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Is it just me or does one of the guys in this band bare a striking resemblance to Henry 'The Fonz' Winkler? . . . . . . . . no? . . . . . . . just me then.
the hoosiers make phitt music. Yes they do. I think they have a really unique sound and you can totally identify their songs. I cant wait till their album comes out, i lovee them already and its only their second song. Ive been waiting for a new band to come out because ive been getting bored so they turn up and im like yeahh baby! XD haha well anyway.. good luck to them in the future ..