Product Description

'News And Tributes' is the second album from north-east post punks The Futureheads. Recorded in under two weeks on a farm in deepest Yorkshire, this album showcases yet again their unique take on acts such as XTC and Wire, with frantic call-and-response vocals combining with a breakneck punkish energy that is rarely bettered by their peers. Includes the single 'Skip To The End'.

Track Listing

1. Yes/No
2. Cope
3. Fallout
4. Skip To The End
5. Burnt
6. News And Tributes
7. Return Of The Berserker
8. Back To The Sea
9. Worry About It Later
10. Favours For Favours
11. Thursday
12. Face

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2618 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The second album from Sunderland's The Futureheads, News And Tributes is the sound of a band not only brave enough to toss away a fistful of their trump cards, but sharp enough to slip a few fresh ones from their sleeve. Where their joyfully guileless debut rattled along on breathless four-part harmonies and breakneck new-wave hooks a la Elvis Costello or The Jam, here we find The Futureheads injecting their structure with a fresh sense of space and a newly wistful, reflective melodic edge. In true post-punk fashion, `Fallout' and `Burnt' tackle love und romance without resorting to cliché, the former a harmony-laden break-up/make-up number tinted with Cold War paranoia, the latter an arch, propulsive construction reminiscent of art-punks Wire that compares falling in love to sustaining third-degree burns. Occasional dark sentiments aside, however, News And Tributes remains a beautifully crafted, melodically memorable rock record. Apart, that is, from "Return Of The Berserker"--a cacophonous mid-album rampage that sees The Futureheads turning amps up to 11 and dipping the dials into the red, seemingly just to show they still can.--Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Am I missing something?
To be fair I don't have their first CD so buying this one was a bit of a punt. Having said that I paid less than £3 for this CD and still feel cheated. I really don't understand the reviews that have already been posted. I did listen to this CD twice straight through as soon as I got it. My very first impression was that this was simply one of the worst CDs I have every heard. But the conviction of the reviews here made me go back and try again. And yes you guessed it, I like it even less. I don't know how this compares to their first CD but there is no chance in me wasting any more time on this band and either past or future releases (despite a corking cover of a Kate Bush track).

Big surprise
I've had a copy of this CD lying around on my desk for the past few weeks. To be honest I took so long to get around to listening to it as I didn't think it would be very good, having found "skip to the end" a bit of a Futureheads-by-numbers track. How wrong I was! Having been pleasantly lulled into a false sense of security by the first couple of tracks, which could easily sit alongside those on the first CD, I was caught unawares by the likes of "Burnt" with its mindbending tune and, especially the title track with its heartbreaking melody. These are followed by the equally wonderful "The return of the berserkers" - a stormswept rage of a tune. Other songs on this CD have even better harmonies than on the first one. All in all a more mature, thoughtful collection - and much more satisfying in the end.

A different approach to their debut release...
This year I've had a reoccurring argument with a friend over "News & Tributes". On the one hand, I say it's a more mature work than their debut. Whilst lacking an immediate cracking single such as the glorious "Decent Days and Nights", it's a more rounded, emotionally engaging and consistent record. It's also the sound of a band recording in one studio with one producer, whereas I found "The Futureheads" more of a 'ragbag' - and I think it lost a little ground as a result.

My friend, on the other hand, is more scathing. He says it lacks all of their earlier records vim, excitement and experimentation. It is an album by young men who took an energetic approach to their earlier records, but are now sounding rather tired, grown up and writing more traditional, and therefore increasingly boring, rock/pop songs.

It's a difficult one. For as much as I enjoy this record, I can't help but admit he's partly right. "News..." does sound like a Mature Rock Record. It is therefore not a 'very Futureheads' sounding record. The "Area" single that preceded it now sounds like a final closet clearing exercise - abandoning the final bit of the "old style" in time for this more mature approach. Mojo magazine even compared them to The Police. Playing the debut by The Young Knives, for example, and I can't help but wonder to myself that this is what the new Futurehead's album should really have sounded like.

But then I listen again and I think how well crafted "Skip To The End" sounds. What a great rush the chorus to "Yes/No" is, and how much I like singing along (rather badly) to the great pop of "Back To The Sea" and especially "Worry About It Later". What I find especially impressive are the arrangements in this record, the greatly improved harmonies (how other bands must be envious!), and how - when seeing this band live - these new songs probably do contrast rather nicely with their debut. "News & Tributes" is therefore the sound of a band progressing. Maturing, but without sounding ridiculously earnest and overwrought.