OK, time for another one, this time it's a controversial choice, especially in 'good music' circles:

Good Charlotte - Good Morning Revival

Now I know what you're thinking, 'why?' and the answer is that there's a time and a place as well as a market so why not? I myself didn't hate the young 'punk's' first album, back when I was a little skater punk listening to Blink 182, New Found Glory and Sum 41, I even bought the next one and 'The Young and the Hopeless' wasn't hopeless, especially if you liked your guitars clearly defined and your vocals harmonised... The last album but one, 'The Chronicles of Life and Death', I was never really exposed to as I had moved onto more 'grown-up' punk rock (If you consider NoFx grown up, even if they are 40...) and as such I am unqualified to comment on it. Now I'm not saying Good Charlotte are bad, especially considering that every now and then I'll throw on an old Good Charlotte record and sing along, it's a guilty pleasure I share with everybody out there who pretends not to enjoy a bit of GC, and it's just that, to me, that's the appeal of Good Charlotte.

Good Morning revivial, may be a revival of something but it is not a revival of anything to do with Good Charlotte, nor is it a revival anybody ever asked for! It's an unfortunate foray into electronica that wouldn't have been out of place on a 1980s Talking Heads record and that would be fine, if Good Charlotte had anything close to the talent of the notorioua 'Psycho Killers'.

The whole album is a jumbled and misguided affair, poppy choruses with sing-along lyrics are thrown into the middle of electronic keyboards and heavy dischordant guitars. There are some fundamentally sound elements but the band have tried to undertake too many styles and in some cases, all at once!

The album does have its moments, the second single, 'The River', proves they still have the ability to make a catchy tune, one that still could be somewhat of a guilty pleasure with a catchy chorus that you may, irritatingly, find yourself humming over and over again. I was also pleased to hear attempts throughout at recreating the mood created in Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' with a untuned piano pounding single notes throughout the chorus of 'Where We Would Be Now' as well as a few other instances on the record; admirable but sadly not good enough to save the album.

It would appear that Good Charlotte are attempting to manoeuvre their poppy US punk rock in a new direction, seemingly in order to fit in with the alternative indie sound prevalent nowadays. I'm not saying punk is dead but I would suggest that the whole ehtos of punk is to be different and to make a statement, not to try and fit in at any cost, especially if that cost is your appeal.