Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird) [Bonus DVD]

RELEASE
July 25, 2006
LABEL
Virgin
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock

Album Review

Unlike the Sleepy Jackson's dazzling but scattered debut album, Lovers, which offered so many different sounds and ideas that it threatened to cross the fine line between eclectic and schizophrenic, Luke Steele and company's second album, Personality, focuses the band's ambitions -- to an extent. On Personality, Steele replaces Lovers' wide-ranging musical flights of fancy with a sound that concentrates on his devotion to George Harrison's Technicolor, spiritual pop (which is kind of cool in itself; after decades of musicians inspired by the Beatles, relatively few have modeled themselves after Harrison's work), and fuses it with the soft rock and symphonic pop fetishes he's also displayed in his earlier work. The album's sound is nothing if not huge. Nearly every track on the album sounds like a cross between Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," and some lost album of easy listening orchestral pop from the early '70s. Personality's ambitions to make big-sounding music about big issues (song titles like "Higher Than Hell" and "God Knows" hint at where Steele is coming from) are admirable, but too often, they're just too much. While some songs, such as "You Needed More," "Devil Was in My Yard," and "I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree," are well written enough to avoid drowning in the album's lavish arrangements, the lush strings, horns, backing vocals, and sound effects that Personality is swathed in don't give its tracks room to breathe (or listeners a break to prepare for the next rush of sound). The album is impressive, especially in small doses or when Steele reigns it in a bit, as on the pretty, bossa nova-tinged "Miles Away." As a whole, it's a sometimes exhausting listen. After all, it's great to have lots of personality, but it's important not to overwhelm people with it, too. [Astralwerks released an edition with a bonus DVD.]
Heather Phares, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. You Needed More
  2. Devil Was in My Yard
  3. God Lead Your Soul
  4. Work Alone
  5. God Knows
  6. I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree
  7. Miles Away
  8. Higher Than Hell
  9. Play a Little Bit for Love
  10. Don't Say
  11. You Won't Bring People Down in My Town
  12. Dream On
  13. How Was I Supposed to Know?
  14. God Lead Your Soul [DVD][*]
  15. Bonus Material [DVD][*]