The People's Record

solid album

Let me start this review for people who are less acquainted with Club 8. The People's Record is the Swedish duo's 7th album. The two started this band in 1996, with music and lyrics written by Johan Angergard of the Acid House Kings. Karolina Komstedt of PopRace does most of the singing in the band's enchanted discography. (Yes, they are still my favorite band...look up Amazon listmania for my Club 8 guide) The People's Record has the duo in a new direction, exploring a mix of Brazilian polyrhythms mixed with Nigerian-like Juju Afrobeat music. Since it is also called "The People's Record" it has that feel one sees in over-the-top mainland Chinese stage productions (you know...a million people dancing in costumes of every single conceivable color with every known instrument playing all at once). Ok, if you are not familiar with all these genres, then imagine festive, upbeat congas, bongos frantically playing underneath two electric guitars with a busy bass line, a farfisa organ and a choir of people chanting lines in unison ALL after drinking a pitcher of coffee, ALL competing with the vocalist's voice, and you basically have the first 3 songs and 80% of the the way the album sounds. Your ears almost split in six opposing directions, not knowing what to listen to. Wiki the Loudness War and you will have a better understanding of how overcompression leads to this situation. Song 4 and 5 (Dancing with the Mentally Ill, My Pessimistic Heart) lets up a little on the dense mix, with Karolina's familiar reverberating voice from the previous albums surfacing a little over the sparser instruments. You can finally discern what she's saying without getting distracted. Songs 6-10 returns to an overpowering band - even a screeching sax on "Like Me"- and dense, ethnic-funky beats where choir and band reduces the main "lead" vocals to an equal and "contributing member" status. Song 9 ("We're All Going To Dies") is particularly hilarious in how it creates a variation from the signature style of Club 8 - combining an upbeat, seemingly happy song with pessimistic nihilism in the lyrics - and pokes fun at mall goth culture. Song 10 ("The People Speak") takes a Northern Soul beat and explodes it into a mega-production, complete with competing instrumentation, choir, and heavily reverberating Komstedt vocals. My problem with this album is the production. In previous recordings, Club 8's production lies solely in the hands of Angergard. "The People's Record" features a second guitarist (Jari Haapalainen) who is also the record's producer. The mix suffers from that phenomenon where people who look at snapshots seek first their own faces. Therefore, the guitars are pumped up all the way - in some songs above and over Komstedt's voice. For any band, I'd shrug it off. But for THE band whose familiar voice and lyrics has harped on the erosion of time and age, the drowning out of that voice we've heard for 15 years, with overamplification is a little depressing. Speaking as a person who has written and recorded many songs on a tiny four-track (eventually computer sequencer), then having those same songs re-recorded and mixed by well-known producers in big studios, I have noticed a loss of intimacy when the production goes from a bedroom or studio with two people to a space with a dozen musicians with competing egos. If you love the hushed, intimate sound of Club 8 from their previous albums, you will find yourself in new territory with The People's Record. All in all, an interesting addition to the duo's discography. Just to be clear, I will always embrace and support any band in exploring ANY new direction....even when I'm not ecstatic about the results. As much as I love the familiar "sound" of Club 8 from the previous albums, I know no self-respecting artist can stick to a formula or continue to create the same song in endless variations.

Fantastic, Dreamy, Exciting and fun! That would describe this great album inspired first-hand on African pop! Love this whole album. I discovered them by reading that their influence was that of my current favorite band "Saint Etienne". Although completely different than SE and when I sampled all of Club 8's earlier albums they were your typical generic love song romantic dreampop duo. Painfully boring and that contains no soul and were every song and album sounds exactly the same. However this new album "The Peoples Record" is based on a new influence of something far more sophisticated and good for the creative ears. I know someone complained about the production not being able to hear the singers voice in the fore-front of the songs but I think this is a good thing. I think it adds to the fun dreamy fiery sound of the record having her voice take a back seat to the drumming sounds of African magic. Her voice is actually good on this album. Very catchy and interesting. The lyrics are actually about interesting things on this one too instead of exclusively just about simple lust and romantic rubbish stuff which I could care less about. There's this intentional cheesy organ present throwout the album that adds a certain charm to the songs instead of being corny and annoying. Love the fast pace to this album with just the right touch of variety between each song to keep you interested. The band actually went to Africa and bought real 70s African records for inspiration! They learned a lot about African pop culture which I know nothing about but that's ok in this case because this albums intention is not to truly embrace African pop but rather emulate it for fun listenable accessible pop. [...]

This album, like an earlier album named Nouvelle, is a departure to the typical Club 8 sound. It tries to be poppier and dancier, but it leaves behind much of the soothing, sultry, melancholic songs I love so much. But even when trying something new and different, Club 8 still manages to dazzle and entertain. This isn't like most other Club 8 albums that are instant classics... this one takes a few listens to really get into the groove.

As a Club 8-fan I bought this album blindly, I'm sad to say. This album leaves their trademark style and swaps it for a sort of Vampire Weekend-african percussion-sound... This could be a great change of sound (I too like a band to be open to experiments, new influences etc), but in this case it fails completely. The singing is drowned in the mix and the sweet melancholia of other Club 8-records have almost completely gone. I can't think of a record from a band I like, that was such a complete letdown. Other reviews are more positive which is noce for the people of Club 8 (because I don't want to be oofensive), but as all my friens who like/love Club 8 are also disliking this album so much, I just want to put a review for other fans to be very careful before buying without listening first.

I tired of Club 8's sophisti-pop somewhere in the mid noughties and stopped buying their records. By chance I checked out this album recently and was naturally surprised by its upbeat and warm sound. It's utterly different to their trademark melancholy sound previous to this record! Instead we get an incessant pop groove from the beginning to the end. The songs are also remarkably catchy, enchanced by a faux African sound that fits the record to a tee. Addictive is the best adjective to describe "The people's record" for me. A very welcome and cool change!

At first listen this LP is a little odd because it sounds more like the Acid House Kings than Club 8, but as you get to know it, you can recognize the unique Club 8 style on these songs. This album is a grower. It will grow on you and leave you wanting to hit repeat. It features some wonderful rhythms and percussions and has a great upbeat feel to it overall. Some of my favourite Club 8 songs ever are on this one. If you don't already own this album, you MUST add this to your collection!