- Label
- Mercury
- Release date
- 22nd October 2007
- Genre
- Rock/pop
"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" approach from ridiculously jolly London-based MOR rockers
The speedy rise of this Hollywood five-piece from total unknowns to chart-topping BRIT Award winners has been astounding. Debut album Bright Ideas was recorded for a mere $5,000 in 2005. After relocating to London and finding a receptive audience, the album went to number one, as did lead single No Tomorrow. Support slots with Robbie Williams and Duran Duran no doubt built a fanbase but it’s their slick, Radio 2-friendly MOR rock/pop bounciness that suddenly made them ubiquitous in 2006.
On this lavishly produced follow-up, Orson have merely persevered with such a transparently winning formula – and who can blame them? Awash with sing-a-long choruses, cheesy guitar licks and hooks galore, Culture Vultures is a ridiculously jolly collection of 11 songs trying desperately hard to be your friend. Therein lies the problem. Orson seemingly have one mode – exuberant – so that even on such break-up songs as Broken Watch and Debbie’s Gone, they still sound like they want you to pogo with an inane grin on your face. Special mention must also go to fedora-wearing frontman Jason Pebworth’s lyrics: "I don’t know whether she was heaven sent, but she pays the rent" (on Northern Girl) is just lazy. Another platinum hit, then.
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