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| Red | 
 enlarge | List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £7.88
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 18 reviews)
Sales Rank: 70
Category: Music
Artist: Guillemots
Publisher: Universal
Studio: Universal
Manufacturer: Universal
Label: Universal
Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 55 minutes
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 602517625242
EAN: 0602517625242
ASIN: B0012RCXAK
Release Date: March 24, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 There is such a thing as being TOO ambitious April 12, 2008
If there was a problem with the Guillemots, and in my book there most certainly was, it was that for all their willful quirkiness and "we're not like a normal band" posturing, there was a problem with their tunes. They were ok, but not the most memorable in a strict pop sense. Hence my opinion that I could take them or leave them.
It's nothing to do with me of course, unless one of the three people who read this blog is releated to them, but the one thing you cannot throw against them this time around is any complaint that they aren't catering to the mainstream.
Pop may still be a dirty word, but it's what the Guillemots are aiming for. Which makes the album all the more frustrating as a result.
When it's "on" it's really quite magical; Cockateels and Kriss Kross provide two of the most sublime pop moments of the year so far and lead single Get Over It was good enough to make me reconsider my opinion of the band.
Still, the same problems remain. In an attempt to prove they are nothing like anyone else there is a definate "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" mentality. Sadly, too little of it does stick. Last Kiss, for instance, is particularly muddled to little apparent effect.
It's not a terrible listen, but for me it falls into thumbs down territory more than it rises into the thumbs up. Proof that individual and quirky isn't always 100% a good thing.
Ambitious but not quite a success April 7, 2008
Where do I start? I loved the debut album and so the expectations were high for "Red" and I realise that's not going to help.
However, what we have with "Red" is several very good tracks but not a particularly good album; it's disjointed and too ambitious to have attempted such variety of styles and to put them on one album. The cohesion is lost and the flow from one song to the next is non existant.
I'd like to be more positive and I like several of the songs on the album a lot but it's meant to be a collection of songs but instead they just collide. It's like listening to a Now That's What I Call Music with tracks that you don't dislike but just don't belong together.
The debut album I can listen to from start to finish and I enjoy the 40 minutes immensely when I do. "Red" makes me dip into one or two songs and then go off and find something entirely different to listen to.
Give it a go as they deserve more success ("Get Over It" was a great first single to lift off the album) and join me in knowing that the third album is going to be brilliant. I guarantee it. Lessons will have been learnt.
 Five Star Technicolour Dreams April 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Watch out you genre defining junkies !
Guillemots are back in town and Painting it RED in genre defying mood.
Mr Dangerfield and his band of maverick minstrels return, two years after
their impressive debut 'Through The Windowpane', with a tantalizing
new set of 11 extraordinary musical offerings.
The technicolour, cinemascope range of that mould-breaking first album
is still present here but displaying sharper focus and greater refinement.
Sure, there's flamboyance and exoticism aplenty. The songs in turn raucous,
uplifting, quirky and tender.
The rich glue of Dangerfield's magnificently wayward voice holds
these complex compositions together through a dizzying array of tempi and dynamics.
A voice of considerable range and flexibility but one also
with a capacity for conveying both humour and feeling.
I know I'm always rattling on about clumsy and unnecessary string
arrangements but with 'Red' you will discover a veritable masterclass
in integrated orchestral enhancement. Give 'Cockateels' a listen to
see just what is possible when you've got The Right Stuff.
Welcome back Guillemots. What a very fine thing you bring with you.
Easily one of the finest new recordings The Wolf has been
priveleged to hear so far this year.
Suck it and see April 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
On first listening I was disappointed by this album, espcially as I love teh last one so much. But now I absolutely adore it. Like its predecessor it's utterly bonkers but beautiful. Kriss Kross sounds like a deranged Eastern Euro Eurovision entry and Cockateels is pure Bollywood but both are as complex and clever in structure as anything you'll ever hear. Words and Falling Out of Reach are beautiful, gentle ballads and Clarion has a fabulous swing. Eveyone seems to slay them off for this album but I really admire their balls in not pandering to their audience or the music press (as someone on the NME website said, if they wore skintight jeans and naff top man printed hoodies the mag wouldn't have a word said against them). So my advice is to give it a go. It's a grower but once it's in your brain you can't get it out again!
Stunning April 1, 2008
Through the windowpane,for me,was one of those albums that just completely overwhelms in its entirety from the opening chords of 'Little Bear' to the closing of 'Sao Paulo'...and when it's all over i find myself frustrated to the point of wanting to slap each side of head continually from side to side till the anguish abates (yes,i know,i'll keep taking the tablets!!!)But,what then could be the perfect remedy? A harder,punchier,more straight forwardly face-slapping and thunderous album of pop/rock classics?? Well...here it is folks....when the closing bars of 'Sao Paulo' fade into obscurity,put 'Red' on immediately and you'll see what i mean.'Kriss Kross' alone is punchy enough for a puppet show...'Falling Out Of Reach' is a completely gorgeous marshmallow without the over-indulgent sugar,'Clarion' and 'Last Kiss' are two great shots of funkyness,'Cockateels' is slightly overthought and seems a little staid but still has a very compelling 'Bollywood' style refrain,'Words' is another slice of impressive songwriting lovliness about how useless words can be,but it doesn't seem tired or cliched,'Standing On The Last Star' is intriguingly sweet pop with Fyffe singing in his most affecting falsetto to date,just beautiful (hope it's a single),'Don't Look Down' begins with an insistent and deep bass and drum and Fyffe singing in his best baritone ever,contrasting beautifully with the previous song,a floating keyboard melody intertwines and then the kitchen sink gets added for the chorus section and the track doesn't let up from there on in,wondrous stuff...
The last track,'Take Me Home' is as beautiful as anything on 'Through The Windowpane' (Redwings,If The World Ends etc etc...)
When 'Red' finally comes to a close i get this horribly frustrated feeling that makes me wanna slap each side of my head continually from side to side......
Guillemots eh....No-one touches them....
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