Tony Vickers
Mute LP
Wednesday 7th of May 2008
If you mentioned the name Tony Vickers to Saur, one of The Mag's highest contributing writers, he would probably cringe as he reflects upon his past experience with Tony's EP, Pushing Buttons, which despite the name turned all of Saur's off.
It's nice to see Saur's review hasn't put Tony off of what he likes to do best, but I have to say the postage this time around could have been spent on something much better, like a pen and notebook that could be used to write some lyrics. 'Mute', is one of many instrumental offerings that contain repetitive electronic beats and noise. Musically, these songs have little to be proud of.
The only strong point on the album is 'Heat Of The Night' where there is actually a rhythm and a bit of potential for use within an independent film, all the others however need to go back to the drawing board and start again.
'Def By Disco' contains the first use of vocal, it's only plays a small role but the performance it puts in adds an altogether different dimension to the song. He may only say "Def By Disco" twice in the whole song but it gives you something else to focus on other than the poorly constructed mash up that is coming from the speakers.
The rest of the album misses out on any enthusiasm for exploration and remains exactly where it started. This is not the first album where the artist has expressed themselves in musical form, I recently reviewed Thomas Watkiss, whose attempt to impress did the complete opposite. The good news for Tony Vickers is that if his album was being held at gun point along with Thomas Watkiss's one I would definitely save his. He uses a more down to earth approach to deliver his ideas and musically they work (just not too much). Some of the tracks such as 'Panic Stations' and 'Def By Disco' do contain some better moments where a difference between verses can actually be heard. The biggest mistake made here is that the majority of the time it creates a continuous drone and the final outcome results in nothing.
My opinions have been made and even though Tony Vickers included a radio review at the end of the CD where he was given a nine out of ten by an over-enthusiastic DJ for 'Panic Stations' my opinion hasn't changed.
Author: Beckie A
Label: Powtones
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 1.5 out of 5.