Reviews: The Pigeon Detectives - Wait For Me

I've recently purchased "Wait for Me" and also saw The Pigeon Detectives first of all at Pucklepop in Belgium, then supporting the Kaiser Chiefs at Nottingham Areana. So I feel I'm in a decent enough position to pen a quick review on their new album.

For my reviews so far I’ve bigged up the WACS7000 music system from Philips and fully lavished praise on the Racing Frogs website. So you might be thinking this review is quite likely going to be more controversial, maybe a little scathing in its opinion, well let’s see.

This debut album “Wait for me”, the reason it doesn’t hit the mark is…. Well, the reason I didn’t like it is… I thought it was second rate because… No, sorry, cant do it, this album is absolutely fantastic!

This pop/rock/indie style band of youths brought out a few excellent singles, first of all “Romantic type” then “I found out” and so it was time for an album to prove their worth.
I can safely say they have done just that with an album that is packed with sing-along, or even chant-along, songs that can be enjoyed in the car, down the pub with your mates or even just at home to brighten things up on a rainy sunday.

There seems to be quite a few bands in this same style at the moment and I have to admit I’m into most of them so it’s not really that surprising I like this album. The Twang, The Kooks, The View, The Cribs, they all have that “sing about life – things that people can relate too” style that has really caught on ever since The Kaiser Chiefs brought this idea into the mainstream (No surprise therefore they are supporting the chiefs on tour!). Some however do it better than others, the Pigeons being one of them.

I loved the lyrics in the singles and the rest of the album doesn’t disappoint.
The foot-tapping “Don’t Know How to Say Goodbye” brilliantly reassures you that the first two singles (track 1 & 2) weren’t just lucky.
The next fave in my opinion is “I’m not Sorry” which I defy anyone not to be singing along to before the end of the first listen. “Stop or go” is very similar which only leaves you with a few tracks before getting to the brilliant “Take Her Back” - “What would her dad say if he knew? She’s on her knees, he’s twenty-two”, which I don’t think I’m ever going to get bored of listening too. Then there’s still the title track “Wait for me” to enjoy… Sorry I just couldn’t do it… this album is great!

Views: Standard Leicester Night Out

Out on the town last night and it was very much a game of two halves! As with the majority of places, Leicester has its good spots and its down right bad spots.

We like to have a bit of variety when in town so we try and mix it up. Having a few in the less classy bars can prove quite entertaining.

We started off in Lloydes, which is your standard cheap drinks gordy décor style bar. No need to re-mortgage the house to pay for a round in here. As this is probably one of the less impressive pubs in Leicester, you would think we might struggle to find a worse one… step forward The Goose!

After being quite amused by the January sale on Stella! We proceeded to inform the bar staff they are working in a pretty bad bar. Ok, you probably don’t need that from customers but the response was a classic…”Well F**k off then!".
Now I'm no expert in customer service, but I'm sure that kind of response would not figure in ""Five Star Service, One Star Budget: How to Create Magic Moments for Your Customers That Get You Noticed, Remembered and Referred", don't get me worng, it was a magic moment and it will get them remembered... but probably not referred!. That said, we did take her advice and we did F**k off, to Varsity.

Again not a classic pub, but cheap (seems to be a theme here!). After watching a bit of ultimate fighting on the big screen, which is a cracking choice for a pub selling 2-4-1s on Smirnoff, it was decided we needed a good half time talking too and a change in venue type.

We proceeded to go to Fat Cats, which is a damn fine choice playing decent music and providing a quality atmosphere. Then Hush, which although does feel like your in some chaps flat, is actually alright. Finally came Manilla for a bit of boogying (yes for those that know me, I said Manilla not Liquid!), which again provided good music and fine atmosphere.

So, if your out’n’about in Leicester, I suggest… mix it up… it’s all good fun!

Views: Unwanted kids mountain bike

Right what’s going on? For the last couple of weeks I have had a mystery phantom bike rider leaving his mountain bike outside my house.

Ok, lets get things into perspective… if it was a phantom riding this bike, he probably wouldn’t be that scary, as he would be around 3ft tall at most. You see the “mountain bike” is approx 2ft big, the breaks are knackered and the tires flat.

I have tried to get rid of the bloody thing, but like the proverbial boomerang the thing keeps coming back. I wouldn’t mind, but when it’s hammering down I have to keep getting out of my car to move the little piece of sh!t, as the phantoms favourite place to leave it is in front of my drive!

So, I’ll try a few more times to get rid… if that doesn’t work I’m placing an ad in the paper and on the local co-op notice board!

Booze: Fruli, what? Strawberry Beer?

It’s a wheat beer, like hoegarden… but with strawberries! I talk not of a strange new gimmicky drink that has just been released onto the masses of alchopop drinking youth, but of a drink that has been around for nearly five years and created a cult following. I talk of Fruli.

Fruli is 70% wheat beer, 30% strawberry juice and is a refreshing sweet alternative to your standard larger. I’ll be up-front and honest. I designed and developed the two main Fruli sites on the web, the unofficial fan site, www.frulibeer.com and the official Fruli site www.fruli.com. So you could say I am a little biased in my opinions.

That said I would admit that you can’t (and probably shouldn’t www.drinkaware.co.uk) drink more than 2 maybe 3 pints of the red stuff.

I think the difference with Fruli compared to other fruit drinks, is that its immediately tasty and very sweet. It won’t be everybody’s taste, but it is well worth trying to see if it is yours.

The strawberry taste is immediately recognisable, which isn’t the case with many fruit drinks such as Belle-Vue or Samuel Smiths Cherry Fruit Beer where the fruit is far more subtle. On the flipside though, Fruli is slightly gassier than its other fruit beer counterparts.

As with most drinks like this that are a bit more unique, it really is down to personal taste. This, like marmite… is a love it or hate it relationship!

For this reason, let everyone know how you feel about Fruli by posting your comments here.