What happened to the Verve Pipe? They scored huge with the melancholy “Freshman”. Then they released their ultra-pop self-titled album, which I personally found to be their best work, but was panned by critics and just never caught on with the public. The Verve Pipe found themselves in quite a sticky place.
Underneath seems to go back to the old days. They couldn’t win with the poppier side so they went back to the dank, dark recesses. That was the first mistake. Most of Underneath sounds typical and is really a giant step back. “Never Let You Down” doesn’t win and sounds mediocre, while “Miles Away” drowns in the past as they try to find the sounds that made them stars. “Colorful” is nice, but they’ve done better.
Underneath in my eyes doesn’t even stand up to their initial release, Pop Smear. The reason I never quite got into the Villians album was because it was too dreary and stuck in the alternative rock days. When they broke that image wide open with Verve Pipe, they seemed to grow musically. Sure it sounded simple, but that album was full of great pop rock. Now that the pop rock didn’t sell like candy they decided that they’d go back to the moody bread and butter. It didn’t work. Underneath is as the titled suggests, underneath all their previous releases.
+ rae gun
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