The Belated's new album is summed up by the title of its final track: "Trying Too Hard." Regardless, You Will All Fade Away contains fleeting glimpses of the Kansas City band's indie-rock potential.
Driving refrains on both "One in a Million" and "Freedom in the Underworld" induce head bobbing; "Dream" and "Glory Angel" achieve a Muse-y kind of catchiness. But too often the Belated's music aims to be epic — it sure owes a lot to Jeff Buckley — and ends up falling flat with singer and guitarist Michael Richardson's voice. Simply turning Richardson's vocals down and everything else up may have helped this recording.
When he's not singing, cool instrumentals, such as Jason Ulanet's piano melody on "Breathing Down the Door," really stand out. Richardson, who sounds at times like Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies, does OK when he controls his pipes. That is, when he doesn't try to hold notes out too long or show off his vibrato. Leave that to American Idol contestants.
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This review does seem to be a bit harsh. Reviews need to be accurate, true, but they need meaningful critique and not insult. I don't think constructive criticism even has a place - it's not like the band is going to remaster their recording or change their mix based on a Pitch review. A friendly plea: try to find the most uplifting attributes possible when reviewing your fellow local musicians, no need to slam any doors on anyone in the community. By the way, references to Jeff Buckley are ok by me.
This review does seem to be a bit harsh. Reviews need to be accurate, true, but they need meaningful critique and not insult. I don't think constructive criticism even has a place - it's not like the band is going to remaster their recording or change their mix based on a Pitch review. A friendly plea: try to find the most uplifting attributes possible when reviewing your fellow local musicians, no need to slam any doors on anyone in the community. By the way, references to Jeff Buckley are ok by me.
Hmmm....You know i really get sad when I read reviews of music by people that know nothing about creating music. Why would i make a comment like that?? Because to me that's like building your own car from scratch (which believe it or not is as hard as writing and performing original music) and then showing the car to someone that's never built one before and that person saying "Well it's not as good as a Ford..." ...Well no shit sherlock...It was never meant to be a ford...and comparing my home made car to cars being pumped out by billion dollars factories is just not fair. Now back to music....Are the belated god's gift to music....probably not, but they ARE a freakin really good band in a city that is definately short on good bands....And you know why KC is short on good bands...because there is no loyal music community in KC. Never has been. It's every band for itself and that's why bands in KC never get far. No help with radio, no help with touring, no real label and definately no good music mags to help the local community discover local talent. What does that all add up to?? A Crappy local music scene that will never change. I have some advice for Crystal K Wiebe.... quit pretending like your in NYC writing a review of Radiohead for Rolling Stone and starting giving local bands a little credit....you never know, one of these KC bands might actually make it out of KC...
Hmmm....You know i really get sad when I read reviews of music by people that know nothing about creating music. Why would i make a comment like that?? Because to me that's like building your own car from scratch (which believe it or not is as hard as writing and performing original music) and then showing the car to someone that's never built one before and that person saying "Well it's not as good as a Ford..." ...Well no shit sherlock...It was never meant to be a ford...and comparing my home made car to cars being pumped out by billion dollars factories is just not fair. Now back to music....Are the belated god's gift to music....probably not, but they ARE a freakin really good band in a city that is definately short on good bands....And you know why KC is short on good bands...because there is no loyal music community in KC. Never has been. It's every band for itself and that's why bands in KC never get far. No help with radio, no help with touring, no real label and definately no good music mags to help the local community discover local talent. What does that all add up to?? A Crappy local music scene that will never change. I have some advice for Crystal K Wiebe.... quit pretending like your in NYC writing a review of Radiohead for Rolling Stone and starting giving local bands a little credit....you never know, one of these KC bands might actually make it out of KC...
For starters, I am not familiar with The Belated's sound, though I did see them once at the Icehouse, but what I have to say isn't about them. I wanted to comment on something I see way too much of in The Pitch. "Jeff Buckley." I can distinctly remember two other reviews (one by Harper, one by CW) that compare local bands to Jeff Buckley and I suspect I could find four or five more. I am not a religious reader of The Pitch, documenting everything I read, but I'm sure the only times I have read the name "Jeff Buckley" in the last eight years have been in The Pitch's CD reviews of local music. So was the scene when I began reading the review of The Belated's album and could only scoff. The sad thing is, all I'll have to tell my friends is, "The Pitch...local artist...Jeff Buckley" and they'll know exactly what I am talking about. Come up with something new, my friends.
For starters, I am not familiar with The Belated's sound, though I did see them once at the Icehouse, but what I have to say isn't about them. I wanted to comment on something I see way too much of in The Pitch. "Jeff Buckley." I can distinctly remember two other reviews (one by Harper, one by CW) that compare local bands to Jeff Buckley and I suspect I could find four or five more. I am not a religious reader of The Pitch, documenting everything I read, but I'm sure the only times I have read the name "Jeff Buckley" in the last eight years have been in The Pitch's CD reviews of local music. So was the scene when I began reading the review of The Belated's album and could only scoff. The sad thing is, all I'll have to tell my friends is, "The Pitch...local artist...Jeff Buckley" and they'll know exactly what I am talking about. Come up with something new, my friends.
Apparently in Crystal K. Wiebe's world, bands aren't allowed to sound ANYTHING like their claimed musical influences. Where would ANY artistic soul be if that were the case? Wiebe's hyperbolic statements about the Belated, in my opinion, don't speak negatively of the band, but speaks more to her naive writing and reviewing sensibilities...
Apparently in Crystal K. Wiebe's world, bands aren't allowed to sound ANYTHING like their claimed musical influences. Where would ANY artistic soul be if that were the case? Wiebe's hyperbolic statements about the Belated, in my opinion, don't speak negatively of the band, but speaks more to her naive writing and reviewing sensibilities...
I'm curious what kind of credentials one must have to be a music writer for the Pitch. Are you just giving jobs to people hanging around in Westport, or? My retarded cousin Bilo loves the Barenaked Ladies maybe he could get a job? I�ll have him send a resume.
I'm curious what kind of credentials one must have to be a music writer for the Pitch. Are you just giving jobs to people hanging around in Westport, or? My retarded cousin Bilo loves the Barenaked Ladies maybe he could get a job? I’ll have him send a resume.
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