You know The Feeling. They’re that band that released those three songs that you didn’t want to like because they weren’t very good but you secretly did and you couldn’t get those damn choruses out of your head anyway so you might as well just go along with it.
Well this song is pretty much the same but slightly less catchy and even more mediocre. Their 4th single from remarkably bland debut album 12 Stops And Home, ‘I Love It When You Call’ mixes things up a bit by plugging in the guitars, but unfortunately ends up sounding like a watered down version of The Darkness. And that’s saying something. This band has been much compared with Supertramp and this single is no different, but surely I am not alone in thinking that that is not a good thing?
It’s difficult to describe just how MOR this song is – it makes Razorlight singing about America seem cutting edge. The overall sound is in fact very ‘American’ and both lyrically and musically it is devoid of any actual ‘feeling’. The phrase “best time buddy” is like nails down a blackboard, while the chorus (“I love it when you call, but you never call at all”) sounds a bit like Fountains of Wayne without the wit. There is even the odd ‘whoop’ to make it sound like they are enjoying themselves, but somehow I just don’t believe them.
Fair enough to The Feeling, summer hit ‘Fill Right Up’ had the most ridiculously catchy melody that one can be forgiven for enjoying it on a sunny day when very drunk, but this song and its probable chart position raises an important question. Should pop music be allowed to be MOR, does universal appeal make it ok to be mediocre? Is it like watching meaningless crap on TV because you’ve had a hard day earning enough money to pay the bills and still get drunk at the weekend and all you want to do is relax and not think anymore? If this sounds like you then you might just enjoy (if that’s the right word) this song and everything they have done.
This song is probably on an advert. Probably for a mobile phone. You will probably buy the product. It is a song for the millions of people who bought the Arctic Monkeys album because everyone else did (not because it is a great, great album), then proceeded to buy every other piece of second-rate guitar pop because they thought it was ‘indie’. This is why the Kooks have had 6 (count them) hit singles from their decent album. This is why the Feeling sell records and why this song will probably end up in the top ten.
You know The Feeling. You probably won’t a year from now. Unless one of them develops a ‘drug and alcohol problem’ and ends up in the Priory and the Sun, in which case give it 13 months.
First published on glasswerk.co.uk. See it here.
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