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The consistently diverting changes in style across the album are fine--the wonky 80s shoulder-pad pop of The Outsider is nothing like anything else here, for example. But over 13 songs of Sparks-voice and many similar staccato piano riffs listeners may feel bludgeoned by Marina and her slightly overbearing presence.
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There’s not much variety as a result, despite a wide range of ingredients, and while it’s possible that liking one song could mean liking them all, it’s best to focus on a single track.
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Marina describes the album as “intricately produced” and that’s where the problem lies. Such attention to detail leaves some of the songs feeling pretty sterile and, as a result, it’s a frustrating listen.
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The Family Jewels seems to be to be symptomatic of a broader trend at the moment to demand our female artists be both credible and commercial at the expense of achieving anything great in either camp.
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Averegeness abounds from budding UK starlet.
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MojoA quirky, theatrical record that's full of pomp and self-importance, The Family Jewels is never less than exciting, but it does try a little too hate to be zany. [Mar 2010, p.100]
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Unfortunately, her constant insistence on being so ham-fistedly quirky and zany soon becomes wearing, and simultaneously rescues and spoils the whole album.
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Although there is definitely musical colour here, Marina’s vocal delivery and attitude has a tendency to overshadow the music, which is often melodically inventive, but we are rarely given the chance to realise this.
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Needless to say, that overbearing need to prove herself just ends up being exhausting. But the lady doth protest too much: There are hints of the darker, weirder dance-floor diva she wants to be hiding beneath the avant-garde pretensions of tracks such as “Shampain,” “I Am Not A Robot,” “Guilty,” and “Oh No!”
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The closer she gets to herniating herself trying to convince you that you're listening to a crazy avant-garde artist making pop music by accident, the more convinced you become that she's a canny operator writing pop songs and then dressing them up in a multicoloured afro wig and glasses with eyeballs on springs.
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["Hermit the Frog" is] a rare moment of fun, though; mostly Ms. Diamandis doesn’t let herself get comfortable. She’s strongest on the songs that nod, obliquely or otherwise, to fame.
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UncutAll round it makes for a slightly uncomfortable listen. [Apr 2010, p.90]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 394 out of 443
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Mixed: 18 out of 443
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Negative: 31 out of 443
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Aug 28, 2014
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Oct 9, 2015
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Sep 15, 2015