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- Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
- Release Date: Feb 16, 2010
- Summary: The latest concept album from Art Brut's Eddie Argos and Blood Arm's Dylan Valdes consists of 12 pop responses, such as "Billie's Genes," where a grown-up child responds to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."
- Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
- Genre(s): Rock, Pop
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 13
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Mixed: 6 out of 13
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Negative: 2 out of 13
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In which Eddie Argos of Art Brut (!) and Dyan Valdes of the Blood Arm (?) write second-cousin answer songs to, among others, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Kanye West, the Mamas and the Papas, Avril Lavigne, and P.D. "Creeque Allies" is a capsule history of the Maquis.
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The record succeeds as its own body of work sans premise, thanks to Valdés' deft keyboards and arrangements (which gives the proceedings hues of '50s hits, '60s soul and breezy Euro-pop) and Argos' patented sincere-or-smarmy delivery (the thing that makes Art Brut so compelling).
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Much of Fixin' The Charts would work even without its central gimmick. Valdés supplies credible hooks and winning girl-group harmonies, and Argos' lyrics never separate wit from emotion
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MojoQuality inessential entertainment. [Mar 2010, p.97]
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Fixin' the Charts really comes down to the jokes and the concept--how much you appreciate it will depend on how much the idea appeals to you in the first place, and how well you can tolerate Argos' sung/spoken/ranted vocal approach, but it's definitely good for at least a chuckle.
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Under The RadarChances are most of these tune lack the staying power of those that inspire them, but a few are real gems in a way that transcends the mischief. [winter 2010, p.68]
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Fixin' The Charts comes with a lofty goal: to grind down the blemishes that mar the rock face of the popular music mythos. But to attempt to "fix" history, to paint over its wrongs with a broad, sneerish stroke, is a gross mis-step in the career of one of anti-pop's savviest purveyors.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 0 out of
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Mixed: 0 out of
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Negative: 0 out of