Some Cities [Import, Explicit Lyrics]

Three years have passed since the Doves put out the outstanding "Last Broadcast." Their third album, "Some Cities" take a slightly different tack. While their music is as powerful as ever, the Doves try some new musical styles -- ballads and a bit of dancepop -- woven in with the guitar rock. It may take a little while to grow on listeners, but it's worth it.

The songs are somewhat smaller in scale than what the Doves have done before. Instead of going for a continuously epic sound, the Doves opt for a more intimate sound to go with their home-village theme -- gentler, sadder and sometimes sweetier. In short, they go for gentle, eerie music, not dark grandeur. At least, not all the time.

The lead single "Black and White Town" strips things down to wavering keyboards and an insistent drumbeat. Some veer towards eerie sadness like "Someday Soon," while others retain the larger-than-life quality of the Doves' past work, complete with choruses and expansive vistas. These variations -- some little and sweet, some intricate -- make the album seem more musically mature.

It's always a shock to go home after a few years away, and discover the changes that people living there haven't even noticed. In a way, it's watching an old life slipping away. And it feels like the guys from Manchester are having a rude awakening to this in "Some Cities."

Not that everything here is depressing -- "Black and White Town" sounds like it was tailor-made to be a hit, with bored-youth lyrics and a dancey beat. It reaches back, maybe, to the Doves origins as "Sub Sub," a dance pop group. And the next-to-last song changes the mood to one of optimism. But reflections on their hometown and the past overshadow these, and lend the album the mournful beauty that the Doves do so well.

There has always been a symphonic sound to the Doves' music, and they apparently aren't about to change that. Not that I'm complaining -- few bands can pair crunchy guitars and synth with classical strings. At least, few can do it without sounding like they are trying too hard. In the case of the Doves, the classical edge merely adds a gloss to the panoramic rock music.

"Some Cities" lets the Doves stretch their wings (pun unintended, I swear), with some exquisite new musical styles and a poignant look back at their hometown. Absolutely stunning.

At first, I was in the same boat as some of the reviewers here who reviewed the album in a negative light. But as I am such a HUGE fan of their first two albums (buy them both if you don't have them. NOW!!!) I kind of realized, as the album started to grow on me, that nothing that they could've put out would have been able to outshine the tremendous amount of expectation I had for this new release. And once I made that realization, I took a step back, did my best to put on a pair of fresh ears and the result is indeed a very fine album.

Yes, the sound is scaled back. That's the bad news so lets get that out of the way. Gone (with the exception of the beautiful "Snowden") are the lush, otherworldly guitars and in their place is a sound that is more of what you'd expect from a 3 piece band, straight out of the box. But... the good news is that the tracks are mostly written with a keen sense of musical craftsmanship. All of the songs are good, earnest songs that glide effortlessly from the band, and there's not really a feeling through the whole album that they were trying to write music, or trying too hard in general.

The only lamentable aspect of this album is that, like many others, the band puts their best foot forward and offers you the best tracks on this album first. After track five, the songs become (and I'm struggling the the right word here) less memorable than the first four, all of which are outstanding tracks. In particular, Someday Soon and Shadows Of Salford probably prevent this CD from being an instant classic of an album, front to back and this is why I withheld a 5-star rating. But if we push those songs out of the picture, even the second half of the album has its well-earned merits.

And last, as a producer I have to point this out - no Doves record would have the incredibly endearing quality that they all have without the spectacular production put into the recording itself, and Some Cities is no exception. This album sounds like something recorded in Detroit in 1967, and sent into the future. The vintage analog sound of this album, coupled with the best reverb out there (where do they record, the Grand Canyon???) really round out the songs and give them the exact flavor they ask for during their delivery. If you don't understand what I'm saying, imagine these songs done in the traditional Top-40 motif, with everything hi-fi and in your face. It just wouldn't work - this record needed the ambience, the general fuzziness, to really drive its point across.

All in all, a great way to sum this one up for fans trying to make their purchasing decision would be to say that the band that recorded "Firesuite", "The Sea Song" and "New York" is not the band that made this CD. Instead, think of the band that made "Pounding" and "The Man Who told Everything" - this is the band that came to play. Can you live with that, especially if 9 of the 11 tracks would be solid if any other band had recorded them? If so, buy this record. And for people that aren't familiar with Doves, just understand that this is a great record, but with their first two albums being so clearly a cut above the rest, eventually when you're that good all of the time, it becomes close to impossible to keep topping yourself, over and over again. To do that with this record, Doves would've had to have discovered the lost chord or something equally ludicrious. This is a GREAT record... just make sure you buy their other two proper releases as well.

it's fairly interesting to trace doves' trajectory from dance band (subsub), to MBV acolytes, to arena rockers, to this, their latest encarnation. after their studio burned down, the ditched the the 'subsub' moniker and 'reinvented' (gosh, i hate that word) themselves as doves. doves debut album, 'lost souls,' was an exercise in atmospherics. save a couple of tracks, namely 'catch the sun' and 'the cedar room,' 'lost souls' was heavy, dense album. 'the last broadcast,' one the other was almost spry compared to its predecessor. it was huge, anthemic, rousing--arena rock done right. it's still amazing to me that sound comes from three guys (sounds like an army of musicians). fastforward three years--i wasn't quite sure what to expect from doves on their new release. the first listen left me a bit puzzled--who was this new, somewhat restrained, more focused band?

after a few more listens the album really began to grow on me. 'some cities' deals out four (potential) singles: (1) the piano-driven (in a good way) 'black and white towns' is a corker. it's everything that good about doves: andy's thunderclap drumming, jez's stellar guitar work, and jimi's raspy vocals. (2) 'some cities' guitar solo left me squirming in my seat the first time i heard it. it seemed intrusive and out of place; however, with successive listens it suddenly seemed surprisingly a propos. (3) 'snowden' is arguably the best track on the album. it's soaring chorus is instantly memorable. what starts as a string-laden, willowy song, ends up a stomper. (4) 'sky starts falling' is doves stripped down and the results are superb. normally a line 'If you see her again / be sure to say hello / Be sure to send my love / Did she seem like before?' would come off as annoying trite and cliched, yet jimi delivers it with such vulnerability and honestly, it transcends the cliche and comes off as genuine (and that's no small feat these days). and while not a single, 'ambition' is perhaps one of the finest closing songs in recent memory. it's more than a bit ironic that a song entitled 'ambition' serves as the last track. either a) it shows their sense of humor, or b) serves as their own exclamation point. either way, it's a beautiful song.

in the end what makes doves great is that each album, while quintessentially doves, maintains its own identity. never resting on their laurels, doves continue to evolve and shape their sound. each successive album has takes the good from its predecessor, adding to it and making it something beautiful to hear.

let's hope the next ten albums do the same.