McFly

McFLY
"ABOVE THE NOISE"
(Island/UK, 2010)

I can't remember the last time I had such mixed feelings about an album. When I first heard that McFly were taking a departure from their lovely and lively Beatles-esque pop sound and diving headlong into electro-pop/R&B territory, even recruiting the likes of Taio Cruz and Dallas Austin to help with songwriting and producing, I was puzzled and dismayed. Still being unclear as to why they've all but tossed aside the guitars and drum set (I can even picture poor Dougie and Harry standing in the background during a performance, not knowing what to do with themselves!), I can't help but feel like they've sold out to the latest trend.

That being said, however, they're still McFly, and that's the only reason I bothered to give the album a chance, figuring that whatever McFly do they'll probably do well. For the most part, I was right. Their songwriting is still pretty good, although we've seen better (I consider "Wonderland" to be their best in that regard), and of course their voices are as great as they've ever been. I actually find more to like on the second half of the album, like the cool neo-soul breeze of "This Song" and the bouncy old-school pop tune "I Need a Woman"; it doesn't help that McFly sound more like their old selves on these tracks.

As it turns out, though, McFly can lay down a good dance-pop tune with the best of 'em -- just listen to "Party Girl" and the '80s-tinged "iF U C Kate" for evidence of that -- although it's still the fact that this is McFly we're talking about that keeps me from enjoying them more (well, that, and the fact that I've never been big on dance-pop to begin with). Call it a nit-pick if you must, but I have to wonder if it might have behooved them to adopt an alias for this project, kind-of like Garth Brooks billed himself as Chris Gaines for his brief foray into rock. As a pop album in general, it's pretty darn good (up there with some of the best post-millennium R&B-flavored boybands), but as a McFly album I'm afraid it's just "okay" at best.

Buy it digitally from Amazon UK
Buy it on CD from Amazon UK