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Join with Us

by The Feeling

• Buy it at Amazon.com

Having achieved the improbable by redeeming traditional soft rock as a chart-friendly genre, are the London quintet challenging their audience a touch too much by titling their second album Join with Us? After all, wasn't recasting the terminally unfashionable likes of Supertramp and other so-called 'guilty pleasures' already a rather big ask? But it transpires that Dan Gillespie Sells and band, probably the first and only successful band to have perfected their chops as après-ski Alpine entertainers, have eschewed the vulnerability of 2006's hugely successful Twelve Stops and Home. Instead Join with Us is an unashamedly loud record, confidently full of stadium fillers in the best British tradition of Queen and Electric Light Orchestra. The thumping disco-rock of opener "I Thought It Was Over" leads the way, but "Without You", wetter than a waterfall, and the hysterical title track with its long build to a fearsomely slick chorus are similarly singleworthy. Less predictable are the downright odd "Don't Make Me Sad"--imagine a dream team of Chas'n'Dave'n'Brian May--and the lush, rueful ballad "Conor" where a string section and ethereal Beatles-esque harmonies add depth. "The Greatest Show on Earth", rather reminiscent of Kate Bush's bleaker moments, fails to live up to its title, pretty much the lyrical intention. But it's only the jaunty hidden track "We Can Dance", presumably aspiring to McCartney at his most jovial but in fact nearer to Chris De Burgh, that misses completely. The Feeling's brash new style may lack some of their previous charm, but Join With Us is undeniably effective. --Steve Jelbert