The Long-Awaited Client Album Review
Now that I've spent a few days listening to the album in the car, at home, and at work, I'm ready to give my impressions.

Client FAIR. I'm not a fan of spoken word non-melodic songs (Kraftwerk's "Numbers" is the only one of this ilk that I like).

Rock and Roll Machine EXCELLENT. The second of three singles. Even the people who hate the album reserve praise for this song. What can you say about a catchy song about rock with no guitars in the song itself? The video is good also.

Price of Love GOOD. The first of three singles from the album, and the weakest of the three (but still good).

Happy GOOD. The jarring music of the song matches the lyrics (which, if you've heard them, are NOT happy). But why the DougOse did they have to include that one word in the song?

Diary of an 18 Year Old Boy GOOD (music EXCELLENT). Sorry, but I don't particularly care for lyrics about the thoughts of an 18 year old boy, although you can tell that a woman wrote them (what 18 year old boy would use the word "tremble"?). Lose the words, and the music's excellent.

Civilian FAIR. Did Andrew Fletcher arrange to have Martin Gore teach Client A how to write throw-away instrumentals?

Here and Now VERY GOOD. The third of the three singles. Catchy.

Sugar Candy Kisses GOOD. When I heard this song, I immediately started wondering whatever happened to B*Witched. Unless I'm missing some huge irony, these jaded ladies have issued a bubblegum pop song, complete with fuzz guitar and everything.

Pills VERY GOOD. Jarring (in line with its subject matter), the song really gets into a groove toward the end. At first I disliked it, then I found myself playing it over and over on the drive in to work this morning.

Leipzig FAIR. Yawn.

Love All Night EXCELLENT. This should have been a single. More dance-oriented than "Rock and Roll Machine," the only thing that mars this is Felix Todd's vocal production. I hate that effect, but it's much worse on Cher's "Believe" when you take Cher's voice (and she DOES have a voice) and cover it up in effects).

reprise to Civilian GOOD. This concentrates on the last part of "Civilian," and has the advantage of brevity.

Hear 30 second song samples here (Tower) or here (Best Buy). Amazon only offers samples of a few songs. Client's website is here. Toast Hawaii is here.