"'Remember June' is possibly the strongest album ever to come out of the Australian Idol franchise. Period." So we wrote back on September 04 when we gave you a little taster of what to expect from former Idol Damian Leith's new album. After the platinum success of Damien's first studio album 'Where We Land', he then went for the obligatory covers album 'Catch The Wind - Songs Of A Generation'.But with 'Remember June', he's back in originals territory and with esteemed pop producer Stuart Crichton on board, Damien has created something strong, classy and international with a big, big sound.
The album opens with the stirring two minute 'Remember June' introduction, punctuated by a marching beat. It's quickly followed by the rather grand 'Golden Line', which begins with Damien's honeyed vocals resting atop a Keane-esque piano sequence, before the stirring chorus kicks in, "Happiness is not a state of mind that I've been feeling".
First single 'To Get To You' follows, slowly building from it's chanted introduction into a grand and majestic pop song - and that bridge... There's a little piano riff in the middle of it (around the 2:21 mark) that gets us every time.
'Wouldn't Change A Thing' follows, and with the instrumentation a little more mellow, Damien's given the chance to showcase his vocal abilities, which range to falsetto for the beginning of the choruses. It's sublime stuff.
'Don't Give Up' begs the listener to maintain positivity throughout dark situations. "When all the lights go out, don't give up, when everything collides, don't give up the song that's in your eyes". Damien's performance on ballad 'Stay' that follows is raw, honest and emotional.
Then comes 'Forgive, Forget'. Turn it up - let it blast from your speakers. Stylistically similar to 'To Get To You', the song explodes with an epic chorus that some of the best Brit-pop bands on the planet would love to call their own. It's made for the stadium, but it's over too soon.
It rolls seamlessly into 'See You Again', the beginning of which somehow reminded us of Buggles' classic 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. Pumping pop beats, catchy chorus and continued top notch production.
'Remember June' works. Whether it's Damien's incredible vocal ability and writing skills, Stuart Crichton's fantastic production values or an intoxicating combination of both, in our books, 'Remember June' is one hell of an album, littered with epic sounding songs and soaring vocals. It begs you to sit up and listen. And sir Leith, we are.
42 comments:
Have to agree, this is a wonderful album, the partnership of Damien and Stuart has produced something incredible.
Strongest LOL big call time will tell.The first single is bombing.
Wonderful review for an equally amazing Album. This for me is on rapid rotation.
I was fascinated by your mini review last time and decided to get 'Remember June' as I quite liked Damien when he was on Idol. I have to totally agree with you on how good it is. I love this album and it is one that you can put on repeat without getting bored. I love the great big songs where it is almost a sin NOT to turn the volume up. It is definitely well worth the money and I hope Damien has a lot of success with it. He rightly deserves it.
Thank you for your full review.
This is coming from a site which thought Ricki Lee's stinker of a first song from her new album was "an intriguing blend of pop, rock and dance". Something the public totally disagreed with as was evident from Don't Miss You's mediocre performance and then almighty crash on the Aria chart.
You raved in your sample review of Damien's album back in August that To Get To You was one of only two songs from the whole 6 years of Idol which took it to the next level. This same song failed to get inside the ARIA top 100 in its first week and after 2 weeks is already out of the top 200 on itunes despite heavy promotion on Channel 7 in the Mercy adds. This dismal performance means it likely has had sales considerably less than 1,000 in total in those two weeks. Hmmm. Do you ever get the feeling you may be a little out of tune with what the Australian public actually likes in their music auspOp? Think I will wait till the newspaper reviews come in.
Thanks for writing up 2 reviews for Damien, hope it will help the sales this time around. I think the first single's video is really not that good for the song and I also blame Damien's manager has given more attention on Mauboy affairs. They are not promote enough!!
Great review for a great album. Thanks auspOp. The first single is not bombing, it's doing well. Great to have Damien back on the airwaves.
How very true, it's a must listen Album. Not only is Leith a talented singer, but also a gifted writer. The music is sublime. Thanks for your honesty....a rare thing indeed
Wow, as a critic you've obviously been impressed by Damien Leith's new work! I've got Remember June and agree totally.
But even the best artists need radio to introduce their music to the listening public. Time will certainly tell if the radio programmers will play the singles on a reasonable rotation to help listeners discover this amazing album.
Will they respect and trust their audience to be smart enough to decide for themselves?
I think this is an outstanding album, I was hooked from start to finish.
I'm not a fan, but I bought it anyway because I read good reviews. And I think it is a great album, his vocals sound fantastic. Though I'm not sure how it'll go in such a busy period as Christmas... Fingers-crossed for Damien!
Having a successful single at radio is not an indication of a great album or writing. Some of the biggest albums do not get played on radio!!! Annonymous, let's not go down the typical " let's not support our own Aussie artists" route, it's really boring and destroying the industry. Damien's done a good job, it mightn't be everyones cup of tea but let it have it's moment, why not give the album a listen from start to end first!
Amazing how different two reviews can be isn't it?!
I just read Bernard Zuel's review where he acknowledged Damien's excellent voice but said that the album is nothing we haven't heard before, that he shows no artistic ambition and that the lyrics are
"...a collection of platitiudes, embarrassingly obvious rhymes and every cliche he could lay his hands on, that if you didn't know better you'd think Leith was being ironic instead of merely awful."
OUCH!!
I guess it truly shows how subjective reviews are...One listener's trash is another listener's treasure...and vice versa.
Remember June is a brilliant album,
Damien has the most beautiful voice
I have ever heard. The first single has not bombed despite people like jenny trying to keep it from being played on the radio.
Wow! That is one heck of a review!!
When a radio station was streaming it I listened and LOLed at the lyrics so I told my friend and she LOLed too and she told a FOAF and she totally LOLed too. Somewhere during the production someone should have noticed the lyrics were way OTT.
Re the single, where is it then? I can not find it on itunes? Its not in the top 200? You can not say it has not had publicity it was on Sunrise. Also on the Mercy promo.
Theres always going to be different reviews particularly as most of the media still want to try and perpetuate that its not cool to like anything at all idol related and noone from idol can possibly do anything ever as near as good as someone not from idol. Refreshing to see someone not automatically downgrading something simply cos its from an idol. Damien isnt everyones cup of tea but sounds like he's put a lot of hard work into this, Im sure his fans will enjoy.
huh no promo? He is on take 40 right now that is big exposure.I have listened to the entire album their was a preview by hot 30 more great promo two of the songs are ok the single and that forgive forget one, but I find the rest boring and pedestrian.
The single is not even in the intunes top 300 songs anymore Judy. It is buried low down the itunes top 300 pop songs even below Don't Miss You.
As for promotion goes, I have seen so many large press articles in the last few weeks, he appeared on Sunrise and did interviews on just about every radio station known to man. Plus the aforementioned Mercy promotion. Most aussie artists would kill for that sort of promotion. And the song has under achieved so much. Why? I would say because despite being already labelled as an idol classic by this site it is very forgettable. It doesn't stay in your head. I have listened to parts of all the tracks on the radio sites where it has been placed to sample. I agree with Bernard Zuel's review. Thanks for posting the snippets Wendy. Damien has a great voice but this album is plain boring. Definitely not epic.
Zuel by the way is a highly respected reviewer. He is harsh at times but respected nontheless. His review will be read by a much wider audience than this one.
Again with the debate- why are there so many people intent on bagging Australian music- while we're all critising local talent, the international acts are dominating our charts. It's a sad sad state of affairs. Damien's album is good, got four stars in today's Telegraph. Clearly it's not for everyone but neither is Buble or Muse or so many others, I hope you'll critisise those internationals the same way you do the locals.
To the Damien fans saying the first single is not 'bombing'. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The single is either deleted from iTunes, or it's not even charting in the top 1000.
Thanks for the review Auspop! I'm really enjoying this album :)
Sad to read some of the comments here though, very sad.
At first listen, I liked this album........ second listen, I really liked it....... third listen, goosebumps!!! Fantastic!
I wonder how much influence radio airplay has on the chart success of a single?
As far as I can see, To Get to You has not made it onto the top 100 played songs on radio since its release.
Huh an aussie is at the top of the charts? Not all international. Someone said is could be a worldwide smash is that for real or is that a comment from a delusional fan?
It's just the over the top enthusiasm of this review which gets to me. It reads almost comically it is so beyond the normal sort of praise you would expect for a 4 or even a 5 star review. Critiques should be a balanced view of the album. No album is perfect but auspOp makes it sound as if this one is. If you believe this flowery speil you would swear we have witnessing the birth of the greatest album ever released in world history, not just in Australian idol history. Coupled with this the lack lustre chart performance of the lead single and we have a very what the moment. Embarrassing really. This review sounds as if it was written by an extremely devoted Damien fan who only sees perfection without any flaws. A shame for Damien to have to live up to that. I have no idea about what this album sounds like in full and have no intention of listening to it after hearing the first single, but I give this review 1 out of 10 for impartiality. Obviously Bernard Zuel is not a member of the Damien Leith fanclub though. Ouch and double ouch.
Not even a top 50 debut for this bland derivative schmalz. Meanwhile Wonder is still sitting pretty and shiny gold in the Aria top 30 after 10 weeks. How do those grapes taste Trilly?
Thanks Ausp0p, I'm going out tomorrow to buy this album. I listened to all the tracks on the 2dayfm site Hot 30, and after reading this great review as well, I can't wait to get a copy....or two.
And tell me Jordan or whatever your name is, why do you spend so much time on the Damien Leith Forum? Is it because Lisa doesn't have a forum of her own? Why don't you start one of your own and pay homage to the untalented one. Or just maybe you really do like Damien and his music.
I think Lisa's songs bored me death. There you go. Way to go Damien! Quantity is not always equal to Quality of music.
Interesting quote from Miley Cyrus today:
"My problem with the internet is it makes negativity so available. It allows people to anonymously hurt others without any consequences. That is not the real world."
Who would have thought that she could offer such insight?
Ausp0p you have awesome taste!
Amount of time I have spent on the Damien Leith forum- 0:00. You must be getting me confused with someone else. There are actually THOUSANDS of Lisa fans out there, not just one. Too bad I can't say the same for Damien :-p
Thankyou Damien for a great album, love your work. Can I ask why are people so unkind
"Jordan", I assume you mean 1000 in binary - i.e. 8 as a decimal number. That seems more like the number of fans Lisa has, or less. And of course you can't say the same for Damien, because he has way more than 8 fans. That is why all his albums have gone to #1 or #2, because he has so many fans who all love buying his music. Shame I can't say the same about Lisa. Maybe if her fans spent less time making negative comments about other artists and showing how immature they are, they'd have more time to listen to Lisa's music and support her in a positive way. I think she'd appreciate that a lot more than whatever you think you're achieving with all your stupid comments.
Although I prefer more pop music myself Ive listened to this album and am positive his fans would love it.
These Idol fans should just shut up and get a life. Jessica, Lisa and Damien appeal to a completely different demographic. Pitting one against the other all the time is gross stupidity. I can't imagine anyone having To Get To You, Up/Down AND Coin Laundry in the same collection. It's not 2006 anymore. Get over it.
BTW Lisa is the best.
Ha ha dude! You brought out the witches on this review......they must really care!
Personally I like it, makes my girl extra huggy. Standouts are the buggles like sounds of 'See You Again', the rocky 'To Get To You', 'Golden Line' and 'Forgive, Forget'. Mind you the cuddles come out more with the others.
Seriously ladies don't feel bad about Damien knocking you back, he's a married guy.
I'd like to nominate Steve M for "Best Comment EVER" on the Auspop blog. Extra huggy!
In reply to Percy "Thrills: Thrillington.
I happen to have To Get To You plus Up, Down in my collection. I watched Coin Laundry on Rage the other week and came to the same conclusion that I had when I used to watch her. She is still far too whingey, whiney for my taste.
This is a blog about Damien's new album so you are right. Tell the other Idol fans to get over it and get a life.
Post a Comment