Album Review: 'Five' by Chris Boddington
Key Quote: "We are thankful Chris has ripped up the rule book here. An awesome collection of songs".
Five is released on 23-May-25 and is a extended player of 8 songs...
1. Invisible Man
The original version of the track that inspired/launched a 100 remixes. It opens with chic-style guitar riff and although there's no details of the vocalist given, its a mixture of talking and semi-rap. The lyrics are to be not taken literally, but rather a feeling of being invisible and being set free by the music. Epic opener.
2. Do It
Cool 80s style electronic bass riff opens this track with old skool style rapping. The bridge section gives way to piano and strings for a nice little interlude before a strong final section.
3. Hustlin'
This song grabs the attention from the off with an unsual (but catchy as hell) banjo riff and then some slide guitar. The rap over the top works very well and overall gives the song a 'Old Town Road' kinda vibe. The stand out track so far purely based on the originality of the arrangement.
4. Marrakech
A middle-eastern style song which until the vocals come in could be from a Hans Zimmer soundtrack. Interestingly, the rap vocals and the various effects scattered throughout work very well.
5. Odyssey
We have a cohesive theme developing for this collection of tracks which is soundtrack-esque instrumentation with old style rap vocals. This one has some great hip-hop style beats which are the glue to the different styles. On paper, this shouldn't work - but it definitely does!
6. Say Your Prayer
The break-beats continue with an excellent and sparse piano to set the scene. Female rap vocals take the lead here and offer a new dynamic to proceedings. An instrumental horn break adds more depth to this track with a extended build into what I thought would be the final chorus - but this kinda fizzles out towards the end instead which a shame.
7. I Like When You
Funky percussion make this a very danceable track and when the synth arpeggios come in, you'd better be out of your chair. This is very slick production and a nice bit of George Benson style guitar toward the end. My only gripe is that this song is just too short - time to play it again then...
8. Loca
Latino-rap song which turns into a Chemical Brothers style mash up. Again, we are thankful Chris has ripped up the rule book here. An awesome finish to an excellent collection of songs.
Despite being original in terms of musical styles and production, this collection of songs hangs together more cohesively than the previous long-player 'Love Ting'.
Chris Boddington Contact Details:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chrisboddington
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisBodMusic
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6iYCIqZoES9R5bCAYN5bgo?si=OVbywn_8TyaMY7sMRZqU3g
Bandcamp: https://chrisboddington.bandcamp.com/album/love-ting-album-4-2024