We Need Medicine

After a five year hiatus, The Fratellis are back and sounding as irresistible as ever. For those of us who kept up to date with Jon's solo album and the Codeine Velvet Club album (both of which are excellent), it almost feels as if they haven't been away, but it's certainly good to have the original band back together and their third album is a continuation of their upbeat, feel-good, high-energy indie rock, which still contains more hooks than you can shake the proverbial stick at. The opening track, "Halloween Blues" gets the album off to a decent start, but it is when the immensely catchy second track, "This Old Ghost Town" kicks in does "We Need Medicine" really start to show its brilliance. "She's Not Gone But She's Leaving" has a fantastic minor key groove and is one of those instantly likeable compositions that you're singing along to before the end of the song on the first listen. "Jeannie Nitro" is another one of my favourites from the album, as is the title track which, despite the simplicity of the melody and chord sequence, is just an absolute joy to listen to."We Need Medicine" doesn't re-invent the band and certainly doesn't feature any massive change in direction or sound, but neither is it tired nor clichéd. It's certainly not a more "mature sound" either. Simply put, it is another album's worth of well-written, uncomplicated, highly enjoyable songs which makes it a third successive terrific Fratellis album... and releasing three very good albums in a row, including a world-beating début, is an achievement not to be downplayed or sneezed at. It almost goes without saying that this isn't a better album than "Costello Music", but that was an album that captured something special at that time and nothing they release is probably ever going to recapture that, but there are a few truly excellent songs on "We Need Medicine" which could have slotted comfortably onto their first album and, thankfully, the rest of the album isn't half bad either. All-in-all there's plenty here to make this a more than worthy purchase and to remind the world that the Fratellis are a lot more than just a couple of great singles from a few years ago, they're actually a rather great band, period.

I have been a huge fan of the Fratelli's since the Costello Music album and I was so excited to find out they have a 3rd album coming out after 4 years of hiatus. I ordered the album now because I'm going to see them in November and wanted to be able to sing along to the songs!I loved Halloween Blues on the first listen, it's very catchy with clever lyrics (although this is nothing new for the them)so I'm sure I'll soon know all the words. 'This is not the end of the world' is another one of my favourites, I am usually not a huge fan of repeating chorus' but I think it works really well here. 'Seven nights seven days' is the only track I'd heard before buying the album so this is not a new one for me but I have been listening to it a lot. I have not had the album for long enough to know all the songs properly, but I also really like 'Shotgun shoes', 'This old ghost town' and 'She's not gone yet but she's leaving'. Having listened to the whole album though I am certain that I will end up loving all of the songs.In my opinion the sound of this album is closer to Costello Music than Here We Stand was but you can hear elements of them both in the songs, although obviously there are new sounds as well. I also think it's quite similar to Jon Fratelli's solo album.I don't often buy CD's anymore, I think like most people, but I am certainly glad I bought this one. I think you will be too - I don't believe Jon could write a bad song if he tried.

It's been four years since their last album, 'Here We Stand', so it's great to have the Fratellis back with an new album that is easily as good as their first two records.There is definitely more of a country and blues influence on this album and some experimentation with different instruments - there is some pedal steel guitar on the final track, and several other tracks feature a brass section, one even has a saxophone solo that put me in mind of Wizzard!! Despite this, it's still a very recognisable 'Fratellis'-sounding record.A lot of the songs sounded instantly familiar to me - whether this is because they've written great tunes, or have ripped off other great tunes, I'm not sure as I've only listened to it once, but it's definitely a great album, worth a tenner of anybody's gold!!

seit ich The Fratellis kenne, muss ich mich beherrschen, nicht gleich alle Musik auf einmal haben zu wollen von der Band

Perfetto e ben confezionato

Muy bueno

Jon Fratelli is a musical genius! Seldom do I buy a CD and love every song. His music and lyrics just keep evolving and getting better and better. Who started that fire on the moon? (7 Nights 7 Days) Mon The Fratellis!

Je suis fan du groupe depuis le début et j'attendais cet album avec impatience. J'ai adoré dès la première écoute . Même si ils ont perdu un brin de folie, les morceaux sont vraiment bons