Ch!pz :: The Adventures of Ch!pz (2004)
Seriously, sorry for the wait. I was going to review a Jewel video but that got postponed because I was lazy on some days and I was really busy on the others. Well I'm back with a Ch!pz album to enjoy.
1. Cowboy :: So this whole thing in the beginning is similar to that "Cotton Eyed Joe" song (I'm too lazy to look up the artist right now) in the sense that the song has a dance beat but has the south-western diddle to it. From this song onward, I found that this group is a very pop. I somewhat like it since it reminds me of the pop I would listen to when I was a little girl. I was a nineties kid so there were bands Spice Girls, N'Sync, Brittany Spears, 98˚, A*teens, and so on at that time. Ch!pz isn't like some of those groups, but there are definite pop elements and the way the group sings together makes me think of pop groups like A*teens in which there are both boys and girls in the band. Anyway, back to the song. The song basically repeats the same beat, and its rather consistent. It sounds really boring if you're not fully listening to the song, but if you actually just sit down and listen to the song, you'll find that there's some different stuff to shake things up. The song is okay.
2. Captain Hook :: It is this point in the album that most realized that this band aims at a very young fan base. This was the very first song of Ch!pz that I've heard. I almost didn't care for it and left the idea of looking into the band, but I was drawn to the whole pop scene that was reminiscent of what I listened to as a child and the beat is really catchy. I found the whole middle part with vocals with the "kids" and "captain hook" a bit cheesy, but this whole album is full of cheese. It isn't enough to make me hate the song or the band however.
3. Bang Bang :: You also start to notice that the drum beat is almost the same for every song. This happens in a lot of the songs in the album and it is the main reason why the songs seem to sound the same in the album. Once again, this is just me being picky again and it doesn't make the album bad. I rather like this song since its mainly the girls singing and I personally think they sing better than the boys in their group. The song is simplistic though, almost to the point of boring, however. Its yet just another okay song.
4. Ch!pz in Black (Who Are You Gonna Call?) :: Once again, the song starts a bit cheesy. The beginning establishes that Ch!pz is some fantastical group that handles situations like UFO sightings somewhere. I suppose that this can still appeal to a younger audience that Ch!pz targets. I do have to admit that the chorus is catchy, but once again, there is that same beat! If you listen to this song separately from the rest of the album and take in consideration that this music aims at a children audience, it's actually a pretty decent song.
5. Say I'm Ur No. 1 :: The style of this song is so similar to A*teens that one could probably mistake Ch!pz from them. The beat is a bit different so people are obviously going to pay closer attention to this song when it pops up. The melody is very simplistic and carefree. Once again, this band is totally pop. I suppose it could be considered dance with a few of the songs. Whoever says so otherwise must be stooooopid! Its really nice to listen to.
6. Milky Way :: This song is really different. There are synths and beats that make the song definitely have a electronica feel. I'm sure it's so make the song have a futuristic feel since its about exploring in space and stuff like that. It's still considered a pop song in my head because their voices make it that way. I'm sure they could put their singing voices to heavy metal and they'll still make it a pop song, no dice. The song is really catchy and I think its one of the best of the album. It wasn't as popular as a few of their other songs and I don't understand why.
7. Haunted House :: Some guy with a bit of a creepy voice narrates something out of a generic horror flick. It actually reminds me a bit of those cheesy haunted houses in the Scooby-Doo episodes. The synths make things a bit towards the dance side. The beat is once again in the same funk they were before, but since the melody and the mood is so different, it doesn't make the song extremely boring. The lyrics can be a bit towards childish but I can't criticize them for that; doing that would be like criticizing an apple for being a fruit. I personally don't like it that much, but musically, it can be pleasing to the ear, so I should just say its a decent song.
8. 4 Who U R :: I rather like this song and its not just because it isn't as cheesy or it sounds a bit different like the rest of the songs. Melodically, it changes a bit, which automatically just keeps me listening. Sure it can sound like just another pop song, but this song shows the listener that Ch!pz isn't just a one-theme or one-tune group and vary some of their work to shake things up a bit. I think its a good quality for an artist of a group to have because those who don't do that tend to be pretty bad or mediocre at best. The lyrics can stick in your head and watch out, you may be singing this song out-loud.
9. The Happy Hook :: Every album has one, more so than others. This is the "WTF" song of the album. In this case, this earns that title because the lyrics and the synth is pretty different from the rest of the album and, I don't know about you, but I kept on thinking "what the hell is a happy hook?" I rather like the background music in this because its a very upbeat dance beat. Its actually extremely similar to the Vengaboy's "We Like to Party" track. There really isn't a subject to this song and since its the WTF song, I have an excuse to why I can't really come up with a solid opinion of this song.
10. Jungle Beat :: This song sounds a bit like the "generic" ones in this album. Its slightly different since there are animal noises, steel drums, and some other instruments that makes the generic "tropical" feeling. There is some random voices like that random deep voice that makes me think of the guy in Aqua. I was thinking "oh who's that?" but that wasn't enough for me to distract me from the entire song. Once again, this song isn't some great song, but its nice to listen to. I could see someone playing this by a pool side or something since it creates such a tropical mood.
11. Slay Slay :: I realized here that every song practically has a "theme" to it that could appeal to the younger audiences. I somewhat realized that song but I decided to fully state it here. In this case, its about those fantasy stories of a warrior slaying an evil creature. In the other songs, there were stuff like haunted houses, pirates, the police, and cowboys. Once again, this makes the song a bit cheesy to adults and almost adults like me (haha, I'm only 17 for the record). Considering this and the overall musicality, it can be great for some people, but for me, this song is mediocre at best.
12. The Timeriders :: The song actually makes for a decent ending. The tempo is a bit slower, and at the beginning, the song goes at a "grand finale" feel to it. Sure the song swings a bit to the same beat as the previous songs and the techno synths that was featured in Milky Way, but the song has a bit of a conclusive feeling to things.
Conclusion: This album will definitely appeal to younger audience and I could freely suggest this to children since there isn't curing, drug references, and the like. I don't recommend this to people who don't like pop music or feel a bit queezy with childish or cheesy things. Musically, the album could be a bit boring if you listen to all the songs all at once since they all sound somewhat similar. The songs could go from decent to great if listened to individually.
