ARTIST: The Philomankind
TITLE: Ask
LABEL: marcopiaggesi
GENRE: Rock
TIME: 40:08 min
SIZE:  59,3 MB
RIP DATE: Aug-18-2007
RELEASE DATE: 000-00-2005
WEBSITE: n/a

Track List:

01. Gender Bender                              04:15
02. U Know, I Know                             03:36
03. Ask                                        02:22
04. Sorry                                      03:20
05. From A Lonely One                          02:47
06. A Loves B (B Loves C)                      03:34
07. Mr. Adviser                                02:09
08. Smile                                      02:25
09. No Retaliation                             03:40
10. It's Easy To See                           03:42
11. Saccharine                                 02:22
12. Pennsylvania Woman                         03:59
13. You're In My Mind                          01:57

Release Notes:

Ask' by Italian combo Philomankind is an album of
great pop psyche moments, that somehow fuses late
60s upbeat psychedelia with the ambitious vocals of
70s pop act Abba.
‘Gender bender' opens up the album with a 60s pop
feel mixing upbeat vibes, a girly sound and some
superb sunshine smiling moments.
Sara Piaggesi sugary vocals are superb.
The interesting and quite complex arrangement of
Gender Bender adds to the songs cross dressing
appeal. ‘U Know, I Know' is an ambitious freak out
with Beatles-esque guitar touches.
This psych frenzy has a great crescendo of harmonies
and a freaky mellotron adding the trip.
Marco Piaggesi takes over for most of the vocals
duties on this tune, adding variety to the already
complex vocal arrangements. ‘Ask' is out and out
upbeat sugar shaking pop, great fun.
Again the strong melodies and wall of harmonies work
a treat. ‘Sorry' is a piano led ballad with a
chilled out fell, shifting the mood. ‘From A Lonely
One' is a chamber pop tune with an easy going beat
and a very strong vocal from Sara.
The wash of harmonies is off set by a more gruff
male vocal from Marco, which works really well.
‘Mr Adviser' is like one of Paul McCartney's Noel
Cowards style ditties, an off the wall tune
adding to the albums attraction. The McCartney/Beach
Boys vibe on ‘Smile' is super catchy, super
melodic, super!
Massive late Beatles style piano is the order of the
day on ‘No Retaliation', with freaky organ
embellishments
punctuated throughout the song. ‘No Retaliation' is
a huge tune and features a fine heartfelt vocal from
Sandro. ‘It's Easy To See' is a more straight
forward stripped down pop rocker and the powerful
rock vocal from Sara shows off her wide range.
Sara can do the sugar shaking sweet vocals as well
as something with more aggression, but even within
‘It's Easy To See' she shifts from a rocky vocal to
something choir
like then to psychedelic inflections. ‘Saccharine'
is a harmony tune mixing up 60s vibes with that
crazy Abba feel. There is also a mad psyche bit
thrown in for good measure.
‘Pennsylvania Woman' is sung by Sandro and features
a big chorus, nifty guitar licks, banjo and
magnificent organ. ‘You're In My Mind' kicks up a
rock'n'roll ruckus and finishes off the album in
rockin' style.
Philomankind have produced an album of pristine pop
filled with melody, harmony and extremely
accomplished musicianship, check it out.
Jonny Magus - www.sohostrut.co.uk