Half Drunk Under The Full Moon. The Fratellis

It's been written before. Also on this blog. The Fratellis are extremely lucky and cursed having scored a monster hit, 'Chelsea Dagger' in the mid 00s. Forever a one-hit wonder. The alternative would have been a no-hit-nothing, as hardly anyone would have remembered the band without it. After a hiatus of some years in the 10s, the band is active again for some years, although I have to admit to have missed most albums after their second and best album.

Writing reviews for a mostly one person blog, comes down to making choices and The Fratellis did not make it to the cut. Not even because I did not like Half Drunk Under A Full Moon. There were simply other albums I wanted to write about. So what changed?, I hear you asking. Well, what triggered me was the review in my newspaper, NRC. The reviewer of duty only gave a 1 to the album and that is something that hardly ever happens. It equals a total failure and when I listened to the album, I couldn't remember listening to a total failure. So, I decided to listen again while cycling to the local supermarket to do the shopping.

Again I noticed the pleasant pop coming by in my ears. There wasn't a lot amiss on The Fratelli's latest album. What I will adhere to, is that the album is without any danger. This music does not have an edge to it. The Fratelli's are in search of perfectly harmless pop songs and succeeded in finding them. In the 60s you had The Yardbirds or The Rolling Stones and there were The Fortunes and The Tremeloes. The 70s David Bowie played 'Oh, You Pretty Things' while The Rubettes sang 'Sugar Baby Love', etc. They all played pop in their ways. So in 2021 The Fratellis going for the influence of the latter examples. Surprising but why not? Just listen to 'The Last Songbird' and then think of 'You've Got Troubles'. The Fortunes scored a huge hit with a song like that. I can't help liking 'The Last Songbird' for very nostalgic memories of songs I got to know as a little boy, like 'My Little Lady' or 'You've Got Troubles' a few years later when it became a hit once again.

Looking at it from that angle, Half Drunk Under The Full Moon certainly works. It doesn't when judged by 2021 musical standards and not even by their own monster hit. The Fratellis may have drawn the conclusion that whatever they do, there will be no other 'Chelsea Dagger' for them, even if they could copy it somehow. There's only one novelty hit, the repeat usually flops or close to it. So why not make the album the band wants to make?

Jon Fratelli knows how to write a nice pop song and has a hang for pop songs from long ago. He is able to come close to those bands that have slowly disappeared from the public ear, as only the very best from the 60s and early 70s remain on public radio. The Searchers, The Fortunes, The Tremeloes have all but been forgotten.

So it comes to pass that a reviewer scores an album extremely badly as too easy, uninspired pop. A one for the effort it was called in high school and perhaps still is. A lack in musical education it seems to me. You won't find me claiming Half Drunk Under The Full Moon is a brilliant album but certainly a nice and well-made one, with a dip here and there like 'Action Replay', oddly enough coming close to the last album of Arctic Monkeys. Now what does that tell me? For the rest it's smooth listening and that is nice every once in a while.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Half Drunk Under The Full Moon here:

https://thefratellis.bandcamp.com/album/half-drunk-under-a-full-moon

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g