El Presidente , El Presidente
This is the first album by Glasgow’s answer to the Scissor Sisters, El Presidente, the proud owners of a shiny new contract with Sony BMG. Their music is also of the shiny, danceable variety, but its tales of lost love completely fail to engage emotionally with the listener.
The band appear to have spent far more time on their appearance than on recording the album, with the result that while the sharply dressed front man Dante Gizzi may have the shiniest shoes in rock, his whining mid Atlantic vocals are just plain irritating. And he is singing some incredibly platitudinous and banal lyrics. There are a few catchy songs on the album, and many of the best bits occur when Gizzi’s miserable lyrical talent deserts him and he either shuts up, or when he sings “la la la la la”, as on album highlight Old Times.
According to Gizzi, “the only rule (in making this album) was that there were no rules”, which is unfortunate since artistry is famed for its tendency to triumph over adversity. A bit more adversity (or perhaps different production) could have saved this album from becoming the somewhat dull and overproduced collection of songs that it really is.
Reviewed by Robin Seaton
doddsy
It’s dante GIZZI not grizzi and actually it’s quite good! Just don’t bother listening to the lyrics. 100mph is superb, as is rocket and the band are one of the most furiously fun on the planet at the moment, even if the album runs out of steam half way through.
admin
Thanks for letting us know, the online article has been corrected.
Robin
Sorry about getting his name wrong, but whatever his name is, his band is still pretty dull. If someone’s going to write rubbish lyrics they might as well just not sing them at all, and just leave the tunes, half of which, here, aren’t bad. However, this album, apart from a couple of good singles, is fairly weak stuff, and definitely not worth more than 2 stars. I can imagine them being a lot better live though.