Feeder - Pushing The Senses (CD 2005)

This is a strong album with plenty of diverse instrumentaion. One of my favourites and their best in my opinion.

I bought this cd as I liked one of the tracks and thought I would give it a try. I was highly delighted with all the tracks and it is one of my favourite cd's. Very melodic and quite emotional with a hint of rock!

After Comfort In Sound it seemed unlikely that Feeder could write more emotive and thought-provoking tracks than they had already done. However, they proved this theory well and truly wrong with Pushing the Senses. This is nothing short of a masterpiece. Frequency captures the feeling of being in love perfectly, in admirable contrast to their earlier work, such as Cement. Pain on Pain reflects the need to break away from a torturing emotional plight, while Pushing the Senses offers hope. No band proves better than Feeder that there is life after death.

Feeder's 5th album, Pushing the senses, was issued on the 31st Jan 2005. It is an album that many regard as their worst so far, someone else as their best. In my opinion the truth is at half way through... This album has ups and downs (as all albums do, of course) but in this one the difference is more evident. I would describe this album separating in fact ups from downs.

UPS:

FEELING A MOMENT (#1)
The intro to the album. Probably the greatest song on PTS and one of their best ever, deserving a place in their top ten tracks. 11/10!
BITTER GLASS (#2)
Should have been a single, but painfully it wasn't released... This is the best song on the album in my opinion. Memorable lyrics and a sing-along chorus you'll never forget. Epic! 12/10!!!
PUSHING THE SENSES (#5)
The title track, sounds like the older stuff mixed with their new riffs, it has a great melody and it is often played live. Another gem! 10/10
FREQUENCY (#6)
Simple lyrics, simple song. It has a great piano sound in the background. A great work. 10/10
MORNING LIFE (#7)
Just amazing, it is a calm and reflective song with great memorable lyrics. Feeder have never done something like this. Probably you may not like this the first time you listen to it, but it just gets better and better anytime you hear it... 10/10
PILGRIM SOUL (#8)
Here we are, the hardest song on the album. It wouldn't fit bad on Polythene, Echo Park or YWTS! 10/10

DOWNS

TUMBLE AND FALL (#3)
Don't get me wrong, this one (as all the other downs) is a big, great song!
I put it here just because it was released as a single, and there are many songs on the album that could've played better this role (Bitter glass or Pilgrim soul for example). Anyway I'm not complaining, as this song made as good as Buck Rogers, charting at #5. Surely not one of the fans' favourite anyway. 9/10
TENDER (#4)
Again, same thing as Tumble and fall. Released as a single when there were far better songs. Anyway played on the piano as Frequency and a great, calm, reflective song... 9,5/10
PAIN ON PAIN (#9) Voted on FFS (Feeder Fan Site) as their worst ever song. I don't agree with this, but surely that's the worst on the album... Again played as Frequency and Tender on the piano. Extremely soothing. You could make your baby hear it when crying! Like it anyway 7,5/10
DOVE GREY SANDS (#10)
An acoustic song that is the outro to the album. The lyrics are good, even if a bit senseless in my opinion (but it's not only lyrics to make a song sound good!). Same thing as Pain on pain, but there's no piano in this. It should've been a b-side. Whatever, a great track! 8+/10

The only proper downs in this album are track #9 and #10. (but as you can see I gave the worst song of the album 7.5 out of 10, so it means I really love any track!) The Japanese edition also includes SHATTER and VICTORIA, two strong b-sides that would make themselves the album worth buying... so they would definitely be ups. SHATTER started off as a b-side and then was released as a double A-side single (with Tender) due to a fans' petition. It is the greatest Feeder track in my opinion and it would be one of the hardest on the album.
VICTORIA would have deserved at least to be on the UK edition... if only Dove grey sands and Pain on pain had been released as b-sides and been replaced by Shatter and Victoria, this might've been their best album!