Album Review: "Big Science" - BWO

Confession time. I've never really seen BWO as an "albums band", more a "singles band" and consequently the only album of theirs that I've bothered with in the past has been (surprise surprise) "Pandemonium" - their wonderful greatest hits collection.

So I thought it was about time to put that right. On their latest album they don't really break new ground, although if it ain't broke there's no need to fix it!

"Right Here Right Now" is a very strong opener and it's no surprise that it's the new single. "Love Came Crashing Down" is more 'dramatic' and dare I say that it reminds me of "Everlasting Love" - not in terms of melody, but more in the syllable-structure if you catch my drift. (!)

Whilst we're playing 'name that tune', I'm not the first to mention the similarity between "Kings of Tomorrow" and Takida's massive radio-hit "Curly Sue" but I'll mention it anyway. As with "You're Not Alone" there are two versions of the song on the album and inevitably I prefer the dance-remix-versions of both songs at the end.

Most of the best tracks come in the first half of the album - the catchy "Burning Down The House" (with its 'let's go party like there's no tomorrow' line), "Rise To The Occasion" and my favourite track - the Europoptastic "Bite The Bullet".

I prefer BWO's uptempo numbers to their ballads - "In Too Deep" is OK, bears a little similarity to "Let It Rain" which I prefer if I'm honest. "Thunderbolt" is BWO on automatic pilot, "Rhythm of the Night" is OK, whilst "Sleeping In My Car" is probably my least favourite track on the album. "Shoot From The Heart" however impressed me with its killer chorus..

On the whole I really like this album - and it proves that BWO isn't just a singles band after all. I think this will probably end up in my top five albums of the year.