The Hidden Cameras - Awoo (Arts & Crafts, 2006)
Album Review by Nate Fox
  1. "Death of a Tune"- Probably the best song on the whole album, yet still sounds like a bad 90's song. Catchy tune, but nothing overly impressive.
  2. "Awoo"- should have been titled "Bell Bizarro". The song resembles creepy carnival music that would be right at home in the background of some old Chevy Chase film. This track seems to simply be a failed experiment.
  3. "She's Gone"- one of the better songs on the album. The band pulls a risky move with what sounds like a violin, but it comes off nicely. The song is a little repetitive, but that seems to be the popular trend on the whole album. The ending, to put it nicely, is a noise disaster.
  4. "Lollipop" is just plain, head-shakingly awful. It sounds as if the vocals were sung by the Coneheads on an old SNL skit. The timing is horrible, and the rhythm is painful.
  5. "Fee Fie"- Great potential, but feels unfinished. The song starts off well, but then stretches out and become very repetitive; it builds you up, but then never goes anywhere.
  6. "Learning the Lie"- another big let down. The song starts off with a great sound, but then the vocals ruin it. "Do Do Do Do"… Don't! The vocals sound like an alley cat, or a man who got kicked in the genitals. The song ends up sounding like a bad song from the late 70's.
  7. "Follow These Eyes"- Lacking and in dire need of drums and time changes. With annoyingly repetitive vocals, this whole song sounds like a bad intro.
  8. "Heij"- Pointless and unnecessary. The only good thing that this song does is remind us that not everything is art.
  9. "Heaven Turns To"- Repetitive to the point that at times it sounds like a skipping record, and hardly worth a mention.
  10. "Wandering" - Pretty, with a fuller sound. The piano in this song is probably the strongest point, but the vocals do not fit it. This track shows that The Hidden Cameras do have potential. One word sums up the intro for the next track titled
  11. "For Fun"- Why? The song has a strong early 80's punk sound with an indie twist. Again this song makes poor use of bells, which make it sound childish. There are parts of the next track,
  12. "Hump For Bending"- Choppy, and the song still holds on tight to the albums trend of repetitiveness.
  13. "The Waning Moon." This song displays perfect use of the clap and bells, but reminds you why they are not used often. The only real positive aspect of this song is that it is the end of the album.

Awoo by The Hidden Cameras is one of those albums that you listen to, and then wish you didn't. The band goes out on too many limbs, and the vocals need a lot of work. However, Awoo shows that they do have potential. Awoo seems rushed, as if it were pieced together in the span of a few weeks. I would tell this band, "Get back to me in no less than a year. You're just not ready yet."
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