[album review] Nicole Atkins - Neptune City (2007)

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[album review] Nicole Atkins - Neptune City (2007)

By johpan ⋅ January 3, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Tracklist
1] Maybe Tonight
2] Together We’re Both Alone
3] The Way It Is
4] Cool Enough
5] War Town
6] Love Surreal
7] Neptune City
8] Brooklyn’s On Fire!
9] Kill The Headlights
10] Party’s Over

I spoke of Ms. Atkins in a previous post and said many nice things about her. This post won’t be much different except I’ll be reviewing her latest work entitled Neptune City. It was available for purchase at the Pipettes show and I could’ve got it signed except I didn’t have the money for it :( AH WELL. I still have my ticket stub signed :) Man, she’s so awesome live… I digress. Here’s my review for Neptune City.

Just off the bat, I’ll let you know that I won’t make any comments on Nicole’s vocal performance in any of the songs. I won’t do this because her voice is just so fucking awesome that I don’t need to. Nicole Atkins is the epitome of a female crooner. Normally, I wouldn’t buy an album like this except Nicole does it so… what’s the word… awesomely? I can’t describe how awesome her voice is.

Let’s do this album in order of favourites starting with least.

10] Brooklyn’s On Fire!
It’s a good song but means the least to me probably because I don’t understand the significance of Brooklyn being on fire. It could be a Jersey thing… either way, sounds like a fun party song served with a little regret on the side.
“I’m caught in the wave of tears from much happier days when we were young and not afraid of stupid mistakes that we made.”
I feel ya, Nicole.
UPDATE: Yay lyric books. It’s Independence Day! Fireworks light the Brooklyn skies like the city’s on fire. FOURTH OF JULY! BROOKLYN’S ON FIRE! I never understood what they said there. Now I know. Now this song means more. Except we don’t observe America’s Independence Day here in Canada. lol.

9] Love Surreal
I’d probably like this song more if I felt this way about someone…

8] Party’s Over
I’d like this song more if I didn’t have to read the lyrics to know what you’re saying Nicole… :P I’ll fill this in when I have the time to analyze further.

7] The Way It Is
Probably the most popular song on the album due to Nicole singing it on Letterman.
To be honest, it wasn’t one of my favourites when I first heard it; I like it more now that I’ve listened to it more but still hasn’t broken the top half of the list. I’ve felt this way about a person before. It’s good to listen to when I think about her. I still think Littlest Things by Lily Allen really does the trick to make me depressed about her. The Way It Is is a little more personal because of the whole “he’s not the one that I need I’d rather find out for myself” bit. Oh and “If I was smart I’d never call you ever again”. This would’ve been better when the wounds were fresh.

6] Neptune City
This song is sad and depressing. That’s probably why I like it so much. Very smartly written, I think anyway. An excellent title track though I don’t see why it would be the title track since the theme of the song isn’t quite spread out throughout the other tracks. I don’t quite understand the the “Our hearts are singing…” stanza but from what I can gather, the song’s about a ghost who’s deciding whether to lurk around or go to the great unknown that is the after-life. Comments on other and/or actual meanings would be appreciated…

5] Together We’re Both Alone
This is probably what my ex thinks of me except she was the type that couldn’t sleep unless we’ve solved the issue (which was annoying for reasons I can discuss in private). I believe that couples shouldn’t sleep until they’ve resolved their issues except that some issues can’t be solved so quickly, especially when they’re re-occuring. In that case, sleep on it and wait until a compromise can be settled, similar to how Nicole has it laid out, except after no compromise, there is failure. Though in my case, I felt I was the last one to try to do anything. I changed unlike the guy in this song yet the problem didn’t resolve. I guess some stories can’t have their storybook ending.

4] War Torn
Perfect lead in into war torn. Again, it’s probably what my ex thinks minus the whole “hoping you come pick me up” bit. My heart is war torn. To me, the second verse doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the song though it is another point of view on the whole war torn love status. I guess I sometimes feel like a war torn love is all I’ve known.

3] Kill The Headlights
At the concert, she said that this was a love song and had a back story which I can’t quite recall. It doesn’t sound like a love song starting at 2:03. From the first two verses, Nicole leaves a lot of room for there to be some sort of resolve in a third verse or a big bridge or something… except no. “So please understand, my heart, you won’t have it again, so just don’t try” wtf? I still love the song regardless.

2] Cool Enough
Nicole made some comments about this song before she performed which I can’t quite recall but was somewhere along the lines of a high school reunion and how the cool people weren’t as cool as they were in high school. She said the song was about that and that I can totally see. Awesome song. Great POV. Oh the irony.

1] Maybe Tonight
Oh Nicole spoils us with (in my opinion) the most awesome track on the album as the first track. The mood of the music is perfect for the lyrics and the lyrics (though I had to look up some parts outside of just listening) are a bit confusing for me at some points. Is it bad of me to just love this song just from the sound of the chorus? Because I REALLY love the sound of this chorus. I’d rewrite the verses to fit my needs and serenade a potential girlfriend to this song. Hrm… ideas?