Album Review: BUSH - Black And White Rainbows

01 Mad Love

02 Peace-S

03 Water

04 Lost In You

05 Sky Turns Day Glo

06 Toma Mi Corazon

07 All The Worlds Within You

08 Nurse

09 The Beat Of Your Heart

10 Dystopia

11 Ray Of Light

12 Ravens

13 Nothing But A Car Chase

14 The Edge Of Love

15 People At War

I remember when Bush first came out. They were the clean cut, pretty, mainstream alternative band that were supposed to fill the void left by Nirvana, with their debut album Sixteen Stone being released only a few months after Kurt Cobain's death. A heroin free Nirvana with lyrics that made a bit more sense, and were ultimately more radio friendly. Naturally they became very big very quickly in North America, and the rest is history. I'll have to admit that their debut album does have some great songs on it, especially Everything Zen, Machinehead and Glycerine. The subsequent albums got progressively worse, but there were always enough good songs to warrant giving them a listen. The band disbanded in 2002, but lead singer/guitarist Gavin Rossdale formed a new version of the band with just him and the drummer from the original line-up, and they released The Sea Of Memories in 2011. I remember hearing the single The Sound Of Winter and loving it. Unfortunately, I didn't think the album was that great, bar a handful of tracks. They released an album called Man On The Run in 2014, but I didn't bother with it, as I'd pretty much lost interest in the band. That leads us up to this new album Black and White Rainbows.

Although I'd become disillusioned with Bush, I decided to give them another shot and check out Black And White Rainbows. To be completely honest, I really shouldn't have bothered. The opening track has the annoying chorus lyrics "I've still got mad love for you, baby". Is that supposed to be Gavin Rossdale bearing his soul? Does this man, who's now in his 50's, communicate like a teenager from a Hip Hop band? He sounds like a geography teacher trying to be 'down with the kids', and ending up being utterly cringe-worthy.

There are fifteen tracks on here in total, and I've listened to the whole thing twice now. The sad thing is that I can't really remember any of the songs. They used to have such catchy singles in the past, but there's nothing on here to rival Swallowed, Greedy Fly or any of the classics. It's all just so pedestrian. There are no heavy Grunge guitars, or memorable riffs, it's just seems like an endless mire of dreary slow Indie songs that have no bite. The closest they get is probably Dystopia, but even that song wouldn't make it onto a greatest hits album.

In short, I thought Black And White Rainbows was really disappointing. It lacks catchy singles and is pretty boring. It's a shame as I really wanted to like it too. I guess I'll stick with their earlier material.