I have three Atmosphere albums - Godlovesugly, Seven's Travels and When Life Gives You Lemons... , their most recent back when I was getting into them. A week after I found Godlovesugly in London I found this copy in Spillers in the hip-hop section, which I didn't check out anywhere near as frequently as I ought to have during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year. I had been enjoying Godlovesugly and was easily convinced by the limited edition coloured vinyl.
When Life Gives You Lemons... is a mixed bag for me. Much like the other two albums of theirs I have, there are some great songs - really genuinely brilliant rap songs. But, like the other two, there are far too many songs and a few of them that are either really annoying or really unnecessary. Case in point is the opening duo: Like the Rest of Us is both annoying and unnecessary and does nothing for me except to ruin the opening of the album; Puppets on the other hand is one of the best songs on the album and would make for a far better opener. If I'd heard Puppets as the first song on the first listen to this record, I'd have been in a much better mood than I was after hearing Like the Rest of Us. (Incidentally, Seven's Travels tries that approach with Trying to Find a Balance as the first proper song. The result is that the rest of the album can't hold up what they've started, so maybe there's method in their madness).
There are some other interesting moments on the album - Dreamer is a fine example of Slug crafting a rich story (which makes for a pleasant change to his usual self-loathing), Your Glass House is a bleak tale that most people can relate to a bit and Guarantees is the highlight of the second record by a long way. Wild Wild Horses and The Waitress are good songs too.
What it comes down to, I suppose, is that I'm just not that much of a fan of Atmosphere. After this album I got Seven's Travels a few months later on cd and realised I should probably stop buying Atmosphere albums. I don't think they're incapable of writing an album of songs that I want to hear, I just don't think they're ever going to make such an album. And that's fine - it just means they're not the band for me.
Format: Double 12"
Tracks: 15
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 23/09/08
Colour: Yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: no
