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2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Intelligence insulting drivel - for girls. Feb 13, 2009
Musical historians in the year 3000, when tunes are beamed directly into our heads and we all drive rocket cars to the moon at weekends, will one day pour over our collective listening tastes, nodding wisely at the likes of Prince and Bowie, wondering exactly what the hell turned hip-hop from the genuine voice of the streets into the bling-obsessed mumblings of morons, and when they finally come across this album, even though they're now devoid of primitive rage and anger, will instantly crush it under their bootheels and go out and commit mass murder. Such is the effect of Scouting For Girls.
Want to know a secret? I'm actually a bit of a sucker for piano-based pop songs. A sweet melody, a catchy chorus and a decent bit of ivory tickling and The Curmudgeon's usually hard heart will melt in his chest. And yet this album, complete with "catchy" (in the same way that AIDS is catchy) choruses and a barrage of piano throughout, doesn't melt my heart. Instead it makes me want to stick a pick-axe into the pudgy, smug face of the lead singer, who's name I couldn't even be bothered to look up for this review.
That's how bland and pointless this band are. It doesn't even matter who's singing when the songs are as inoffensive, bland and lightweight as this. "Girls are nice. I like girls" - that's pretty much it for the entire album, which would be OK if any of the songs had actually anything to SAY, even if they were just playing it for laughs. But there's no wit, imagination or depth to any of these lyrics.
Scouting For Girls have created a record seemingly designed for an alternate, backwards universe; sweet becomes cloying and saccharine, catchy becomes irritating, fun becomes the aural equivalent of drinking cement.
So what is it that's so offensive about this innofensive music? Well, for starters, there's about four or five songs here that sound EXACTLY the same. Not just "similar" - you could cut and paste the lyrics from each song into one another and you wouldn't notice the difference. This, from a one-hit novelty dance act keen to cash in on their success is expected; from a supposedly "genuine" band it shows a frightening lack of invention and effort, a real "yeah, that worked last time" approach.
"Elvis Ain't Dead, (But You'll Wish You Were After This") is an appalling stain of a song; mirthless and beyond trite, yet even that isn't the worst offender here. It's not even "I Wish I Was James Bond", a song even more empty headed than its title. It is, of course, their biggest (I'll go out on a limb here and say ever) hit, "She's So Lovely." No song in the world should be so wretchedly shallow and banal without some due punishment, and no band in the world should repeat the words "I Think That You Are Lovely" without a stake being driven through their black hearts.
There's a scene in the Simpson's that mocks the cosy, vomit-inducing world of Rom-Com's, with a film called "Love Is Nice." Scouting For Girls have just created the soundtrack to that film.
Scouting For Girls is, of course, Music For Girls. Talk about being short changed. I dunno; pregnancy, periods, rape and now a Scouting For Girls album. Is there no end to your suffering?
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Party Poopers Oct 26, 2008
There's a kind of grim, depressing inevitability about this.
It's like the stone thrown up by a lorry that hits YOUR windscreen or you agonizingly realising that brown lump under your shoe isn't a dropped Mars bar or some clogged up leaves....
'SFG' works like this; something hurtles towards you, you think it's gonna be really painful and bad......and it is.
Apart from giving me the raving needle, there is SO much fundamentally wrong with 'SFG'. It doesn't work on ANY level, it can't be sympathetically reviewed in any context, even sarcastically.
It's a flat, eggy pancake of an album. It's a desperate worry as to what kind of rhino-headed cabbage would consider that this in any way resembles good music. It scores nought in the melody stakes, nought on the lyrical scale, but it wins handsomely the plankton-would-find-it-insulting league.
They've tried desperately to produce it to decency, but underneath the surface shininess the cracks are showing all over the place.
The workings of this particular trick are wonderfully/horribly visible, involving that heady and ghastly notion that endurance and hard work are in some way substitutes for talent and colour.
'SFG' are grey and dour. Maladjusted socially inadequate noodles who are touring the country as I type, under the grotesque disillusion that they are in some way a pop group. Their debut album indicates otherwise;
'She's So Lovely' is a disgrace of a song. 'James Bond' has lyrics a sub-literate loonie could better, and probably worst of all (an accolade I suspect it knows it deserves) 'Elvis Ain't Dead' - a despicable runt of a tune, operose and overweening, twitches to death right at the albums heart.
Enough. 'SFG' is a somnifacient disaster. It has an air of resigned failure akin to that of a one-legged cricket in a field full of crows.
The Amazon night vista is despairingly star-less for this one, that's why I really wanted to like it - blow a contrary wind and all that, but not even in a satirical sense could you award this desperation anything other than one appalling star.
And that's the worst name for a pop group since Heloise and the Savoir Faire.
0 of 5 found the following review helpful:
...oh come now...this is just being silly... May 17, 2008
...now I know I know...living in the UK doesn't give me any right on deciding whether this is good or not...but this is entirely my opinion...
...I heard one song from this band entirely through coincidence and unlike some shallow minded music lovers who like artistic and spontaneous noise and listen to nothing but that...I found it reasonably acceptable...I do listen to simple music if the hook is interesting enough and I feel there is enough variety on the plate...the singer has a high voice and the guitars were reasonably atmospheric (for the genre...but I won't bring other genres into this)...
...however; I then realised after listening to the next two singles (and later on a sampled version of the album from a certain site that I won't advertise) that every song sounds the same...the recurring theme is that they seem to be "Scouting for girls" (surprise surprise) and every single song is about how great the girl he's found is there...but of course once one track ends and they move onto the next track he has found a new girl that he is completely in love with and no girl will ever make him feel the same yada yada...
...and yes the choruses at times are somewhat catchy but once enough of the choruses have been shoved down your throat you are at gagging point because it's too much to bare...they can't write a song that isn't reliant on a massive chorus and therefore if the chorus fails the rest of the song seems very pointless...
...this album has two formulas for stucture and theme they are:
1. Structure: Verses small, Choruses explode (failure ratio 2:3)
2. Theme: The I'm in love with a girl formula which has had some interesting twists on it varying through emo all the way to some metal, prog, electronica, new romantic...in fact...every genre...(failure ratio 5:7)
...and to clear up any discrepancies of what the genre is...it is certainly NOT indie...and it's Britpop...since when did having an English accent during singing make you indie?
...this is recommended to people who enjoy this sort of music...if you already listen to music with catchy hooks or choruses then by all means buy it...but you may need a large attention span if you wish to listen to the same atmosphere and theme over and over again...to each their own however...
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 SCOUTING FOR GIRLS PUTS OUT GREAT POP WITH CATCHY HOOKS!!! Apr 19, 2008
I first heard "Elvis Ain't Dead" on a Virgin Radio stream and immediately felt the need to own it. The vocals are engaging, the sentiments are wonderful and the hook is unbelievably perfect. I wound up buying the single, and then the single of "She's So Lovely" and the single of "It's Not About You". I did NOT buy the complete cd initially because it was way more expensive than it is now...but when I saw the price of the followup single "Heartbeat" I decided to fork out the big bucks and put all of my eggs in one basket. The result is one of the most satisfying musical experiences I've had in a decade. Scouting For Girls are very British and very upbeat. They have some noun/tense problems in their lyrics that drive me mad (e.g.: "she's so extraordinary/she left last January/and that's the reason I miss you so"), but apart from that they have the most amazing hooks which get me up and positive and singing on the top of my lungs. In my car and in my house I find myself singing "Heartbeat" more than any other song...what a breath of fresh air these guys are...I can hardly wait for them to release something else. IF you are afraid to take a chance on bands you don't know much about this is the one to relax and get your feet wet with...RUN to to the end of the diving board and jump off without a care in the world. I promise you that you will have a smile on your face from the moment this cd hits the deck.
 Very Nice Mar 10, 2008
This album is really nice, To make it clear for the American audience it would be kind of a mixture between Ben Folds and the Gin Blossoms on their own Indie style.
Most songs are really happy and optimistic and releases a very nice vibe with every chord. Compositions are very nice and well arranged. For the audiophiles, you will really enjoy the mixing and mastering in this album cause everything sounds right in place.
This album has been doing great in the U.K. and its considered among the best albums of 2007.
My girlfriend recommend me this album since she is English and she was totally right. If you want something easy to listen, contemporary and very interesting don't miss this one. You will be very pleased.
My favorite songs are:
Keep on Walking
The airplane song
I need a holiday
Heartbeat
She is so lovely
Other recommended albums from the best U.K. Releases lately:
The hoosiers "the trick to life"
The Pigeon Detectives "Wait for me"
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