Yes, I realise this review is about 3 years late, but I just bought the whole album so I thought I may as well review it.
Push The Button is a strange album. Despite being the Chems' most commercially successful release, it is regarded by the vast majority of Chemical Brothers fans as their least favourite. I bought the album mainly to investigate how the fuck that managed to happen.
We open up with the first single Galvanize, with vocals from rapper Q-Tip, which is a great track serves as a great opener to both an album or a live set, but really kind of overstays its welcome, the album version clocking in at 6 minutes. Luckily, the next track The Boxer more than makes up for this, with a blinding lead synth, great guest vocals from The Charlatans' Tim Burgess and a squelching dub bassline. I like to think of Galvanize and The Boxer as like neighbors, the latter being a genuinely good friend and the former being that annoying guy across the street that you invite to your party just out of politeness but who just keeps on talking and refuses to leave.
But enough metaphors, on with the review. Next up we have the gigantic, acid tinged stomper Believe. This is an all-out audio assault, a banging drumbeat, screeching electro-shock synths and amazing vocal work from Bloc Party's Kele Okereke. Hmmm.... Anyone else noticing a pattern here? You may have guessed so far that the main focus of this album is guest vocalists. Not necessarily a bad thing, but to be honest, you buy dance music for the beats, not the lyrics. The album is amazingly mixed by the Brothers too, the transition between Believe and Hold Tight London (which contains, surprise surprise, more guest vocals, this time from Anna Lynne) is so seamless you can barely tell where one song ends and another begins.
Just in case you die-hard Chemical-heads aren't feeling this album so far, the boys have snuck in a little gem that's a bit more like their older stuff. This track is Come Inside, a good old Big Beat tune with great guitar and bass lines. And guess what? No guest vocalists on this one, or on the following track The Big Jump!
After that, we return to the guest-star pattern a couple more times, with the next two tracks, anti-war rap anthem Left Right and heartfelt ballad Close Your Eyes, being sung by Anwar Superstar and indie band The Magic Numbers resectively. But then, the final three tracks don't rely on vocals too much. Shake Break Bounce, with its steady beat and mandolin samples, is a well executed track (it was also featured in a car commercial). We then transition into Marvo Ging. I'm still trying to assess exactly which genre this track falls into. This oddball is equal parts electronica and country rock. That's a weird combo...
Finally we close, with the 7-minute house track Surface To Air. This is the way you should close an album, with something epic that touches your heart without relying too heavily (or at all in this case) on vocals.
Yes, Push The Button is an odd album, but just because it's not an instant classic doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
I give The Chemical Brothers' "Push The Button"4 stars!
For fans of:
Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Basement Jaxx, Bob Sinclar
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