Palace - Binary Music

[Stefan]

The title track 'Binary Music'.

 

 

[simo]

Heard the title track yesterday, not that into it to be honest

[Crazysam]

11 hours ago, Stefan said:

The title track 'Binary Music'.

 

 

This song doesn't do much for me

[lettard]

Thought the worst upon reading the couple of comments but listened anyway...its alright for me,just sounds like something that would've been on the debut to me...which is what I expected.

[Crazysam]

3 hours ago, lettard said:

Thought the worst upon reading the couple of comments but listened anyway...its alright for me,just sounds like something that would've been on the debut to me...which is what I expected.

yeah, it's not a bad song, and musically it is in line with the debut, I think it's the lyrics that put me off on it, just couldn't get into it.  Or could be the shock of seeing him with all his hair cut off 

[The Rocker]

Meh

[Glen]

pass 

[tts42572]

Pretty meh.  

I liked a few songs off their debut but never enough to buy it.  This song is okay I guess but not really my tastes.

This will be a pass for me.

[Tabe]

I like it. A little heavy on the "whoa whoa" stuff but I like it. 

[crazynights]

I prefer Kryptonite and Cry of dawn ,where Mike is involved, than his solos stuff.

I agree with lettard, sometimes the sound became to much pop (to have and to hold ).for my taste.

 

[The Rocker]

10 hours ago, crazynights said:

I prefer Kryptonite and Cry of dawn ,where Mike is involved, than his solos stuff.

I agree with lettard, sometimes the sound became to much pop (to have and to hold ).for my taste.

 

The 2nd First Signal album.

[lettard]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 8:45 PM, Crazysam said:

 Or could be the shock of seeing him with all his hair cut off 

Least his was by choice by the looks...mine wasn't lol  

Edited October 27, 2018 by lettard

[Geoff]

Yep, ordinary to me too. Nice music track and verses but I agree with Crazysam that the lyrics are poor and the opposite of engaging. And the chorus is weak too. 

Isn't this a band, too? It's not just a solo project, as far as I knew, yet the videoclip contradicts that. 

[crazynights]

IT looks  like a solo project.

Mike sings and play all the instruments, eccept the drums (Flores).

 

[Kim_Hp]

I don't know what you guys are smoking, but I would sure like some of it.

This is stellar stuff, just like the debut was.

And yes, Geoff, this is basically a solo studio project of Michael Palace who produces and handles all of the instruments except the drums which are played by Daniel Flores. 

A shame that he decided to cut his hair off, he looks like a rapper on the back cover of the album now which kinda destroys the 80's feel of the entire thing.

[heavyharmonies]

First listen through... it's nowhere near as bad as The Geoffadillo claims, but then again he always has someone's penis in his ears.

That said, it's not as grabbing as the debut. Seems a bit disjointed stylistically as well. Depending on how it holds up on relistening, it might make honorable mention, but definitely not top 5 of 2018.

[The Rocker]

Wow, I found my "Most Disappointed" album of the year.

[Geoff]

2 hours ago, The Rocker said:

Wow, I found my "Most Disappointed" album of the year.

Penis' in my ears or not (and there are several), I think the album is awful. 'Love songs' is passable, but the rest is a super disappointing collection of crap. 'Julia' and 'To have and hold' try and salvage what is a wreck, right and the death, and if there were more like those it'd be an average to okay album... but instead it's just bad. 

[lettard]

Didn't mind it,even with all the 80's style pop involved,maybe a guilty pleasure,granted their are some terrible tunes on it though  

Edited December 8, 2018 by lettard

[Jez]

Varied in style and all the better for it.me likey

[lettard]

4 hours ago, Jez said:

Varied in style and all the better for it.me likey

Thank Christmas im not the only one 

[Kim_Hp]

23 hours ago, Geoff said:

Penis' in my ears or not (and there are several), I think the album is awful. 'Love songs' is passable, but the rest is a super disappointing collection of crap. 'Julia' and 'To have and hold' try and salvage what is a wreck, right and the death, and if there were more like those it'd be an average to okay album... but instead it's just bad. 

I honestly don't know what happened to you Geoff. Awful? Not even good? Decent? After having read your comments on these forums for many years and knowing that you're heavily into all the Scandi stuff (H.E.A.T., Miss Behaviour and so on), I would have thought you would be all over this stuff. Strange.

Maybe "Queen Of The Prom" is too "Queen" for people who are not fans of that band, but the rest? Where are these terrible tunes everyone is talking about? I sure know a terrible tune when I hear it but I sure haven't come across any on this album. Maybe there are hidden tracks?

And this talk about 80's pop...get real people. Yeah this is more high-tech AOR than the previous one, but never "pop". Not even close.

You guys stick to your One Desire's and Brother Firetribe's or other second rate 80's copycats and leave the real deal for us others to enjoy. Rant over!

 

[Geoff]

On 12/9/2018 at 9:37 AM, Kim_Hp said:

I honestly don't know what happened to you Geoff. Awful? Not even good? Decent? After having read your comments on these forums for many years and knowing that you're heavily into all the Scandi stuff (H.E.A.T., Miss Behaviour and so on), I would have thought you would be all over this stuff. Strange.

Maybe "Queen Of The Prom" is too "Queen" for people who are not fans of that band, but the rest? Where are these terrible tunes everyone is talking about? I sure know a terrible tune when I hear it but I sure haven't come across any on this album. Maybe there are hidden tracks?

And this talk about 80's pop...get real people. Yeah this is more high-tech AOR than the previous one, but never "pop". Not even close.

You guys stick to your One Desire's and Brother Firetribe's or other second rate 80's copycats and leave the real deal for us others to enjoy. Rant over!

 

Couple of threads on this album so just to quickly answer Dan & Karpethead's comment in the other thread - yes, I did like the debut. Granted, it's worth was probably over-inflated by the fact that 'Part of me' was one of my top 5 songs of 2016 and that song was worth the price of admission alone. But generally, it was quite a good melodic rock CD.

Anyway, Kim, your post seems to be directed at other people more than me (I haven't said anything at all about this being 80's pop - in fact, I wish it was as I'd probably like it more). And I certainly don't want to stick with Brother Firetribe as I quite disliked their last album in the end. Pain in the ass to listen too. However, One Desire's album does whole-heartedly slaughter this Palace album.

Anyway, to the comments directed at me. I do love Scandi stuff. Somehow, amidst the trainwreck that is the new TNT album, I have found myself loving 'We're gonna make it,' despite how far TNT have fallen. But you don't get more Scandi than that in 2018. But Palace? No, not to these ears. 

I don't think he/they've really changed anything drastically (except that awful Queen-esque song you mention - what rubbish). No, generally, he/they is still doing a similar thing. Only problem is, the songs are just really bad... imo, of course. 

Off the top of my head -

'Binary music' is actually a pretty decent tune... until the lyrics start. I just hate the lyrics on this tune and it entirely affects my enjoyment of the song. Okay tune; dreadful lyrics. 

'Tears of Gaia' - completely channeling his inner Gary Hughes here... but why? Has he not heard how awful Ten are? Not the type of band you want to be trying to sound like for a song, imo. Again, horrible lyrics and meaningless drivel. 

'Nothing personal' - actually, speaking of 80's pop, I guess I could see people comparing this to 80's pop. Another really poor, school-kid written type of tune with a very unpleasant boppy vibe... and again, lyrics that make you want to break some of your own bones so you can lend your attention elsewhere. 

'Promised land' - this is actually where I thought he was going to come good. This song is for the most part pretty good and I can't be too harsh on it... but the chorus is very weak and lets the whole thing down. Nothing too outrageous, just a bad chorus in an otherwise pretty decent song. 

'Love songs' - like I said, this one is pretty decent. Far from perfect, but pretty nice, catchy melodic rock / AOR. 

'Dangerous Grounds' - another okay/decent song, but the chorus loses me again. Just weak, over the top without consideration for a good hook, imo. 

'Queen of the prom' - if you're wondering where the terrible song is, the answer is right here. Disgraceful and doesn't gel at all with what this project has been about. 

'Who's counting time' - bland and weak as can be. Just a super weak, uninteresting and boring song. A put-to-sleeper for sure. 

'Julia' - as noted, it has it's moments. Okay melodic rock... but still missing the mark, imo. 

'To have and hold' - like the above track, it's almost there but just misses keeper status again. But the last two songs are the best two, after 'Love songs' imo. 

So there you have it, hope it explains a bit. Like I said; not major change in style for me but it's just a much weaker collection of poorly written songs, with really bad lyrics and poorly written hooks/melodies, imo. 

I'm glad for him that people disagree with me because there's a talent in there, but I don't think this is an album he will be overly proud of in years to come. 

[Kim_Hp]

9 hours ago, Geoff said:

Lots of text

Geoff, thanks for the reply. Yeah explains a bit, of course I don't agree but still.
And btw, as for the lyrics I've heard far far worse than what's on this CD. Poor AOR lyrics to me are like the ones that Wild Rose writes, this is like Shakespeare compared to that garbage. 

As for "Queen of the Prom" you will be intrested to know that it's Michael Palace´s own favorite song on this album, lol.

[Geoff]

9 hours ago, Kim_Hp said:

Geoff, thanks for the reply. Yeah explains a bit, of course I don't agree but still.
And btw, as for the lyrics I've heard far far worse than what's on this CD. Poor AOR lyrics to me are like the ones that Wild Rose writes, this is like Shakespeare compared to that garbage. 

As for "Queen of the Prom" you will be intrested to know that it's Michael Palace´s own favorite song on this album, lol.

Oh dear... that's not a good sign for future output.

Yeah, I agree that the lyrics in Wild Rose are really bad. Poorly written, but I guess in some stupid 12 year old part of your brain, they're still kind of "relatable." They are singing, very badly, about what other bands you can relate to sing about, and the general person relates to. It's just a shame they do it so badly. The difference on this album is that the lyrics are rubbish about pointless things I sure as hell don't know or care about, nor do I think many would eg. 'Binary Music,' 'Tears of Gaia,' 'Queen of the prom' etc. I don't really mind poor lyrics I can kind of relate to, but I just hate stupid stuff that you just can't gel with at all on any level. Just nonsense, imo.