Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
“It’s gonna be whatever you want to make of it,” warns the silver-tongued narrator on the opening of Good Charlotte’s ‘Motel Du Cap’. While in the guise of a hotel check in, that phrase would be a little bit ominous to hear, but in the context of a comeback-after-a-comeback from the Madden Brothers, it’s actually reassuring. You won’t like everything on this album, loosely based on their time on holiday at the eponymous resort in the South of France, but you’ll definitely like at least something on their first collection of songs in eight years. It’s by no means a bad album, and definitely an appropriate one from a band in their late forties, but by trying to bring together so many different ideas, it emerges as a piecemeal stream of where Good Charlotte are at. Whichever aspects of what they’re trying to do that lights your fire could well save this album in your estimation, but they might be tough to find.
Let’s talk influences. ‘Rejects’ and ‘Stepper’ could be Weezer songs, which is either a huge compliment or a condemnation depending on your view of Rivers Cuomo and co. In terms of being evocative of chilling on the beach, this early pair on the album are a great picture of where Good Charlotte were at emotionally and physically when writing, and they make for great holiday listening. The ballad-lite styling of ‘I Don’t Work Here Any More’ would have been perfect for Good Charlotte in the noughties pop-punk anti-work heyday, and Joel Madden croons through the power strings with the best of them in a song that would have been a total anthem in the era of, well, ‘The Anthem’. It’s incongruous hearing someone who’s been a professional musician for thirty years talking about ‘throw away your uniform’ as if he’s been working a fast food job though.
The guest artists are an interesting bunch. Wiz Khalifa drops in for the very laid back ‘Life Is Great’, another very pop holiday song with strong echoes of Cuomo, and indie pop darling Zeph elevates the lo-fi-cute of ‘Pink Guitar’. No one could have expected Good Charlotte to go country, but Luke Borchelt’s guest track, ‘Deserve You’, works, its unexpected cowboy acoustic energy casting a sunset warmth over the tracklist. Undoubtedly the standout is ‘Vertigo’ with Petti Hendrix; his vocals add a much needed injection of excitement, pushing the Good Charlotte sound in a Kenny Hoopla direction which is genuinely original and interesting.
The sentiment drifting through the dreamlike ‘The Dress Rehearsal’ is lovely, of course, in it’s recollections of fatherhood, but it presents us with a dilemma. Any pretensions to punk have been dropped at this point in Good Charlotte’s career, with a focus on the mellow end of their hard-won comfort pushing it’s way to the front of their songwriting. On one hand, if they were still singing about the “Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous”, it would be slightly embarrassing, and we expect every band to back off a tad as they age (see: the Dropkick Murphys’ acoustic efforts). On the other, ‘Motel Du Cap’ represents McFly levels of soft, pop marshmallow treats wrapped up with a cute bow. Some fire, or some sarcasm, would have been perfect, but the celebratory tone of ‘GC Forever’ is at least an acknowledgement of the path they’ve trodden.
However, if you’re into any of the guests, or the softer end of the pop-punk resurgence, or looking for an album to soundtrack your pop-punk summer holidays, then ‘Motel Du Cap’ will work for you. If you’re looking for a bounce, or anything with the punch of Good Charlotte’s first hits, then you’ll have to wait a bit longer.
KATE ALLVEY
Let’s talk influences. ‘Rejects’ and ‘Stepper’ could be Weezer songs, which is either a huge compliment or a condemnation depending on your view of Rivers Cuomo and co. In terms of being evocative of chilling on the beach, this early pair on the album are a great picture of where Good Charlotte were at emotionally and physically when writing, and they make for great holiday listening. The ballad-lite styling of ‘I Don’t Work Here Any More’ would have been perfect for Good Charlotte in the noughties pop-punk anti-work heyday, and Joel Madden croons through the power strings with the best of them in a song that would have been a total anthem in the era of, well, ‘The Anthem’. It’s incongruous hearing someone who’s been a professional musician for thirty years talking about ‘throw away your uniform’ as if he’s been working a fast food job though.
The guest artists are an interesting bunch. Wiz Khalifa drops in for the very laid back ‘Life Is Great’, another very pop holiday song with strong echoes of Cuomo, and indie pop darling Zeph elevates the lo-fi-cute of ‘Pink Guitar’. No one could have expected Good Charlotte to go country, but Luke Borchelt’s guest track, ‘Deserve You’, works, its unexpected cowboy acoustic energy casting a sunset warmth over the tracklist. Undoubtedly the standout is ‘Vertigo’ with Petti Hendrix; his vocals add a much needed injection of excitement, pushing the Good Charlotte sound in a Kenny Hoopla direction which is genuinely original and interesting.
The sentiment drifting through the dreamlike ‘The Dress Rehearsal’ is lovely, of course, in it’s recollections of fatherhood, but it presents us with a dilemma. Any pretensions to punk have been dropped at this point in Good Charlotte’s career, with a focus on the mellow end of their hard-won comfort pushing it’s way to the front of their songwriting. On one hand, if they were still singing about the “Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous”, it would be slightly embarrassing, and we expect every band to back off a tad as they age (see: the Dropkick Murphys’ acoustic efforts). On the other, ‘Motel Du Cap’ represents McFly levels of soft, pop marshmallow treats wrapped up with a cute bow. Some fire, or some sarcasm, would have been perfect, but the celebratory tone of ‘GC Forever’ is at least an acknowledgement of the path they’ve trodden.
However, if you’re into any of the guests, or the softer end of the pop-punk resurgence, or looking for an album to soundtrack your pop-punk summer holidays, then ‘Motel Du Cap’ will work for you. If you’re looking for a bounce, or anything with the punch of Good Charlotte’s first hits, then you’ll have to wait a bit longer.
KATE ALLVEY