Artist:  OK Go

OK Go's latest album

Album:  Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

If nothing else OK Go will be know as the band that did that treadmill video.  Admittedly I downloaded the single for that song, ‘Here We Go,’ and left it at that.  Then at the end of last year Amazon listed the whole album ‘Oh No’ for five dollars and after listening to previews I decided to go ahead and download it.  I was pleasantly surprised at how catchy the album was.

When this album was released I had some download credits to burn.  Apparently ‘Oh No’ made enough of an impression on me as I downloaded this one with no hesitation and no prior information.

Review following the break.

I’ve listened to the album several times now and I’m still wrapping my head around some of it.  The music itself is straightforward, the real questions revolve around some of the choices the band has made.  I can’t say the band it taking it in a new direction.  This is their third full length album and only the second one I’ve listened to so any discussion around ‘direction’ would be presumptive at best.

After listening to the first two or three tracks the first time I wondered if Prince had gone through another name change.  Roughly the first half of the album sounds like late 80′s Prince.  In doing some research later I have found that this was quite intentional on the band’s part.   In this they absolutely succeed.  It could be argued they are ripping off a sound, but I believe they are paying heartfelt tribute to Prince and putting their own touches in the music.  I can get behind that, especially if it is done right and they do it right for the most part.

Then the album takes a left turn towards Albuquerque. Track 9 ‘Before the Earth Was Round’ is pretty minimal affair highlighted by Auto Tuned vocals.  Track 10 takes on a piano and guitar driven ballad.  Track 11 ‘Back From Kathmandu’ takes a page straight out of the late 60′s Beatles catalog.  The last two tracks on the album, ‘While You Were Asleep’ and ‘In The Glass,’ brings the band full circle employing sounds that would blend in quite well on their first album.

So how does the change up in style affect the over all structure of the album.  To be quite honest I was not impressed with the album the first time I listened to it.  Where they paid tribute to Prince works well, but it didn’t immediately grab me as something that I would want to listen to repeatedly.  Of the last four tracks ‘Back From Kathmandu’ was an immediate favorite, but the other tracks were forgettable.  Having listened to it a few times since then it has grown on me.  However it doesn’t rank high on replayability in my book.  There are a few tracks that I will come back to, but on the whole the album kind of leaves me in a kind of listener’s limbo not really liking or disliking it.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Playability factor:  60%