Single Review by Mark Bayross
Filter’s rise to glory over the last year has been nothing short of meteoric. Album number two TITLE OF RECORD has enjoyed critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and deservedly so, while they have been selling out venues of increasing size and building a devoted following.
TAKE A PICTURE is the second single off the album and, given that it is the most accessible track on the record, they have shrewdly decided to release it now as their breakthrough into the mainstream. It has been bothering the charts stateside and has started to appear on UK TV recently too.
It is a pleasant enough excursion, a walk in the park compared to the brutal debut album SHORT BUS and some of the darker moments on TITLE OF RECORD. An acoustic strum traces out a pretty melody which builds into rousing power chords, with lyrics based on an event that singer Richard Patrick claims actually happened: an occasion when he took it upon himself to run amok naked on an airplane.
The single comes as two separate CDs: the first is backed by a couple of frankly rather ropey live renditions of their two best known songs – WELCOME OT THE FOLD and HEY MAN, NICE SHOT, plus a CD-Rom of the video.
The second CD has two remixes – the Hybrid Mix stretches it into trippy ambience à la Future Sound Of London, while the Rennie Pilgrem Mix comes across all big beat. It also comes with some rather fetching colour postcards with stills from the video.
What can I say? This has all the ingredients of a hit – and Richard Patrick knows it. If, like me, you hanker for something with a little more ‘bite’ from them, worry not – their next single is apparently going to be the fantastic THE BEST THINGS.
