Ours - Precious
(Dreamworks)
3 stars (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: Dec. 27, 2002
Review by Tony Bonyata
On the alternative quintet Ours' second full-length release Precious, New Jersey bandleader Jimmy Gnecco has once again offered up a sumptuous collection of impassioned numbers that walk the line between pop, middle-of-the-road alternative rock and '80s goth rock.
With a remarkable voice that blends some of the strengths of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, U2's Bono, Robert Smith from The Cure and, at times, even Queen's Freddie Mercury, Gnecco provides a wide range of emotions throughout, giving the album a broad sense of operatic vision and texture.
One of the weaknesses of the band, however, lies in their own lack of musical identity. Big '80s guitar on "If Flowers Turn" hearken back to the glory days of The Cure, while the the underlying fingerprints of U2 and early Radiohead can be detected on virtually every number.
From the spiraling guitars on "Kill The Band," fervent vocals on the punchy track "Realize" and ska guitar-line on "In A Minute" to the lush cover of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" and the fragile "Broken," that witnesses Gnecco's vocals taking flight midsong, Ours still proves, however, that they have a lot more potential than most other new alt-rock bands following in the footsteps of giants.