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| Editors |
 Line-up:Tom Smith - Vocals / Guitar Chris Urbanowicz - Guitar Russell Leetch - Bass Guitar Ed Lay - Drums "Editors sound more like the Bunnymen than, say, Joy Division. Yes, singer Tom Smith has a similar icy vocal style to Joy Division's Ian Curtis and Interpol's Paul Banks. And yes, we know that in the last year or so you've heard this all before. But Editors are different. One moment they can be volatile and jagged (like Joy Division) and the next, gorgeous and beautiful (like the Bunnymen), but all done in their own way rather than relying on some revival trend. (...) Editors have more promise than bands they're lumped in with, such as Maximo Park and the Futureheads (who come across as contrived), because it's great pop music with edge."
-- Scott Kara, New Zealand Herald
"Birmingham may not be a traditional breeding ground of musical pioneers like some cities, but from an early stage Brum-based Editors have justifiably forged a place in the collective consciousness. If there is any justice, their impressive debut album should establish them even further on the musical landscape. The record is an introspective so-called “dark disco” gem which blends their considered lyrics and racy electro-rock with front-man Tom Smith’s understated vocals. Feted as Britain’s answer to New York sophisticates Interpol (as well as drawing various comparisons to the ever-present Franz Ferdinand) they have produced a debut which mixes the careworn and the optimistic, producing a collection of head-jamming songs which beautifully compliment each other."
-- Layne Lomax, dudesweet.org
  ½ 2005:
The Back Room "Sure, The Editors are a bit dour, what with songs like Blood and Bullets and Fall sporting baleful themes. And the oft-noted similarity between them and Interpol will be apparent to listeners on the near-instant basis of the bands' singers, who share a bellowy, stentorian voice, which means, really, that both are fond of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. The Editors, in fact, come closer to Joy Division (geographically they're nearly kin, being from Manchester). Deploying an instrumental color palette of their dark early-80s predecessors, The Editors win with chiming guitar work--as on Someone Says, which shifts rhythms a la Interpol even while sounding wider-ranged and better-lit. Vocally, Tom Smith can wobble the edges with tremors of urgency stoked by Chris Urbanowicz's guitar atmospherics and occasional outbursts. Fingers in the Factories, a lyrically mirthless little number that interjects a stellar combo of simple beat and bright-toned guitars to charge up the labor-related lyrics, driving Smith to an emotional charge, something that lots of post-Echo and the Bunnymen ensembles have difficulty doing convincingly. The Editors manage energy in the service of drama, a near-necessity in rock."
-- Andrew Bartlett, amazon.com
 ½
2007:
An End Has A StartTracklisting: 1. Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors 2. An End Has A Start 3. The Weight Of The World 4. Bones 5. When Anger Shows 6. The Racing Rats 7. Push Your Head Towards The Air 8. Escape The Nest 9. Spiders 10. Well Worn hand "'Someone hit the light' beseeches Tom Smith in the title track of his band’s new album, and well he might, for Editors are clearly still living in a world in which the dawn of redemption stubbornly refuses to arrive. Thankfully, the song An End Has A Start is the identical twin of Munich, thanks to its shimmering guitar line, the chill of inevitable downfall in its lyrics, and even its track-placing at numero dos on the LP. It’ll also send an electric charge into the spines of anyone with a liking for the darkest corner of their local indie disco’s dancefloor. (...) Editors have plenty of time ahead of them for their sound to evolve; for now, we should be glad that they’re clearly the best band of their generation at producing soundscapes of desolation that are also catchy enough to feature on Radio 1. The Racing Rats is just one of a few perfect examples of this on their new album. Surprise surprise, there is no sign of them producing a latter-day Shiny Happy People just yet. In the likes of Bones and lead single Smokers At The Hospital Doors, the quartet who met at Staffordshire University continue to play to their main strength: firing out chiming daggers of guitar resonance that only gleam all the more poignantly through the production work of Jacknife Lee. And, of course, for all the sense of desperation in their music, there’s still that all important hint of hope lurking somewhere, as Smith reassures us that ‘Every little piece of your life will mean something to someone’ in The Weight of the World. The suspicion remains that Editors are not quite as proficient at moments of slower pace, and compared to their debut LP ‘The Back Room’, there are perhaps a few less songs that would be classed as absolute stonkers. Nevertheless, as comebacks go, ‘An End Has A Start’ will certainly do nicely."
-- Rob Hastings, artrocker.com, 6/07
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