He took EDM by storm with his previous effort 18 Months. It broke records and delivered some stunning tracks that are still played in clubs and festival sets. After setting the standard with that album, one wonders whether any of his next efforts could beat that?
The answer is that we’ve found it. Calvin’s latest album is already breaking records and is both rich in production and equally self-indulgent. Calvin puts in some tracks he really wanted to along with some that we can call ‘Those standard Calvin Harris tracks – On the edge of that thin line between EDM and Pop’.
Four tracks from the album were released as singles before the album. “Under Control” was pretty flawless, and easily one of the best tracks of last year and with Alesso and Calvin Harris producing, we knew much couldn’t go wrong.
“Summer” became one the most popular tracks of 2014. And rightly so, as Calvin sings and produces the track to glory. Put in a video with skinny girls and fast cars involving Jason Statham and there’s your winner.
“Outside” with Ellie Goulding was possibly the follow up to the very very good, ‘I Need Your Love’. The track seems an alright listen but you can’t help but think about their earlier collaboration and in comparison, this disappoints.
“Blame” was recently released and along with “Runaway” by Galantis, was probably the best progressive track in the past couple of months. John Newman’s vocals are simply perfect and you want to listen to this track over and over again.
“Open Wide” is basically a C.U.B.A remix with Big Sean rapping. The original is undoubtedly better but this is a brave effort that could have gone awry but ends up as a decent listen. Since the beats in the original were so good, it helps the track.
“HAIM” is featured on Pray to God, and it is exactly what you’d expect if you ever wished Calvin Harris to produce a slightly chill track. The vocals work perfectly and this ends up as a very groovy jam.
R3hab is featured on “Burnin” and you know what to expect when that guy is on a track. It is quite the big room festival track, with a heavily Deorro like sound to the drop. Everyone likes to slam a big room track that sounds just as bad as anything unoriginal, but this track will appeal to those who like the genre and make you wonder why these two hadn’t collaborated yet.
“Overdrive” is the collaboration with another smashing artist, Ummet Ozcan. This one’s a slightly heavy progressive house sound. It’s a pretty nicely done track and simple seems to be the formula here.
“Ecstasy” is the second track Theo from Hurts lends his voice to. This one is all about the vocals, and has literally nothing EDM. That’s probably the reason it works – because everything doesn’t have to be very EDM.
“Love Now” features All About She, and becomes that one club track all albums have. You could put this in the Nadia Ali and Inna category. Don’t be surprised if you hear this one playing in Sunday afternoon beach parties.
“Faith” is one of those tracks Calvin Harris was born to produce. Halfway through the album if you feel there isn’t much real old Calvin Harris stuff, this will make you feel much better about the album.
“Motion” and “Slow Acid” are pure self indulgence, but “Slow Acid” stands out as probably that one track you could have never imagined on a Calvin Harris record. It is literally slow addiction. The first time you listen, you’ll probably say ‘What the hell’, which will make you listen to it once more, and then you never stop listening.
“Dollar Signs” features Tinashe, who’s vocals seem perfectly okay, but are secondary to the main purpose of the track. This song is probably Calvin playing around with sounds called ‘Boring EDM’, except that this isn’t really boring, probably odd at most.
One of the newer permanent residents of Beatport Top 10, Firebeatz feature on “It Was You”, and if you had a doubt even for one second, let me dismiss it, this is definitely the Big Room monster Firebeatz specialize in.
Finally to the most exciting song – “Together” with yes, really, Gwen Stefani! Beginning of her comeback to Billboard Top Charts? Probably. Minimal track, focused more on her voice than anything else, and why not ?
Remember that this album is Calvin Harris pushing the envelope without really losing his midas touch. What everyone can do I can do better is probably what he’s saying. Simply for how much variety he brings to this and the quality in that variety, this album is that deserving follow up to 18 Months.
You can grab the album on iTunes.
– Review by Shantanu Puro
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