The Beat Surrender

“Great big no-nonsense, giant chorused music for the masses, with glorious hooks and choruses that anyone can hum”. This opening line of their press release sums up this album, minus the “glorious”!!

It’s difficult to dislike this London four piece. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the collection of songs here but on the other hand, there’s nothing right about them either.
‘Alive’ kicks things off with the big progressive guitar sound and yearning vocals from songwriters Tim Eyles and Mick Beirne respectively and the following six tunes all sound the same as the last. ‘Tonight’ was reviewed on these very pages as the single which preceded this album. To be fair they could have chosen any of them, including title track ‘Do It Like You Mean It’, which I’m afraid doesn’t feel like they’re doing at all.

‘Ba Ba Song’ is imaginatively named due to the “Ba Ba, Ba Ba Da” chorus and by ‘Take What You Want’ I’m struggling to listen on. Instantly over familiar ‘By My Side’ is a more welcome change of pace, before a selection of chugging guitars and fast drum rolls takes us on a punk by numbers medley, beginning with ‘Going Out’.

Finally, the album closes with ‘Harmonica Song’ and I’m sure you can guess what’s going on there! Complete with it’s drawn out “Goodbye” refrain, I’m afraid it really is a welcome sound.

The Random have already built up a live fan base and I’m sure they will appeal to some if they catch a break, just not through originality or innovation.