Self-released, 12 May 2023
Bad Secret is a favorite of mine. I consistently sing their praises and have yet to hear a song from them that rattled my faith. Anyone who hasn’t heard Demo-ONE or Vinyl-ONE needs to track those albums down. In between multi-song releases, the band has delivered a few singles covers that left me scratching my head until I heard Bad Secret’s actual take. I mean, covering Billy Joel’s “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”? I admit to enjoying a bit of Billy Joel (yea, come at me), but I try not to go public with that information too often. And yet Bad Secret absolutely destroyed it. Then they covered Fitness’ “Matter of Tyme”, another shocker to me that turned out amazing. Now, they’ve delivered another why-would-you-do-that cover. “First Tyme” is a cover of a song by Lifehouse, a band I completely forgot existed.
So I went and listened to the original Lifehouse song and remembered it (and remembered dismissing it as boring modern rock). And then I listened to Bad Secret’s “First Tyme”. The arrangement holds tight to the original, but it buzzes with an electricity to “Metal” Don Egan’s guitars that feels supercharged. And they keep the vocals (and vocal hooks) at the forefront. Beau’s vocals sound terrific (when haven’t they?) and are staying in my brain long after the first listen. I must be a sucker. In Bad Secret’s hands, I enjoyed the song. It’s less produced and polished than the original, and as a result it feels less cheesy. But otherwise, it’s a straight-faced take. I always talk about how lofi/raw recordings are a-okay by me if the songs are good, but I suppose Bad Secret is on a mission to remind me that hi-gloss mainstream/pop recordings are a-okay if the songs are good, too. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my being. Anyway, well done Bad Secret.
- Album Release Date: 12 May 2023
- Purchase/Pre-Order/Pre-Save: Bandcamp
First Impressions are whiz-bang reviews of singles, 7″s, EPs, and LPs which are given a review after a single listen. This is a great way for TGEFM to showcase some of the releases which may not get a full review on their own.
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ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
