Now that I've got that out of my system I'll carry on with the review. Let's start with how amazing SHINee are, they're a Korean, 5 member boy idol group of awesomeness and Sherlock is their 4th mini-album. After spending so much time in Japan I was expecting an album of full-blown epics, but all we got was this 7 track mini. But I'll live.
I heard the title track as soon as it came out because I'm a pretty hardcore fan and I've loved it since. The almost erotic whispering at the beginning and the explosive rap where just beyond amazing. And it has such a catchy curious. From now on, whenever I get curious about something I burst out into song. It has got a really good beat with lots of variety in it but I must ask, why does it sound like a kettle whistling in the background? It is probably my ONLY complaint about the song.
But for you to buy the CD you have to like that song because it's called 'Sherlock (Clue+Note)' because it's a hybrid of two other tracks, Clue and Note. So, out of 7 tracks, for three of them to be almost the same is really disappointing, especially as Clue and Note are no where near as good as Sherlock. You have to be a proper fan (like I am) to appreciate this is as a CD. There's also the track 'Alarm Clock' which I didn't like. It's fairly bland and just has the beat all the way through! It's not even a good beat, in fact it's a bit irritating....
But all hope is not lost!! Stranger is a particularly strong song. A dance beat with some sexy vocals, it really makes me feel like dancing around. It is also quite unique sounding, especially for SHINee.
'The Reason' and 'Honesty' and both pretty emotional. The reason has some really good guitar riffs and a beautiful string section, it just becomes more powerful as it goes on and dies away peacefully. This track is especially good for their group vocals, they do have some outstanding solos in it, but their harmonies in this track are beyond amazing, they fit together so perfectly! And Honesty is a really sweet song with calming voices and an acoustic feel. It all sounds so happy and sincere and the rap is so subtle. It did lack a bit of variety but it gets better when you find out that Jonghyun wrote the lyrics for this song as a thanks to all his fans!!
Sherlock may only have 7 tracks, but it does have 6 photo books to make up for it. Each member has his own book of photos and theirs a group one. Even with all this space, there appears to be no lyrics, which I think is very unusual. Instead there's just a lot of shirtless SHINee. Now, I can't honestly say I have a problem with shirtless SHINee, but since it looks like they put as much effort into photos as they did in the music it's almost like SM are trying to sell SHINee as page 3 boys rather than artists. Which is a shame because I KNOW that these boys are talented, but this mini-album seems to put too much stress on their image. But I have to admit, they are filled with a lot of brilliant photos. They really are a beautiful bunch of boys!!
But honestly, no matter how hard I try I am still biased to SHINee. I must admit, if your not obsessive then 7 tracks a 6 booklets is probably a waste of money.... Even if those photo books are full of wondrous photo-shoots and the tracks are full of dazzling talent. So yes SHINee are amazing and pretty and talented. Sherlock is a brilliant single, but the mini-album is decisively lacking. It's priceless to me despite it's flaws and I will love it forever. However, I must rate it away from the obsessive fan that I am....
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