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Fresh out of the studio and ready to mean business, New York City based Diana & The Gentle Men released their brand new album The Bad and the Beautiful on 22nd September 2023. Having only been out for less than 5 days, already this record is bringing such a blessing to my days.
Consisting of 10 phenomenal songs, The Bad and The Beautiful mixes together beautiful honest songwriting, warm and inviting vocals and a rhythm that takes captive of your mind while making you fall for the music and world of Diana & The Gentle Men in a heartbeat.
I think as far as this record goes, and the songs that are on offer any first time listener is certainly going to be spoilt for choice, so let us take a closer listen as we guide through just some of the hidden gems that The Bad and the Beautiful has to offer.
The album begins with opening track Lace Up Your Sneakers, which pulls you in and gets you swaying in next to no time, and when we hear the voice of Diana herself it just feels so inviting as you find yourself chanting along to the words “its never enough, its never enough darling”. Then when you hear that smooth and stylish guitar solo around the 2 minute 15 mark, oh my days it just puts you in the zone even more. Instrumental solos in the middle of any song always make my eyes light up anyway, but the way that Diana & The Gentle Men add their own flair and creative style to elevate the song even more, man, I have no hesitation listening to that kind of gold dust on repeat.
Based on this initial song, I have a good feeling about this record, so lets continue. After putting their best foot forward, next up on the track list is Dance Till Dawn, which just feels so dreamy especially when I hear the words “all you want to do, all you want to do is dance till dawn, and be famous” - real, poetic and you can’t help but smile.
Say that your in one those moods where you just want to live in the moment, watch the world pass by and feel like your embracing the free spirit in you, then Dance Till Dawn, for me especially would totally be my go to song. September has been a pretty intense month in general, so by hearing such stunning songs such as Dance Till Dawn takes those moments of stress and replaces them with peace, love and calm as the worries of the world just fizzle away.
I wont go through every song on the album one by one, because like any good writer I must also keep a little bit of the mystery back, and before you know it you find yourself automatically thinking about The Bad and the Beautiful.
What I will do instead is fast forward a little and pick out a few other good tracks to sink your teeth into especially if Lace Up Your Sneakers and Dance Till Dawn made you go ‘oooo’.
One song you need to make sure you do check out has to be Far Down The River. It has a generally folky appeal to it (not that is a bad thing) but also feels quite nostalgic and reminds me of the music of the 60s and 70s but transformed by a modern day twist. Lyrically too, again like the rest of the album up to now, Far Down The River continues to give us a grasp of Diane’s identity as a song writer. The words ‘half a glass of moonshine, a can of gasoline’ are honestly the best words I have ever heard in a song. They might sound random to an outsider looking in, but when you step further Diane and The Gentlemen have this skillful art within their DNA where everything they attempt within their creative minds just works so well.
Another song definitely worth checking out which I would class as the dark horse of the album, would be Sugarcane - its dark, mysterious and full of character. It is also a good song for really getting up close and personal with Diane’s approach to songwriting - ‘like sugarcane, its a simple way to love’ again another example of those nuggets of goodness which exist within the music of The Bad and the Beautiful album.
I will leave it there for now and leave the rest for you to discover yourself. For now as I look back on this album as a whole, everything I have just listened to has just left me impressed. All ten songs on The Bad and the Beautiful have their own intrinsic qualities, and I see this album as the gift that keeps on giving. This record may have only been released less than a week ago, but I have a good feeling that it will continue to have such a positive and lasting impression with every music lover who puts their faith in this magnificent body of music.
Available on all major platforms, The Bad and the Beautiful is something not something you want to miss out on so stop what your doing and go give it a spin right now.
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Article By Thushara Chandrasiri
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