Most of the tracks are sunny and light pop songs interspersed with occasional forays into sappy and sentimental territory. The best of them are mellow soundtracks to sitting around a pool and drinking margaritas, but a few have a little more bite. My favorite is "Star Called Sun" because of its infectious rhythm, tight arrangement, and subtle keyboard fuzz. A nice arrangement transforms "Jesse James" from a wistful ballad into a punchy rock song. "Mr. Suicide" is also pretty good, this time with otherworldly keyboards providing the melody. "Ugly Babylon" has a similar feel but is driven by a slithering bass line.
Some of the slower songs hinder the album with their gentle longings, sweet talk, and lackadaisical bliss. A couple of the songs in this style, like "Bosphorus" and "Taksim," are decent contrasts to the rest of the material, but after a while they clutter the album. Some, like the title track, "Madelena," and "Lena," are simply momentum killers. Then there are a handful of songs that are merely ordinary. I hesitate to call them generic because most of them are well-written and have nice arrangements even if they’re not terribly memorable.
Because lesser groups have made careers out of worse material, it would be a disservice to Brazzaville to dismiss them out of hand without acknowledging how catchy some of these songs are. I prefer the more energetic songs overall, and it is a shame that there aren’t more of them.
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