FIFA 07 on the PlayStation 2. Think I played that game nearly every weekend, probably between October 2006 to whenever FIFA 08 came out the next year. The FIFA series as a whole introduced me to a lot of alternative music via the soundtracks on each annual iteration. ’07’s edition kept that train rolling. In 2006, I was already a full-blown indie kid, well in the depths of getting my music fix from places like MTV2, Kerrang! and so on. It was cool seeing Muse and Boy Kill Boy in FIFA 07’s soundtrack. But what was usually more satisfying were the songs playing in the background that would creep up on me, and to which I would eventually be singing along to ’cause I couldn’t help it. There were a lot of those on FIFA 07, might be one of the series’ best soundtracks actually. But there were only a small few where I thought, “I wouldn’t mind listening to these forever, thanks.” I’ve written about a couple of them before. The Sheer’s ‘Understand’ appears to be the last one to represent the game in this big list. But I’d shout out ‘Was in der Zeitung steht’ by d.o.c.h.! That song still rips today.

I didn’t know anything about The Sheer before FIFA 07 arrived. I still don’t really know anything about the band now. As soon as FIFA 08 came ’round, The Sheer kind of stopped existing to me. All I know is they’re a band from Holland that made this song, it’s on an album of theirs called Feel the Need, and it must have been released as a single because it has its own music video. The only reason I haven’t embedded it above is because it contains an edit of the song that fades out before its minute-long ending, which is arguably the best part. Yeah, ‘Understand’ was a big favourite of mine on the soundtrack. Can’t remember if it was one of those first-time-hit-me kind of deal, but it does only take one listen to understand its appeal. The opening chords, quite emphatic. The bluesy keyboards during the intro and very much throughout, you’ve got to appreciate. The call of a lyric met with the response of some classic “Hey, hey, hey”s, you can’t go wrong. The lyrics are very easy to decipher with a fine melody to go with them. Took me a second not to use the word ‘understand’ in that last sentence. But with all of those things together and a bit more which I’ll leave you to find, it resulted in a piece of pop-rock that I found I could get along with just fine.

‘Understand’ is a song about unity. A very positive song. You’ll find some cliché lines concerning helping hands, working [things] all out and making it to the end, rounded off with those “Hey, hey, hey”s. If this song was to annoy you, I could probably see where you were coming from. It feels like it could be a number in a musical or something. You could probably call it corny. And maybe it is. But I don’t know what to tell you, I really like the stuff. There’s enough sincerity in the lyrics, and everything’s delivered in a way that’s not overblown that I think prevents it from being over-the-top. What does push things further though is that ending. The song fakes you out with a faux-ending about three-and-a-half minutes in, before the guitar charges up and the band fall in together to play out the remainder of the tune in a blaze of glory. I do remember back in those days of ’06/’07 thinking that if ‘Understand’ was on an album, it would only make sense that it’s probably the last song. ‘Cause where can you go after that ending? And lo and behold, when I saw the tracklist for Feel the Need sometime later on, there was ‘Understand’ in its rightful place as the album closer. I was right. Hooray for me. Feel the Need appears to be AWOL online at the moment. When it comes back, I’ll link it at some point.