STYLE: Rock RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 167680-26247 LABEL: Independent FORMAT: CD Album
Reviewed by Paul S Ganney
This album opens with the dodgy-sounding title track. By which I mean it reminded me of Dodgy, so was a great start. It also reminded me of the best bits of the recent Monkees album and some of After The Fire's more guitar-led numbers with some definite Dr Feelgood chops. The album cover screams quirky yet clever and they are, in a Kaiser Chiefs-meets-Talking Heads kind of way. Its choppy and crashing guitars, poppy vocal lines (often drawled in a Johnny Cash style), massive choruses, neat spaghetti western-esque guitar figures (eg, "Wait For The City") and tight rhythm section (eg, "Shadowlands") are so well produced. Everything is in its place, never domineering but always adding to the whole. Lyrically I loved all the pop references in "Major Pepper" and faith-based lines in "Only One Name". My only negatives were that I felt "Run To The Mountains" could have had a full-on, over the top guitar solo (of approx five minutes) and that it would have been a better album closer than the folk-pop "Where Are You Going?" (although lyrically it was probably the right choice). I was shaking my head and stamping my feet as the album played - I've no idea what the others on the plane thought but I was having a great time. I loved their two previous albums but this is even better.
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