Reviews

Is this really 2012?

haunted by the past

 

They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good.*

So far this year, we have seen an unprecedented amount of bands reforming and releasing new material. Or emerging from hiberation to unleash their new sounds. Ghosts from the Britpop era are re-emerging, former international stars are looking to rebuild their careers, and The Wedding Present have a new album out ... is this simply wrong, or have we asked for it by embracing mediocrity over the past few years? You reap what you sow ...

The Cranberries - Roses

Cooking Vinyl

Released: 27th February 2012

 

I always had a soft spot for The Cranberries. Their debut single, ‘Uncertain’, released on the tiny Xeric label, was a thing of fragile beauty and hinted there may be a jewel in the making, new purveyors of beauty and light who could steal a place in every indie kid’s innermost parts. But, so annoyed were the band that they might be thought of as anything less than hardened warriors, they set out to prove they were, in fact, tougher than old boots, the sulk lasting for years on end, which was simply marvellous. The result was a couple of very decent, Stephen Street produced albums, 1993’s Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? and 1994’s No Need To Argue, both mainstream enough to get them noticed across the globe, but still maintaining an alternative edge which meant they couldn’t be ignored. Their best weapon was Dolores O'Riordan’s remarkable voice, with her multi-layered vocals used to great effect on the debut album, while a sparser approach to the second saw the music adopt heavier, more distorted tones. Sadly, the quality then began to tail off, the huge success of the band leading them to stadium shows and inevitable commercial pressures which smoothed away their innate, indie awkwardness. 1996’s To The Faithful Departed was hit and miss, while 1999’s Bury The Hatchet, made after the band’s first period of hibernation, wasn’t great. The musical environment was changing and The Cranberries were struggling to make any impact by the time of their final release, 2001’s poor Wake Up And Smell The Coffee. After a prolonged period apart, then, Roses marks the band’s first album in eleven years and, in all honesty, it’s a disappointment. It’s a bland thing, lacking indie sensibility or any cutting edge, so smooth round the edges it couldn’t touch you inside if you swallowed it whole. From the never ending plod of ‘Conduct’, to the nursery rhyme approach to ‘Losing My Mind’ and the gruesome string-laden ‘Waiting In Walthamstow’, this is uninspiring stuff. O’Riordan is strangely subdued and when she does start to let fly, as in ‘Raining In My Heart’ she is annoyingly reined in by the overly restrictive production. No fragile beauty here, just insipidness. And when the singer asks, “Where is your fire and soul?’ you have to throw the question right back at her. This is all wrong.

Cast - Troubled Times

Cast Recordings

Released: 5th March 2012

 

It’s easy to underestimate just how popular Cast were in the day. Riding to prominence on the back of the Britpop phenomenon when guitar bands suddenly found themselves back in vogue, their debut album, the John Leckie-produced All Change, charged to number seven in the charts in October 1995 and became the fastest selling debut album ever on the Polydor label, outstripping such luminaries as Jimi Hendrix and The Jam. Two more top ten albums followed, along with seven top ten singles until the wheels finally fell off just after the turn of the century. The allure of guitar rock became lost on a new generation of record buyers and Cast’s attempts to change with the times saw their 2001 album Beetroot, which abandoned their traditional sound in favour of drum loops and horns, fail to make much of an impact, peaking at No.78, and within a month the band were no more. Main man John Power went on to hitch up again with his former band The La’s and released some solo albums until it was decided to get Cast back together in the Summer of 2010 when they toured the UK to mark the fifteenth anniversary of their debut album. Keen to work on new music as well, Troubled Times was released as a download in November 2011 to subscribers and now sees light of day on general release. Of course the record of necessity gives its audience what they want. The first track ‘Bow Down’ opens like a mid-sixties Who number and this sets the tone for all that follows. It’s not quite the Cast of old, however. A lot of the exuberance of the early records is lost; the confidence of youth which was such a remarkable feature of the Britpop era, is here substituted for a more knowing resignation; Power’s voice is throatier, and the music is more heavily acoustic. As the title of the album suggests, this all adds to a serious, thoughtful sound which at times works well and at other times comes across as a little leaden. ‘See That Girl’ is the undoubted highlight, a La’s-esque jangle with simple, effective harmonies, while the ever so slightly psychedelic ‘Time Bomb’ and probing ‘Hold On Tight’ are also well worth the effort. However, it is hard to escape an overall feeling of glumness and it is clear Troubled Times is not going ride waves of public euphoria, carrying the band’s name back into the limelight. Certainly we live in a downbeat era, but have Cast judged this right? What better time would there have been to inject a bit of sparkle into the world?

Dodgy - Stand Upright In A Cool Place

Strikeback

Released: 20th February 2012

 

If you expected any band from the Britpop era to reform with a spring in their step, it would be Dodgy. Although maybe considered one of the lesser lights of that era, they enjoyed considerable success with their 1996 album Free Peace Sweet storming to No.7 in the charts and five consecutive top twenty singles between 1995 and 1997 underlined their enduring popularity. Indeed, the sublime ‘Good Enough’, a No.4 hit in August 1996, is one of those tracks now synonymous with that time, a heady, uplifting four minutes (dead) that must surely stand alongside ‘Wake Up Boo!’ and ‘Live Forever’ as potent symbols of the age. It was arguably at their height that the band’s bassist and vocalist Nigel Clark quit to work on solo projects, meaning Dodgy’s final album, 2001’s Real Estate, was recorded by an unfamiliar five-piece, with three new members having been drafted in to swell the ranks. With the new recordings making no impact at all in the new century, Dodgy finally split. The band’s reformation has been an on and off affair now for a number of years; since 2007 the original three-piece have been playing the odd live show, but this is the first time any recordings have been made for eleven years, stretching to sixteen years for the original line-up. And this is one hell of a surprise. For Dodgy have not re-emerged as their sprightly old selves, but have come up with an album with a surprisingly contemporary feel, mirroring the current trend for country-tinged melancholia, or what alarmingly has become accepted to be ‘pysch-folk’. Either way it is a trend that draws no sympathy here though the band feel comfortable enough in their new, gentler surroundings. The word maturity always springs to mind with such releases, but surely maturity should bring a greater depth of flavour and not simply reflect on being too old to make a racket? OK, these are different days and hats off to them for not simply attempting to resurrect ghosts of the past. There are strong melodic overtones here; the songs are well-constructed, wistful and of their time and place (this was recorded in the Malvern Hills and some songs echo legends of that area). There is some stunning guitar work and it is all nicely done. But, no.

Sinéad O'Connor - How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?

One Little Indian

Released: 5th March 2012

 

If it really is a contemporary sound you are looking for, then don’t look here. Sinéad O’Connor’s ninth studio album sounds every bit as though it was recorded in the same year as her smash album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990), maintaining that clean-edged, rock sound that so complements her utterly fantastic voice. With old mucker John Reynolds at the helm, it is no surprise this is very well made; most of the surprises are contained within, where the singer’s first outing since 2007’s Theology sounds almost sprightly at times, while in other moments harks back to her earliest years as a recording artist. There is no doubt Sinéad’s debut album, 1987’s The Lion And The Cobra, would sit easily in the list of the best hundred records ever made. Rarely has there been such a balancing of joy and pain, love and anger, regret and hope. Her voice mesmerises as fragile emotions are stretched to breaking point, yet leaves the doubts behind to surge with passion and power. Even better was the mystery of it all, the album coming out of nowhere to shake our worlds with its uncompromising and incomprehensible beauty. There are hints of it here. ‘Take Off Your Shoes’, a comment on recent Catholic sex scandals, has all of the old ferocity and the hairs at the back of your neck rise as that voice wreaks havoc once again. At the other end of the scale ‘Back Where You Belong’ is as moving a number as Sinéad has ever recorded, a slow and thoughtful serenading of the departed, while ‘Old Lady’ is a terrific, endearing love song. What How About I Be Me? doesn’t leave us with are hidden treasures, the glorious moments in music when a half concealed word or phrase, a guitar break, or even a note, touches your soul and sets off a trigger inside of you, giving you a connection that makes it your very own. For these songs are direct and confront you head on, and while they are certainly very good, a little more poetry, a little more obfuscation and a little more ebb and flow would only help. However, it’s the first of Sinéad’s recordings to really hit home since 1997’s Gospel Oak and it’s a great thing she is back. Hopefully it won’t be five years before we hear from her again and hopefully she will realise that an ambush can be every bit as effective as a frontal assault.

The Wedding Present - Valentina

Scopitones

Released: 19th March 2012

 

As the new punk bands looked to sweep away the dross that had inhabited the charts for too long in 1977, RCA came up with brilliant slogan to help launch the Heroes album – ‘There’s old wave, there’s new wave and there’s David Bowie’, the implication being that Bowie transcended any such categorisation and stood alone, untouched by mere mortal trends. You get the same feeling when confronted by The Wedding Present. Not that the indie veterans are particularly innovative and beyond any kind of pigeon-holing, it’s just that whatever the year, whatever the latest trend in music, and whatever the weather, The Wedding Present sound like The Wedding Present and nobody else ever has. This, of course, is no bad thing. Storming, jangling guitars, a rolling rhythm section, key changes, stop-start dynamics and David Gedge’s wry commentaries on love and life, all add up to something warm and familiar, and yet encouragingly bracing. And though Valentina is the band’s first outing since 2008’s El Rey, it is as though they have never been away. It’s all the more important this band survives, untarnished, in this day and age when so much else is lacking: enthusiasm, drive, intelligence, humour, and the need for a barrage of guitars to blow the gloom away. There’s little touches that simply lift the soul, whether a sudden burst of feedback, a lunatic bass riff or a teasing guitar break; it’s all pleasingly human, quirky yet grounded in reality. ‘End Credits’ is terrific, all the best of the band bundled together in one tumbling package and Gedge sounding so English you could be overhearing a conversation from the other side of the garden fence. ‘Back A Bit...Stop’ is also delightful and the closer ‘Mystery Date’ is a bit of a surprise, encompassing every notch on the Beaufort scale. Ignored by the NME and casually dismissed by the glossy monthlies, it seems there is no room today for this once-heralded band. However, as this is head and shoulders above most everything else we have heard this year, it is way too premature to write this band off. Retailing at under seven quid, it is well worth the investment. Some things are what they used to be.

 

*Billy Sunday

Top photo, The Wedding Present, www.scopitones.co.uk

 

February 2012 Reviews

March 2012 Reviews

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