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| Original unused cover design featured, like, literally coolest F1 driver, like, ever. Literally. |
My first impulse, back in whenever, was to boo these upstarts for appropriating the name of a very important, if not actually that enjoyable, West Coast band from the Acid Years (The Charlatans, in case you're having attention issues). It was like a new band calling themselves Country Joe And The Fish, as far as I was concerned. But that first single [Indian Rope, 1990 - Ed.] was pretty damn swell, I had to admit. Good enough to turn me into an Accredited Charlies Consumer, the kind of unthinking, cash-rich fan every band needs. Then real life interrupted for a few decades, as it will, and my fansomeness only reactivated a week or so back with the release of the Somethingieth Anniversary edish of Some Friendly, their funkified first album.
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| Rholonne Déodoranté |
I didn't think time would be kind to it. But it sounds better than I remember. It's always a delight to listen to a real band with a proper rhythm section, and the drums n' bass are so deep in the pocket they're rattling your kneecaps [This is very good, Farq. I don't often compliment you, but this is exactly the kind of content the internet needs right now - Ed.]. Add some acid jazz Hammond B3 and guitar that leaves you wanting more, and they cook up a timeless funky stew that leans into psychedelia just enough to invoke the term. Tim Burgess had the looks and the presence, but his voice is that rather weedy English placeholder thing, nothing to make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle. The Ian Brown school of underachievement. And the songs tend to the unmemorable, unless you play them a lot, which you just might. Because the album is absolutely playable, all the way through, with just enough variation to keep a grin on your face as you essay some ill-advised dance moves.
I wish they'd been able to use the original cover (the Marlboro thing scuppered it), because James Hunt has exactly the cool swagger of the music, and there's maybe a resemblance to Burgess. But here it is, probably its first public appearance.
The deliverables are weally wather extwaordinawy, if I do say so myself, so stick around, bruh!
This post made possible by the magic of muscle memory.
Bands that have lost their timeless allure over the years? For me, Blur are at the top of the list.
ReplyDeleteHmm .. lost their allure, eh? .. gonna have a think and get back later!!
ReplyDeleteU2,Kiss,Pink Floyd,The Eagles,Elvis Costello,Cold Play,Rolling Stones,Fleetwood Mac
ReplyDeleteI should have been more precise: not bands who went off the boil (no matter how tepid that was - Coldplay?) and whose early work you still enjoy, but bands you once liked whose entire recorded work you never listen to, because why would you?
DeleteI'll add Bowie to Blur. I don't think I'll ever want to hear either ever again, but I enjoyed them at the time.
Fair comments Farq,I drew from the utterings of like minded fossils at aged care home concerts and the number of touring tribute bands.Allure is fleeting in any field let alone the 3 chords of RnR etc.Good topic should generate a diversity of outrage.
DeleteI have form on this due to overdosing on a band, nostalgia however can sometimes drag me back. In the late 90’s I stopped listening to Hawkwind, but they’re now back on my playlists - what was I thinking, they have always been great.
ReplyDeleteThree that I don’t listen to now, but used to play a lot are:
Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Free
I might give the above a listen over the next few days, to see if their absence was a mistake.
Some bands output is so patchy that a good ‘best of’ is all I really need.
The Beatles
ReplyDeleteANON RF: Oooh, hot take there, Babs...
DeleteHace muchos años, solía escuchar a menudo: Jethro Tull, Genesis, Yes, Karla Bonoff, James Taylor, and Carly Simon. Ahora me pregunto qué tan potentes eran esas drogas en aquel entonces.
ReplyDeleteas a child ( when i was 21 or younger in the mid 60s) i was always caught up in the shiny new latest. other people convinced me that i liked it. i am pleading misled to my onetime collection of psychedelia and anything with a british accent. i was under the spell of gushing reviews by idiots. now i have come to my senses and i hate everything.
ReplyDelete