The Wendy James Band – Queen High Straight

OK, I’m gonna start with a disclaimer. Like many my age – specifically, many blokes my age – Wendy James always had a certain… quality beyond her musical talents that drew us in. If Transvision Vamp were appearing on Top Of The Pops, we’d be happy to suffer the bland cheese of Peter Powell or even La Edmonds, because we knew that soon we’d have the combined ear- and eye-candy that was the latest single from Wendy and the band. Anyone listing artists that typified their era had to include TVV in their coverage of the late 80s.

Fast forward… can it really be thirty years? Sadly for all of us, yes it is, and Wendy is back with a new album. And it’s a brilliant one.

Wendy has emerged from the troubled period post-Vamp, where numerous ventures didn’t quite live up to hopes. But it’s clear that the (I know – cliché time) journey has been worthwhile, because what we have now is a singer that knows herself, knows her voice, and certainly knows what her audience wants.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Wendy and the band last year at The Roundhouse in London when she was supporting my good friends The Psychedelic Furs, and (after being mistaken for one of her VIPs!) chatted to her a few times before and after the gig. And it’s an absolute truth that Wendy, like so many of the artists on that quasi-retro scene, loves the thrill of performing just as much now as when she first started.

So what’s the new album like? I can sum it up in the following words.

Firstly, it’s diverse. Twenty tracks with so many different feels. The title track is smooth and sophisticated, and then you’re immediately into Perilous Beauty, a far darker and raw track, almost the mirror image of it’s predecessor. And as you move through the songs, you get these style clashes, as when you move from the sixties sound of Little Melvin through the Truffaut café scene of Marlene Et Fleur to the driving force of Chicken Street. From the acoustic harmonies of Testimonial, to the brashness of The Impression of Normalcy.

Second, it’s so memorable. So many of the tracks have those essential trigger lines that stick in the brain to the point where you suddenly find yourself thinking of them hours or days later.

Next – it’s highly professional. Not that I’m suggesting anything else was expected, but the combination of Nick Cave drummer James Sclavunos, guitarist James Sewards, bassist Harry Bohay, Alex Ward and Terry Edwards on horns, and accordionist Louis Vause comes together to deliver a full, tight sound.

And lastly – and this is possibly the best compliment I think I could give Wendy or any vocalist – there are a few tracks on the album when I honestly pictured the late and very great Kirsty McColl. To bring a sound that evokes her memory is an achievement indeed.

So where does this leave us? Well, it leaves me very happy to be listening, keen to get this virus thing behind us so I can get to another gig, and you clicking here to order your copy: https://thewendyjames.com/store/

Queen High Straight running order:

1. Queen High Straight (4.31)
2. Perilous Beauty (4.08)
3. Free Man Walk (3.39)
4. Stomp Down, Snuck Up (4.14)
5. Little Melvin (4.52)6. Marlene et Fleur (4.00)
7. A Heart Breaking Liar’s Promise (5.11)
8. Here Comes The Beautiful One (3.45)
9. Chicken Street (4.13)
10. Testimonial (4.18)11. Bar Room Brawl & Benzedrine Blues (4.07)
12. Ratfucking (2.35)
13. She Likes To Be (Underneath Somebody) (3.21)
14. Bliss Hotel (4.00)
15. Freak In (3.05)16. The Impression Of Normalcy (3.36)
17. I’ll Be Here When The Morning Comes (4.15)
18. Cancel It… I’ll See Him On Monday (3.37)
19. Sugar Boy (4.00)
20. Kill Some Time Blues (4.18)

Luna Rosa – Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death

The new single from Luna Rosa is being marketed directly to help the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster, and all money generated from sales and merchandise will go towards the funds. So please buy it, or donate directly to the cause, as the victims need all the help they can get.

That’s all I’m gonna say about the charity and fundraising for now, because this is, after all, a music review site and not one of your high street chuggers moved online.

So – the track.

Luna Rosa spring forth from Corby, the town that won the naming rights for the world’s favorite trouser press. However, whilst the most popular unused hotel appliance sits quietly in the corner of the room and serves for nothing but an additional space to hang a jacket, you’ll never be able to say the same about Luna Rosa. Since forming in 2015, they have played at festivals, sell-out shows, and headline slots, sharing stage space with many of music’s big names with their high-energy, high intensity sound.

Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death is a driving, pulsating track, in complete contrast to the Simon Cowell-inspired version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. It’s clearly politically driven, with the theme basically being ‘the rich and powerful don’t care’, complete with references to the NHS, financial corruption, and of course, the terrible events in West London in June 2017.

That’s why it’s not an easy song to review for me.

The song itself has some great hooks and melodies, is well played and well produced, and would generally sit well alongside most others in the Alt-Rock-Punk scene.

For me, however, the last thing I imagine that the victims of the fire need is more anarchy in their lives. The tragedy was preventable, and yes, the inquiry will identify those culpable and then justice will – at some level – prevail. But linking it to perceived or even actual assaults on the NHS is disingenuous. This was,to me, not a failing of national government – irrespective of which party was in power at the time any local decisions were made that contributed to the tragedy – and the two things are, to me at least, very different.

Anyway – time to sum up: Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death is a good song, worth listening to, and for the purpose of helping the victims at Grenfell or just for a big protest sound blasting your eardrums, well worth investing in. I just wish that it had been released apart from the disaster, because the two don’t sit well together in my mind.

For more info on the band and release info for the track, please see their Facebook page.

Man-buns and Beards – punky folk on Facebook

So it’s seven thirty in the evening, and I’m in that hiatus time between eating a pasty and going out to rehearsals, and what do I find to fill an hour?

My old mate Laurence Crow (a.k.a. The Artist Formerly Known as Wolfe Sunday) sat cross-legged on the floor with his friend Brandon Neal, throwing out some acoustic tunes in lieu of their evenings gig, called off because the Beast from the East snowed them off.

Although I’ve never reviewed a live Facebook event, this was actually pretty cool. New songs and old favourites, plenty of well-groomed facial hair, barnets that suited an early-2000’s David Beckham slightly less than they do Laurence, and some great laughter with the online audience. If it were possible to throw some digital underwear, they would be drowning in Marks and Spencers’ finest!

Nice one guys!

Find them on facebook at either https://www.facebook.com/billytalented and https://www.facebook.com/brandon.neal.5201

Filthy Militia – Innocent Until Proven Filthy

Growing up in the late seventies / early eighties as I did, I hit the punk / Two Tone movement square on. Being from the ‘good’ side of the tracks, my friends and I naturally gravitated towards the ska revival movement of Two Tone for several reasons: it was happier and more accessible to us; we were a mixed-race group and the message of inclusion and what would now be termed ‘anti-fascism’ was at our core; and none of us had mothers who would let us grow mohawks.

As such, I love finding new artists whose roots and influences lie in the same place, and North London-based Filthy Militia are one such band.

Their debut EP, Innocent Until Proven Filthy, dropped into the inbox this week. So I was looking forward to a return to my youth and evenings spent arguing the relative values of The Specials against Madness, The Selecter against The Beat.

What I got was something different – a set of tracks which seemed to find their base more in the heady days of Jamaican Ska than it’s rougher, punk-influenced offspring, but with a definite nod towards the punk-inspired bands I grew up with. There’s a lot more brass than we got in the revival, where guys like Saxa and Rico sometimes felt more like an affectation than an integral part of the sound. Here there’s no mistaking the excellent stabs and fills.

We start with Up In Smoke, an energetic blast which is very danceable and jaunty. Storm Warning is slightly darker, with hints of The Clash, and is probably the closest to the revival sound. Be Real takes you right back to the Sixties with it’s laid back vibe hinting at Prince Buster’s pace and attitude. Finally, Little Sister keeps us firmly in the decade of my birth, with even a suggestion of California surf thrown into the Caribbean mix.

For a four-track EP, Filthy Militia have managed to convey four very different elements of ska, and as such they show their versatility and knowledge of the genre. Certainly if I find myself in their neck of the woods, I’d seek out a gig.

For more information, go to their Facebook page at facebook.com/filthymilitia/ and give them a like!

Wolfe Sunday – Wolfe Sunday

I’m usually fairly laid back about music, different genres, different approaches. There’s so much stuff around, if you listen all the time you can maybe get a little… well, immune, I guess, to how it can make you feel.

So let me get this out there straight away, so that my comments about Wolfe Sunday’s debut self-titled album can be taken in the spirit they are delivered:

I love this guy. I love his approach, I love his sound, and I love that he’s just doing what he loves.

There. I said it. I’ve never met him, I’ve never spoken with him on anything above email.

But there’s something about this album that pushes all the usual rules aside. It’s foot-tapping stuff that tells a story in a genuine, funny way that throws in elements of pathos, sadness, ambition, disappointment and remorse. If we were the sort of review site that gave thumbs up ratings, this one would get many…. but we’re not, so…. anyway…. we like!

Sometimes Wolfe Sunday is full band madness, sometimes it’s pared-back acoustic. Either way it’s just the thing that nestles perfectly in the ear. With songs like “I Spend More time at Service Stations Than On The Stage” and “I’m Still Not A Rockstar (But I Sure wish I Was)”, this is folk-punk with a human edge. It’s his story. And it’s inspired stuff.

Wolfe (a.k.a. Laurence Crow, which in itself isn’t a bad musician name) describes himself as if “Kimya Dawson had a baby with Beans On Toast and brought the boy up listening to Motörhead, then gave him a guitar”. I kinda get that, but there’s a lot of Billy Bragg and early Elvis Costello in the mix as well. all of which I like, and all of which I have returned to several times since it dropped into the Sound Impression inbox.

The Album launch is on July 14, it’s gonna be out on Beth Shalom records (you can buy it HERE) , and to find out more, go to www.facebook.com/wolfesunday – a click that won’t disappoint.

 

Mr Happy Chainsaw – It’s Not My Ball EP

One of the many emails to drop into the Sound Impression mailbox recently was a note from Essex-based punky popsters Mr Happy Chainsaw. Their latest EP, It’s Not My Ball, is being released soon, after strong airplay for their single release, Standing There.

Now for me, there’s a few things that stand out in the band’s favour. There’s a level of production that helps show this hasn’t been thrown together in a mate’s garage. The lyrics cut through the instruments, and the whole thing is balanced, tight, and technically accomplished. All of which is important, but let’s face it – it’s a bit dull for a music review. Which is why I got it out of the way early. You don’t want to know whether the tracks are professionally produced, you want to know what’s gonna slap your ears and make you smile.

Let’s start by sharing how Mr Happy Chainsaw describe themselves. Imagine if you will, a cocktail bar. If you asked for a Mr Happy Chainsaw (they tell me) you’d get “a pinch of Blink 182, Green Day and Alkaline Trio, to which we add a splash of Foo Fighters, a hint of Barry Manilow and Elton John and it all gets topped off with a generous serving of tongue in cheek fun and a dollop of Essex”.

There’s a big expectation after that kind of statement. You’ll either be looking for the flavours of all those great acts, or you’ll be hoping for something uniquely distinctive. The truth? It’s actually somewhere in between, somewhere that mixes all of these to make something a bit different. Although I probably wouldn’t recognise ‘a dollop of Essex’ if it was served on a spoon with a cherry…

Tracks like Standing There and Your Best Friend have a Foo Fighters / Blink 182 vibe, with a solid, driving freshness that propels you along. There are catchy riffs and vocal hooks, all of which make their music something you can listen to over again.

There’s also clearly a more considered, thoughtful side to the guys. When listening to their tracks (especially Leaving Town) there’s a definite story running through the songs. I hope it’s not all from personal experience, because if it is, well… hard luck, dudes. There’s … an intelligence behind the music – trust me, I don’t always get that impression – and that appeals to me in a way that much of today’s one-dimensional blandness simply can’t.

Overall?  A Sound Impression approves, and suggests you go to http://www.mrhappychainsaw.com and see for yourself.

Track listing:

• Standing There
• Out of Time
• Charlie
• Leaving Town
• Your Best Friend

Blondie : Parallel Lines

The first of an ongoing classic album series, we’re taking you back to the heady days of 1978….

It hardly seems possible that Parallel Lines was released nigh on 40 years ago.  Just one look at the album cover, and a skim through the track listing, makes the tunes spring into your mind, as fresh as yesterday.

Fronted by the beautiful Debbie Harry and delivering a wholly eclectic mix of styles (pop, punk, disco, reggae, rap), Blondie’s music became instantly recognisable, and Parallel Lines, their third studio album, helped them break into the elusive but lucrative US market.

Rather than wax lyrically that much, let’s skip to the track listing (* denotes a singles release) :

1. Hanging On The Telephone *
2. One Way or Another *
3. Picture This *
4. Fade Away and Radiate
5. Pretty Baby
6. I Know But I Don’t Know
7. 11:59
8. Will Anything Happen?
9. Sunday Girl *
10. Heart of Glass *
11. I’m Gonna Love You Too *
12. Just Go Away

Of the singles, only I’m Gonna Love You Too failed to make an impression, but then a Blondie cover of a Buddy Holly original is maybe pushing eclectic just too far.

The others? You may well be singing them now.

The US markets lapped them up, making Heart Of Glass the band’s first US number 1, an achievement that they repeated a further three times over the next three years. Add to that six UK number 1 hits and success across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Blondie had made it. The album, produced by Mike Chapman, harnessed the raw emotion of their first two albums (Blondie and Plastic Letters) and helped them bridge the gap between new-wave edginess and financially viable pop stardom.

The rest (as they say) is history…