2008 - 50 Year Old Man
28 April: Album - Imperial Wax Solvent
With 'The Dudes'' tenure in the group ended we're left with essentially the last line-up. MES, Elena, Dave Spurr, Pete Greenway and Keiron Melling. And what a record they produce for starters.
Imperial Wax Solvent is a particular favourite of mine and spent a long time in the car when I wasn't having such a great time at work. Firing it up on the drive home made the world a better place.
It opens with Alton Towers, a track which isn't really representative of what's to come. It's kind of jazz. The group lope along while Smith delivers a spoken lyric that is very difficult to penetrate. The theme park won't be using it as an advert at any time soon, that's for sure. Wolf Kidult Man is much more of an example of how the group would operate from here. Put simply, it rocks. Nice Twilight Zone sample to finish off too.
50 Year Old Man is extraordinary. But more of that later...
Elena takes the vocal on I've Been Duped. It's another 'what's on tv' song but is a big step up on Reformation's The Wright Stuff. Strange Town is a Groundhogs cover (with a bit of their Garden thrown in for good measure). I think this one fits the group really well, the interference and clicks and MES tripping over his words all add to the overall effect. From here we go to Taurig which is borderline Rave but none the worse for that. Could anybody else out there pull these three very different tracks off on the same record one after the other like this?
The rest of the album can be filed as more standard Fall fare. In short, brilliant. I don't know what a Can Can Summer might be but this is terrific and MES' interjections ("my boss, he has the imagination of a gnat") add a bit of fun to proceedings. Elena's synths briefly get dangerously close to 'I Feel Love' at around 2:05. I adore Tommy Shooter. It's a great tune and Smith is on top form, lyrically and delivery-wise. "Doberman Pinschers to poodles", "The clouds are darkening with wings of chickens" - it's threatening in a street preacher predicting the end of the world kind of way at times and also on a one to one level.
Latch Key Kid has a lovely rumbling fuzzy bass intro to match Smith's growling 'tobacco and sugar' vocal. It's fairly simple but fun and the double Smith vocal works a treat. The overall impression on Is This New is of a pitch for a tv programme. A pursuit and search for a separating J (Jeffrey?) Archer, 'the department of no name' and 'time blenders'. I'd watch it!
Senior Twilight Stock Replacer is decent but up against the rest of the album seems to lack a bit of something. Pace perhaps. We wrap up with Exploding Chimney. And what a way to finish. From the opening angry 'I've got rat poison' lyric for the next two and a half minutes it doesn't put a step out of place. The group is noisy when it needs to be and gives MES the space he craves when he needs it. Fantastic.
But 50 Year Old Man gets the vote. There's more passion and energy in the first four minutes than most bands cram into their lifespan. At times it seems MES can barely spit the words out, such is his fury. And this from a man 30+ years into his career. Then we hit a banjo section before a slower version of the opening segment batters the listener in to submission and leads us via a bass/percussion driven instrumental break into the concluding 'inferior product man' piece. I can't get enough of it.
"And don't forget, you tried to destroy me"
With 'The Dudes'' tenure in the group ended we're left with essentially the last line-up. MES, Elena, Dave Spurr, Pete Greenway and Keiron Melling. And what a record they produce for starters.
Imperial Wax Solvent is a particular favourite of mine and spent a long time in the car when I wasn't having such a great time at work. Firing it up on the drive home made the world a better place.
It opens with Alton Towers, a track which isn't really representative of what's to come. It's kind of jazz. The group lope along while Smith delivers a spoken lyric that is very difficult to penetrate. The theme park won't be using it as an advert at any time soon, that's for sure. Wolf Kidult Man is much more of an example of how the group would operate from here. Put simply, it rocks. Nice Twilight Zone sample to finish off too.
50 Year Old Man is extraordinary. But more of that later...
Elena takes the vocal on I've Been Duped. It's another 'what's on tv' song but is a big step up on Reformation's The Wright Stuff. Strange Town is a Groundhogs cover (with a bit of their Garden thrown in for good measure). I think this one fits the group really well, the interference and clicks and MES tripping over his words all add to the overall effect. From here we go to Taurig which is borderline Rave but none the worse for that. Could anybody else out there pull these three very different tracks off on the same record one after the other like this?
The rest of the album can be filed as more standard Fall fare. In short, brilliant. I don't know what a Can Can Summer might be but this is terrific and MES' interjections ("my boss, he has the imagination of a gnat") add a bit of fun to proceedings. Elena's synths briefly get dangerously close to 'I Feel Love' at around 2:05. I adore Tommy Shooter. It's a great tune and Smith is on top form, lyrically and delivery-wise. "Doberman Pinschers to poodles", "The clouds are darkening with wings of chickens" - it's threatening in a street preacher predicting the end of the world kind of way at times and also on a one to one level.
Latch Key Kid has a lovely rumbling fuzzy bass intro to match Smith's growling 'tobacco and sugar' vocal. It's fairly simple but fun and the double Smith vocal works a treat. The overall impression on Is This New is of a pitch for a tv programme. A pursuit and search for a separating J (Jeffrey?) Archer, 'the department of no name' and 'time blenders'. I'd watch it!
Senior Twilight Stock Replacer is decent but up against the rest of the album seems to lack a bit of something. Pace perhaps. We wrap up with Exploding Chimney. And what a way to finish. From the opening angry 'I've got rat poison' lyric for the next two and a half minutes it doesn't put a step out of place. The group is noisy when it needs to be and gives MES the space he craves when he needs it. Fantastic.
But 50 Year Old Man gets the vote. There's more passion and energy in the first four minutes than most bands cram into their lifespan. At times it seems MES can barely spit the words out, such is his fury. And this from a man 30+ years into his career. Then we hit a banjo section before a slower version of the opening segment batters the listener in to submission and leads us via a bass/percussion driven instrumental break into the concluding 'inferior product man' piece. I can't get enough of it.
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