Dieter Schöön - Lablaza

(Muso's Guide, March 31, 2009)

Album review

From the dirgey opening of ‘Manuel’, Swede Dieter Schöön marries the denseness of Berlin-era Bowie with the artifice of stylish rockers Roxy Music.

‘Manuel’ pays homage to Bryan Ferry’s London artrockers right down to the mangled free jazz saxophone section which splits the track, while the rest of the record dives headlong into a pool of influences included with, but not limited to, Beck, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Can and the afore-mentioned alter-ego of David Jones. If that list make Schöön’s début Lablaza sound largely inaccessible, than you’re right on the money, but that’s not to say it is without merit.

The icily cool Germanic consonants of Schöön complement the industrialised electronic beats of single ‘Mary Jane’, a song incongruously introduced by mariachi trumpets which call to mind Mark Morriss’ ‘I’m Sick’ or Hello Saferide’s ‘High School Stalker’, but what follows is simply more challenging than those other tracks. Ironically for an album which contains the track ‘Warm Hearts’, there is a coldness to the recording that makes it hard to connect with Schöön.

That track is heralded by a Casiotone-style intro and, with a juddering waltz beat, offers a repetitive, vocally-experimental pop song sounding for all the world like a slightly stoned Kraftwerk. The lyric, “Our faces were all just stupid I guess/But with warm hearts”, which becomes so mangled as to end on a slightly disturbing note.

Electronic ‘The Harbour’s Cold’ has a chill through it, with Schöön staring out to the sea in search of something. “Smoke a spliff in the afternoon”, he reveals, which is a clue to the feeling of this complex record, and so seemingly removed from human feeling. A much-needed injection of emotional realism comes in the form of the atmospheric, tragically-theme ‘Soft and Slow’. This Gideon Coe favourite builds to a heart-rending crescendo with the lyric, “Where you been so long?”, prompting the listener to address a world of hurt and unaddressed breakdown.

But as quickly as the tears come, they are banished again, by the ruthlessly efficient ‘I’ll Go There’ and ‘Auf Wiedersehen’. Multi-lingual and multi-talented, nonetheless Schöön’s express intention seems to be to evade categorisation, which gives rise to words like ‘unique’ and ‘indefinable’. The most evocative influence here would be Beck, but even that pop-friendly name falls short of explaining the division between Schöön and accessibility.

Lablaza is certainly intriguing, but the next album will show if it’s really got something brighter to offer - or if it is just a flash in the pan.

The Dykeenies - Are You With Me Now?

(Muso's Guide, March 30, 2009)

Single review

Having been around for the best part of five years, The Dykeenies are one of those indie bands who make superfans - small, kooky, excitable people with button badges on their chests and the fulfilling the hair colour pre-requisite of at least one unnatural colour per 100,000 strands.

But bands do not make success by scene alone, so what of their mainstream impact? It’s not been massive, granted, but ‘Are You With Me Now?’ could be about to change all that.

Drums start slow and lead into a guitar part that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the Manic Street Preachers‘ 1993 sophomore record Gold Against The Soul.

The American accented vocal which has infiltrated the even the once-stoic British independent scene is never more prevalent than in the Glaswegian boys’ delivery.

The titular enquiry is howled, heartfelt, over soaring guitars and a recurrent melody, a grandiosity which marks the track out for inclusion on the soundtrack of an episode of Smallville.

More questions follow, “Are you fading in and out?/Where did it all go wrong?” but the Dykeenies never offer an answer, spurred on the insistent beat continuing like a marathon runner.

Ending on a electronic note, this swollen anthem of youth shows that The Dykeenies are clearly ready for the next level of fame.

Are you with me now?

Post War Years: “can’t help but bust a groove”

(Musos Guide, March 30, 2009)

Interview

Post War Years: A simple vocal underpinned by an insistent piano, for all the world another singer-songwriter with angst on his mind.

But suddenly, a pounding drum beat comes in, and the atmosphere takes on a dance groove. It’s a shock to the system, but ‘Black Morning’ is a perfect example of the shock to the system that Post War Years offer. An ambient band shot through with purest indie, they’re here to save us from musical boredom by charming and disarming by any means necessary.

Living together in a little basement in Dalston “starved of light and oxygen” - that’s how frontman and singer Henry describes the crazy topsy turvy world of Post War Years. “We’ve been in this place for about a year and a half,” he says. “I wouldn’t say it’s healthy for a band to spend quite as much time together as we do.”

Something of the Monkees about the arrangement, no? “Well, we’re not there yet.” Henry laughs. Henry, Tom, Simon and Fred - Leamington lads - met the way bands do - through friends of friends. The university diaspora scattered them, but the will to rock together drew them back in and, post-tertiary education, as Henry puts it, they were all ready to “give it a push”. And pushing they are, with sensational single ‘Whole World On Its Head’ out now. Like their other songs, it’s a curious mix of indie sensibilities and electro atmosphere, ambient ideals and melodious verses.

Is the single a good example of PWY?

“I’d like to think the single is a mid-point between all this stuff we do, because there’s definitely a melancholic side as well as some really sort of brash, exciting, really upbeat, driven stuff. We like to experiment with sounds a lot, so ‘Whole World On Its Head’ has got plenty of different stuff to wrap your ears around. We thought it was a reasonable representation of what we do, which is hard because we’re quite a varied band.”

So varied that it is tough to pigeonhole their exciting, often experimental sound. Does that put people off?

“We certainly don’t want to alienate people - we want people to enjoy it, but we do want to do something different. We get very easily bored, so from song to song it really varies. If we ever realised that we were completely alienating our audience, then we’d probably have to rethink it, but so far, people seem to stick around when we play!”

Stick around in droves, it seems - and audiences are sticking around this week at South By Southwest, where the Leamington boys are setting out their varied stall. “There are loads of bands we know or like playing out there - and also Gomez are playing, and I haven’t seen them for years.”

As well as enjoying what essentially sounds like an elongated work night out with musical colleagues in Austin, the boys are hurtling towards the release of their debut record. How’s that coming along, then?

“It will come out sometime in May, hopefully. We’ve written something stupid, like 30 or 40 songs for this album, and obviously only 11 or 12 make it, so you start to lose perspective. You swing through differfent emotions - one minute I love it, the next I start to question, but I think we’re fairly settled with it - I’m really excited about it.”

What tracks are still setting Henry alight at this stage?

“We’re still working our way through some of the stuff from the album, currently I would say ‘Black Morning’ the first single, which won’t feature on the album, it’s always quite euphoric. Can’t help but bust a groove to that occasionally. When we get onstage you just get into a mode and carry on with that. I wouldn’t say that anything specifically that I favour - hopefully it’s all good!”

What influences are really write large across the Post War Years catalogue, then?

“Before we started recording, we definitely listened to a broad range of stuff, which we still do, but I think we have noticeably stopped listening to music as much. In the past we have been guilty of taking maybe a little too much influence from stuff, and then we became aware of what we were doing. There are a few things that always stick around - we’re big Talking Heads fans and big fans of Bjork, and we do keep up with the London music scene - we’re good friends with a lot of bands from here.”

Personally speaking, Henry’s got a musical hero who may come as a shock to Post War Years fans. “Some people try and make me feel embarrassed for this, but I am a massive Prince fan - I think he’s amazing.”

Post War Years - the surprises just keep on coming…

Art Brut - Alcoholics Unanimous

(Muso's Guide, March 27, 2009)

Single review

Sometimes it takes a real event to blow the socks off the music world.

In 2005, Art Brut released their début record Bang, Bang, Rock & Roll and UK music fans knew true happiness thanks to an Anglo-Germanic ethos of rocking and, indeed, rolling. It was a Real Event, holding back no capital letters, and at the centre of the artrock hurricane, the angles, the musical jags and melodious mayhem was Eddie Argos.

An extreme-eyebrowed, self-effacing savant with a nice line in dynamic onstage zaniness, making use of props like vacuum cleaners. His frankly personal lyrics cover everything from DC Comics to impotence, but always with a wry glance and a cock of those eyebrows.

Long-awaited and much fêted thanks to a net leak, the third album Art Brut vs. Satan is continuing in the same vein, and guide single ‘Alcoholics Unanimous’ is a stunner; Argos’ trademark vocal cuts through the jaggedly musical melée with confidence. His style - of more speaking than singing - very much complements the Art Brut sound, and creates in him an off-kilter but utterly convincing frontman.

Here he’s telling the traveller’s tale of the drunken night out that hasn’t gone so well. All the usual ingredients are here - perfectly formed guitars, hewn directly from solid ‘cool’, as well as Argos’ inimitable lyrics: “There’s so many people I might have upset,” he explains. “I apologise to them all with the same group text.”

The video is set up as an Art Brut documentary - with the title Drunk: A Documentary - all serious straight shots of band members looking concerned. Argos stumbles blithely into an ‘Alcoholics Unanimous’ meeting and wreaks having, hollering “Bring me tea! Bring me coffee!” as the other attendees tell him he isn’t hiding his hungover state very well.

In truth, it’s what the music world’s been waiting for, and heralds the forthcoming album as staunchly and proudly as any fan could have hoped.

It’s unanimous.

Real life: "My autistic children are amazing"

(Somerfield magazine, March 2009)

Mumford & Sons - The Cave/But My Heart Told My Head

(Muso's Guide, March 26, 2009)

Single reviews

Perhaps best-known for being in the top 15 for the BBC’s Sound Of 2009 abomination (eventual winner: Little Boots), Mumford & Sons are second place to no one. And certainly not 15th place.

Singer Marcus Mumford has been known to moonlight on drums for Laura Marling, which should give an indication of the sort of thing on offer. To whit, ‘The Cave’ - a sweetly finger-picked ditty with a delicious taste of gentle acoustopop. Then the vocal - a straightforward, full-vowelled English accent with heart. It’s unexpected in this sort of Americana-tinged folk, but delightfully welcome.

A minute in, a bassline comes in, but the beefier sound does nothing to deplete the loveliness. Percussion and backing vocals go some way to making the sound complete, but the star is that great strong voice - part-Guy Garvey - for sheer bass meat - and part something altogether more refined. The lyric is very personal - “I need freedom now/I need to live my life as it’s meant to be” he asserts, all the while tremendously atmospheric backing underpinned by a skilled banjo.

The Frightened Rabbit-vein of soulful vocal-meets-folk backing is richly ploughed here, but the unique marriage of banjo and that low Mumford voice put ‘The Cave’ on another level. ‘But My Heart Told My Head’ is, if anything, more striking than ‘The Cave’.

A warm, comforting, densely musical intro soon drops off, leaving that signature banjo backing Mumford’s luscious tones, “As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts” he begins, like an old-school fairy tale.

The vocal here is strained and emotional, but the words keep on giving, thrusting romantic images and standards into the listener’s mind. “Oh, for every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt” Mumford tells it, although this is no happy ending - he follows that with a nod to the song’s theme of heartbreak, the repeated lyric, “And my head told my heart let love grow/And my heart told my head this time now/This time no”.

The decision to surrender oneself to love is too much for Mumford, and the brass building up in the mix is a Christmas carol, a colossal great mix of hope and haunting. By the strength of these songs, Mumford & Sons have something incredibly special. The crushing simplicity of their music stays with the listener long after the record has finished, while the lyrical themes put everyday feelings into poetry.

A surefire family favourite.

The Hot Melts: “We don’t feel the need to live up to The Beatles!”

(Musos's Guide, March 25, 2009)

Interview

The Hot Melts are a pretty awesome bunch of guys.

A four piece from Liverpool who meld the very greatest parts of 1950s rock with a severely rock-ready collection of noises. It sounds like - and is - the best part of rock heaven - frontman Will Bayliss is an angel with the devil’s tunes. “I suppose we kind of mix the 1950s and the 1990s, like rock’n'roll and grunge, we try and mix that kind of sound - good old rock’n'roll.”

The Hot Melts’ list of influences is long and distinguished, which makes Will a whirlwind to speak to. “I’m a big fan of Weezer and lots of old rock and roll, people like Chuck Berry and Elvis and people like that.” He could go on, but there’s more to discuss, like The Hot Melts’ much sought-after support slot - with the Eagles of Death Metal.

Kicking off the UK tour on March 28 in Portsmouth, the boys stand to make a lot of new fans - not least the headliners. Or are they already fans - is that how the slot came about? “I suppose we asked them if we could support them and they said yes? I don’t really know what happens with those kinds of things. I just write the songs and play them,” Will demurs.

Regardless, it could be seen as something of a step up compared to their last major support slot - with classical emo boy band Elliott Minor. Were they to the Melts’ liking? “It was really good - they’re lovely lovely guys. We come from different musical backgrounds,” he says, very diplomatically. And what about the screamo fans EM attract? “Most EM fans are quite young, which is great, because I want everyone to be our fans. I’m just interested to find out how other fans take us.”

By Will’s account, there are already Hot Melts superfans, following the boys up and down the country. “There are loads of people we see over and over at gigs. Good on them! Some of them have been to ten gigs! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any band ten times.”

Any ideas who Will would see ten times given the opportunity? He gives the question a lot of thought. “It would have to be over the years, you wouldn’t want to go and see them ten times in the same tour. You’d have to go and see them ten times if they’d done ten albums. I’d like to see Weezer, I’ve never seen Weezer. I’ve never seen them live, but I hear they’re great.”

Will and the boys are about to find out how good the Eagles are live - albeit from a different viewpoint to the usual punter. Just days away from a triple-threat event at the SXSW festival in liberal corner of Texas - Austin - there’s plenty on the boil for the boys.

Their debut album is set to hit the public in the summer, an event which has all the boys excited. recorded last year in Chicago with Mark McLusky, Will says that he still loves all the songs - not least current single, ‘Edith’. A riff-driven slice of raucous rock, it finds Will in great form, channeling ever-howling frontman from Bono to Jason Perry and everyone in between.

Being from the Merseyside does carry with it a certain weighty musical heritage. Does Will think of the spectre of the Beatles at all? “I was a Beatles fan when I| was younger - I suppose Beatles are really a kids’ band - but I don’t know whether it’s a pressure. There are great bands from every city in the world - for any band, there’s always going to be a legendary band from their city. I don’t feel the need to live up to the Beatles! But I’d still like to be the biggest band in the world, that would be nice.”

The Hot Melts do have the world is at their feet…

“I don’t think any band will have the same impact as the Beatles again because I just don’t think things are the same, really. I like what the Beatles are - I like that they are more than just a band, that they made films and were almost cartoon characters.”

Do the Hot Melts haver the capacity to make that sort of leap?

“I like characters in bands and I always have ideas for things, like Hot Melts comics or Hot Melts TV shows, I love that kind of thing. I heard once that Supergrass were offered a Monkees-esque TV show, but turned it down. I would never turn that down, I love the Monkees, I love that kind of thing. I’d love to do a TV show!”

Having ascertained that the Hot Melts are available to film the next sleeper TV hit, it’s important to address the band’s imagery. Bright and striking, the impact of the band’s MySpace page and sleeve art is memorable. Do the band have a hand in their artwork?

“They’re all our ideas. I love that kind of 1950s artwork. I think we’re going to start working on artwork for the album soon.”

One of the Hot Melts’ most unique features is their dedication to the medium of podcasts. Choosing their favourite music, each member takes turns in presenting their fans with a smorgasbord of the influences which have made them the band they are. What is the thinking behind the podcast?

“I feel like there’s a lot of bands who you mention to people and they don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Will explains. “The type of stuff that we play on the podcasts are the sort of thing that influenced us anyway. I’d love to hear the songs of bands that influenced my favourite bands.”

It’s like a musical education…

“So much stuff you hear on the radio, you just don’t know what to make of it, but there are so many great albums. There are even great albums that I don’t know that well. There are legends of music that I still, occasionally, someone will play me something that I’ve never heard before and should have done and it just rocks like it should and it just blows you away.”

Just like the Hot Melts. The Hot Melts’ single ‘Edith’ is out now. Their support slot with Eagles of Death Metal kicks off in Portsmouth on March 28, and tickets are available here.

Belfast city guide

(Bookshelf Boyfriend, March 25, 2009)

After many years of seeming off-limits to tourists, Belfast has become a must-see in the British Isles. Packed with terrific bars and friendly people, the Ulster capital is just the place to go if you're in search of some "craic".

Climate

Belfast has a temperate climate, with daily temperatures ranging from a January average of 6 °C (43 °F) to a July daily average of around 18 °C (64 °F). It is known for being pretty damp - the average annual rainfall of 845.8mm (33.3 in) is less than the Scottish Highlands - but more than Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

Getting there

Belfast is an incredibly well-connected city and many budget airlines serve its airports. You can fly direct into Belfast International Airport or Belfast City Airport from many European locations.

Belfast International Airport is situated approximately 17 miles north west of Belfast City Centre, while George Best Belfast City Airport is about three miles east of the city centre.



By sea, regular scheduled ferry services operate between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. From Stranraer, Troon & Cairnryan in Scotland, and Fleetwood & Liverpool in England - bringing both foot passengers, cars and other vehicles into the area through the two ferry ports of Belfast and Larne in Co. Antrim.

Accommodation

You'll find plenty of accommodation in Belfast, from budget to luxury. Staying in and around the city centre is best situated for nights out, but for those with transport or who want to explore, you'll find hotels, hostels and bed & breakfasts from the centre outwards. Boutique hotels for romantic getaways include the always trustworthy Malmaison and the beautiful and ultra-trendy Ten Square.

Visit the official Northern Ireland Tourist Board booking portal at www.discovernorthernireland.com to find somewhere to suit your needs.

Sights and activities

Belfast Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St. Anne is truly breathtaking.

Parliament Buildings, Stormont Home of the Northern Ireland Assembly and an iconic piece of architecture.

Queen's University A stunning redbrick building right in the heart of the student-dominated cultural area called Queen's Quarter.

W5 - Who What When Where Why An interactive discovery centre for education and fun.

Titanic Dock The former maritime centre of the world, Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipbuilders are best known for the Titanic.

Ulster Museum Located in the Botanical Gardens near Queen's University.

Crown Bar Old and visually arresting pub.

Cave Hill A basaltic outcrop which overlooks the city.

City Hall A baroque revival building which faces the city's main shopping thoroughfare, Donegall Place.

St. George's Market Heaven for foodies every Saturday.

Belfast Zoo Home to more than 1200 animals and 140 species.

Shopping

The city centre has plenty to offer - the usual high street fare is available on Donegall Place, right down to the city's first major shopping centre Castle Court. The new and impressive Victoria Square development is located just off Donegall Place through Cornmarket, and boasts many of the more exclusive nationwide retailers, including House of Fraser, All Saints and Urban Outfitters.

Out of the centre, there are any number of independent trendy boutiques and delis on the Lisburn Road.


Food

The John Hewitt pub beside St Anne's Cathedral serves above average food. Eat to a jazz accompaniment on Friday evenings.
Bishop's Chip Shop at Bradbury Place has marble tables, open fires and tasty food!
Clements Coffeehouse on Donegal Place serves great lunch - have the soup and a hot panini. There are several Clements branches in the city.
The famous Crown Liquor Saloon not only serves great drinks - they also have a great value menu of simple but hearty dishes.
The Water Margin is a huge Chinese restaurant on the Ormeau Road, located in a converted church and always crowded at weekends.
Rain City Café Grill on the Malone Road is an upmarket diner with a great atmosphere.
Villa Italia on University Road is always packed and serves great Italian food in a lively and unpretentious atmosphere. Sister restaurant Scalini on Botanic Avenue is every bit as enjoyable.
Belfast's only Michelin-starred restaurant is Restaurant Michael Deane. Perfect for serious foodies and priced accordingly. If you're on a budget, Deane's Brasserie downstairs is a cheaper and quality alternative.
Harbour View Restaurant at Lanyon Quay is quite an experience, where Teppinyaki chefs stir fry your food at your table over flaming grills - a performance not to missed.

Going out

As a capital and as a city which loves to socialise, Belfast is not at all short of nightlife! There are great pubs like the already-mentioned John Hewitt and Crown, as well as the Ormeau Road's Errigle Inn and the trendy Botanic Inn.

Clubbers can track down big names at Shine or Milk, while alt. sorts may prefer gothy Stiff Kitten or the indie Auntie Annie's on Dublin Road.


More information

www.discovernorthernireland.com
www.gotobelfast.com
www.belfasttourist.com
www.goireland.com

Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

(Muso's Guide, March 24, 2009)

EP review

Shunda K & Kotchy - Le Passion, Yo!

Hip hop gets a bit of a bad rap, if you’ll pardon the expression.

Not naturally a residency for romance, its ranks seem to be swollen with testosterone-laden hulks and, at best, fighty, mouthy women whose guy has done them wrong - through virtue of being a ‘scrub‘ or otherwise undesirable.

But what is fun about conventions is when someone comes along and refuses to conform to them.

Shunda K is someone who likes to kick against the curve, and it shows.

As a member of Yo Majesty, along with singer Jwl B, both she and Miss K, aka LaShunda Flowers are openly lesbian and christian, and hailed critically as a breath of fresh air.

This free four-song download teams Shunda K up with Brooklyn-based producer Kotchy, who has previously worked and toured with artists like Tricky, The Walkmen and Joan As Policewoman, to name but a few.

Named ‘Le Passion, Yo!’, the download takes steps through a relationship - from the initial meeting, through the first blushes and out the other side.

Opener ‘First Encounter’ is a steamy one. Tough-talking, real-rapping Shunda K makes a meal of the come on, with “Take me away to your private place” and warning the object of her affection “don’t get your panties in a twist”.

It’s hot to say the least, in and out of Shunda K’s world - “When you look my way/I warm up by ten degrees”, soothing into a cooldown with the repeated refrain “Let’s make it more than a dream”.

On ‘You Are’, the praise of beauty continues. A sort of post-modern ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…’, the track sees Shunda K rolling words of lust around her tongue, treading a fine line between romantic adoration and out-and-out harrassment.

By ‘We Feelin’ Each Other’, the relationship is more relaxed - “This is only the beginning”, or so we’re told, but with this accelerated relationship’s trajectory, it seems hardly long before there’s nothing left.

The grimy beats and barely contained bitterness of ‘Holla’ is a societal comment for the world in which Shunda K and Kotchy find themselves. “If you’re not a trust fund baby, holla… Our culture must be in a coma/And I’m not a doctor”.

Shunda K is taking the work here in some really interesting directions - the almost radio-friendly hip hop beats of ‘You Are’ makes a real impact, and the laidback raps on ‘First Encounter’ really mark out the impressive talents on show.

Must be le passion…

The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly (Expanded Edition)

(Muso's Guide, March 23, 2009)

Album review

There’s a heavy weight bearing down on bands when it comes to naming début albums.

It could make people pick up or turn away - it could make the difference between a lasting career or a brief day basking in the warming sun of musical success.

The Bluetones’ 1996 début was named Expecting To Fly, which spoke more volumes about the band than they could have with their music.

It was a record that tied up their fearful ‘dare to hope’ attitude with a small amount of self-assurance, well-placed in their understanding that they had talent, dammit, and people would see that.

And they did, for a time. Expecting To Fly fired Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? from the number one spot, which was a grand measure of popularity indeed.

Now, 13 years later, The Bluetones are out on the road again and a new revamped version of this Britpop classic has been unleashed. So, is it a must-have for the diehards, a might-have for the newbies? Or essential listening straight outta Hounslow?

From the initial bass rumble, opener ‘Talking To Clarry’ is a leader. giving way to confidently crashing indie guitars, it was clear that The Bluetones were going to be smarter than the average indie band.

And smart they were, nodding to Brit poet Adrian Mitchell and his poem Celia, Celia with the memorable lyric from single ‘Bluetonic’ - “When I am sad and weary/When all my hope has gone/I walk around my house and think of you with nothing on”.

A lovely dark slice of infatuation, it retains its uniquely minor-key misery even now, perhaps thanks to singer Mark Morriss‘ easily-recognisable, uniquely tremulous vocal.

In the old days, ‘Carnt Be Trusted’ was the first track on the second side of the Expecting To Fly cassette.

Now, it still forms a change of pace in the record. A lovely, melodic ode to the pitfalls of relationships, it boasts delicious harmonies that would make Brian Wilson blush, and does the business in under four minutes. That’s proper songwriting.

Closing on ‘Time And Again’, it stays with the band long enough to exhibit a darkly sweet menace that says, “We could never really hurt you - but we might shake our fists a bit”.

The new material which adds to this expanded edition includes a whole other disc of Bluetones paraphernalia like previously unreleased live tracks and BBC archive material.

Aside from the inclusion of the undisputed single of 1995, (’Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?’, in case you’ve forgotten), it doesn’t do a terrible amount of new stuff, more augmenting the glory of the original album release, but that’s worth it just to get Expecting To Fly back on the shelves again.

Ejaculated by a genre which had already sounded its death rattle with the likes of Menswe@r and Heavy Stereo, The Bluetones were unfortunately timed. Were Expecting To Fly released anew in 2009, there is no doubt that its vast landscapes of melodious melancholy would rocket, and Mark Morriss would be smiling his ever-enigmatic smirk across the music channels.

As it is, this LP signifies a fantastically well-presented selection of incredibly intelligent, heartfelt songs for which 1996 should always be remembered - that ‘daring to hope’ frozen in time.