Album Review: The Nuclears - "Seasides"


Another group signed to the increasingly prolific Rum Bar records across the pond, the Nuclears remind me oddly of an American version of the Rezillos with their alternating male/female vocals. It also maybe isn't a surprise to find that as with a lot of Rum Bar bands, there's a noticeable Ramones influence on here. It's been done many times before but at least on opening track Siamese Connection, the group manage to put their own twist on it, sounding like da Bruddas covering the Dolls' Vietnamese Baby with some added Jerry Lee style piano on it. Not a bad opener at all.

Unfortunately a few cracks soon begin to show after this promising start - Steer You Wrong and the almost doo-wop style Small Talk have a bit of potential but are sunk by flat over-glossy production which badly dilutes the sound while Make The First Move just sinks into power-pop-by-numbers mediocity. Mystery Slinger which recalls the excellent bluesy garage rock of the Bellrays at least turns it round a bit for the end of side one.

The Thin Lizzy style duelling guitars on side two opener and album highlight Bow To The Queen keep the momentum rolling - there's definitely a hint of Emerald here which is no bad thing at all. I Just Wanna Have Nothing To Do and Doin' The Same Thing Too are arguably the most obvious Ramones rip-offs yet on the album but they have enough of a tune and a kick to them to hold their heads up...just. Slash Run ups the tempo initially a bit with its Broken Teeth style riff before it bizarrely medleys into a cover of Kiss' Strutter for the last 90 seconds or so which sounds a bit superfluous and, to be honest, should probably have been saved for a B-side while closer Flat And Nasty just sounds dull and signs this one off on a bit of a low note unfortunately.

Until that last five minutes or so I'd been preparing to give Seasides a 7/10 as I thought the band had turned it around after a bit of a dud run in the middle of side one but unfortunately the pointless one minute Kiss cover and the poor closer left a bit of a bad taste and led to me marking it down by a point. It's a solid but very inconsistent effort with a good four of the tunes falling below par due to either lifeless production or just general poor tunes. Die hard power-poppers may just find something worth listening to here but for those who aren't fans of the genre, I can't see this being the album to convert you unfortunately.


NITE SONGS RATING: 🌓🌓🌓🌓🌓🌓🌑🌑🌑🌑 (6/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Album Review: Diablofurs - "Neon Satellites"

Image
  Diablofurs have previously shared a split release with the very under-rated Deadcuts (RIP) and feature at least one ex-member of semi-legendary "we were the Manics before the Manics" Coventry indie-punks Birdland so the initial omens for this release were pretty promising. Put any thoughts of the scuzzier end of early '90s alternative music out of your mind though because on this evidence, Diablofurs appear to have set their controls for a good decade earlier with a full on power-pop/new wave sound. The opening duo of Chase The Beat  and Everybody's Dreamin'  come on like Parallel Lines  era Blondie being fronted by Gary Numan and it's not an unpleasant sound at all. The album continues on the early '80s vein throughout with the title track coming on like Tubeway Army going pop while the epic Obsession/Meteors  is probably the closest thing stylistically to Birdland on here but the bubbling synths certainly mark it as being a new evolved version of the s
Read more

Album Review: Silver Sun - "Switzerland"

Image
  Ah the memories. Silver Sun were the great should've-been band of the mid-'90s. Taking the '70s Cheap Trick style power-pop formula and giving it a liberal dose of Britrock meatiness, they should have in an ideal world coasted to Top 20 stardom in the wake of the Wildhearts and Terrorvision, both of whom they definitely owed a sly debt in their sound to (although with their own spin on the formula obviously). Instead, they were lumped in with Britpop whose retro footy shirt clad laddishness never really suited them, and when that ship went down in 1998 or so they quickly found themselves sunk. They never officially split up though and frontman James Broad has continued to put releases out under the Silver Sun name with various collaborators old and new in the 20 years since with Switzerland  being their sixth album no less. It kicks off in fine style too with Earth Girls Are Easy  (a tribute to the cornball '80s musical film of the same name) sounding like some great
Read more

Album Review: Rossall - "The Last Glam In Town"

Image
  John Rossall is probably best known as the musical leader of the Glitter Band way back in the '70s (for those unaware, the band actually had a whole separate music career away from their disgraced singer and chalked up a fair few hits on their own). Last Glam In Town sees him making a comeback with an impressive backing case including John Robb (Membranes/Goldblade) and various members of '80s indie stalwarts the Nightingales who comprise his backing band nowadays. If you're expecting some flat trip down Memory Lane here then prepare to be surprised - this is very much the '70s glam sound but much as Joe Elliott and the Quireboys did in their Down 'n' Outz side project, it gives the formula a much-needed 21st century makeover. Opener Fear of a Glam Planet uses Robb's sinister whispered vocals to create something that owes as much to imperial phase Marilyn Manson as it does to Marc Bolan and it's not a bad sound at all. Elsewhere, Neon Lights , featur
Read more