Album Review: Pale Lips - "After Dark"

 

Hailing from Montreal, Pale Lips are another band signed to the ultra-hip Rum Bar Records and their press release describes them as the missing link between the Ronettes and the Donnas which is certainly an intriguing prospect. Certainly opener Some Sort Of Rock 'n' Roll owes an equal debt to Nuggets style garage rock and the pop-punk of the Buzzcocks and the Undertones in equal measure. It's good but second song I'm A Witch is even better, a sheer slice of joie de vivre indebted from too many times watching The Craft.

Overall, the band Pale Lips remind me of the most is '80s all-girl garage rock revivalists the Pandoras and songs such as You're A Doll, Cosmic Love, Doo-Wop Showaddywaddy and The Kids certainly have the freewheeling sense of fun to make them an enjoyable listen. Elsewhere, the Johnny Leyton/Shangri-La's style That Old Ghost Don't Lie and the harmonica honking Dr Feelgood style All My Baby Brought Back Was The Blues provide a bit of variety where it's needed.

Hand on heart, if there's a complaint to be made here it's that Pale Lips don't really offer anything you won't have heard done before by other bands but aside from a couple of slightly anonymous numbers like Hanky Panky Franky and Johnny, it's to their credit that they're clearly versed enough with a good hook and chorus to ensure that there's no desire to switch this one off before it finishes. They may not quite be a premier league power pop outfit but they're certainly tantalisingly close and if they build on this album next time out then they should be well capable of getting there.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Garbage Days Revisited #67: Jason & The Scorchers - "Still Standing" (1986)

Image
  "And though you are so far away, ten thousand miles of sorrow/This prison cannot, will not kill our blessed free tomorrow"  - Jason & The Scorchers  - Good Things Come To Those Who Wait Like a lot of Britrockers my age, it's probably Ginger Wildheart 's fault that I became a Jason & The Scorchers fan. They're a band who the G-man has never made any secret of his admiration for and the Wildhearts even covered the Scorchers classic White Lies  as a B-side to Anthem  many years ago. Most people who've heard them will happily tell you that the group's 1983 EP Fervor  and their 1985 debut full length*  Lost & Found  are classics of the cowpunk genre, the perfect missing link between Johnny Cash and the Ramones and you can add me to that list as well. The follow-up, 1986's Still Standing though? Now that one seems to be a bit more divisive. And that's why it's the one we're covering here on Garbage Days Revisited... (* - well, sort
Read more

Album Review: Steve Vincent - "Recovered From My Past"

Image
  Best known as the frontman of Brit sleaze perennials Paradise Alley, this is the first solo album from Steve Vincent. I have to be honest, Steve's day job band are one of those who I've heard of but don't recall hearing anything by but the general signs here appeared to be promising with a guest list including the Wildhearts' Danny McCormack, ex-Dolls and current Mike Monroe guitarist Steve Conte and McCormack's old Main Grains bandmate (along with several others) Ben Marsden. The first thing to be aware of here though is that if you're expecting a Soho sleaze by numbers affair then you might just be in for a bit of a surprise. If anything, Recovered From My Past  sails closer to the shores of power pop or the vintage strain of '80s Brit-glam (the Babysitters, Soho Roses, Torme, Marionette etc) with a healthy dash of early Hanoi Rocks in there as well. Certainly the harmonica honking likes of Yesterday's Man , Last Train To Babylon  and Can't Bring
Read more

Album Review: The Wannabes - "Monster Beach"

Image
The Wannabes are the musical brainchild of Nottingham resident Wayne Zenith and from looking at the guy's  Bandcamp page , I think it's fair to say he's a somewhat prolific feller with over 50 releases under various incarnations on there. Musically, as the title and artwork probably suggest, it's pretty straightforward Ramones style three-chord headbanger territory (including a competent cover of Rockaway Beach ) with a touch of the Cramps' gleefully sicko gorehound tendencies as songs with titles such as I Was There At The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Stuff Cindy In The Incinerator  suggest. There's a few little tricks in there to ensure this doesn't fall into one trick pony territory though with the keyboards over the top actually adding a bit of a '60s Nuggets  style feel to some of the songs especially opener Somehow  which even has an extended piano-led break in the middle - brave move but it works. The more moody mid-paced Drag You Down  (whic
Read more