Album Review: The Soap Girls - "In My Skin"

 

Very much not a band afraid of controversy, the SoapGirls are one of those bands where you do start to worry that their public image could be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it certainly gets your attention but you do occasionally worry that they're in danger of becoming "that band who are more famous for hardly wearing any clothes than for their music".

And it's a shame because with In My Skin, the SoapGirls have delivered arguably their strongest effort to date with a more melodic approach as evidenced on the Go-Go's style opener Breathe and the sinister chugging Demons (which sounds oddly like a glammed-up Amy Winehouse fronting Garbage) proving the girls' knack with a catchy chorus and a good hook.

The only drawback to In My Skin is that at 14 tracks and 62 minutes and most of the tracks veering close to or over the five minute mark, it's arguably a bit overlong for its own good and some of the later tracks like Summer Rain and Promise You tend to sink into anonymity a bit. But there's enough good moments on here to make it worth a listen - Wasted sounds like Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes being dragged into a dingy back alley and given a pummelling by the Runaways and the title track and Heart In Bloom both have a swooping gothy menace about them.

The SoapGirls are still a little way short of being a genuinely great band but they're showing signs of moving forward with every release. Keep on at this rate (and maybe be a bit more ruthless in choosing which tracks make the album and which don't) and there's nothing to suggest they might just deliver that top drawer glam-punk album they've always intermittently threatened next time out.

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