Album Review: More Kicks - "Punch Drunk"

 

Regulars on the London power-pop scene for a while now, I'll admit that this is the first time I've listened to one of More Kicks' albums although I've seen the band live a couple of times at a few power-pop gigs when I lived in the Smoke and enjoyed frontman James Sullivan's solo lockdown album Light Years when it surfaced last year so I was interesting to see what this one sounded like.

The obvious template for More Kicks is the Buzzcocks - they peddle a similarly skewed take on the whole power-pop formula with their individual stamp on it as evidenced on the way opener Hurts Like Hell goes from a bright sunshiny singalong to the sinister spoken word over the closing minute or so. In Love and Terminal Love (the latter sadly not a cover of the Boys classic) are even more Shelley influenced with their tales of love and angst over hyperventilating riffs while Animal and Seven Ways both have a strident almost Stooges-esque feel to them with their I Wanna Be Your Dog style riffs although there's enough melodicism in there to keep them in line with the rest of the album (the latter even goes into a Beatles-esque singalong towards the end which is a bit unexpected!) The stripped back Got Lucky shows another side to their oeuvre too with its haunting keyboards and almost funereal feel.

Side two has a more urgent back-to-basics feel to it with only one of the six songs crossing the three minute mark but there's still some good stuff on there such as the '60s-influenced pop of Colour Me Stupefied and the garage rock snottiness of Come Home and Good Enough. Rest Of Our Lives even has a bit of an early Elvis Costello feel to it while closer Goodnight Goodnight is another mournful downbeat number beat around Sullivan's distorted riff and plaintive vocals.

If power-pop's your thing then I'm guessing that Punch Drunk is probably on your shopping list already but even if not, this is a good album with an impressive amount of variety and heartfelt lyrics which combine to make a good effort. Definitely recommended.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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