Velvet Grooves

To a lot of people 'in the know' - they'll have heard of The Nightingales before. Unfortunately I hadn't until now. And what a history they have... more sessions on John Peel than any other band except the fall, ten apparently amazing albums, and the singer's supposedly a legend (Robert Lloyd). So am I now glad that I've heard this band? Yes! And I hear the drummer (Daren Garratt) was in The Fall for a period - but quit to commit to The Nightingales. During that time, Mark E Smith decided to have a go at Darens' hair (cut it off) because of his lack of commitment to The Fall. Crazy guy...

So after a long split from the late 80's, they reformed to record Out Of True released late last year. Comparisons to early Beefheart are definitely there... and definitely The Fall in some places... Starting with 'Born Again In Birmingham' - those guitars are an instant hook, but then we're lifted with Lloyds strong vocals. His voice seems to have an Ian Dury quality to it. Stick that with black-humour in the vocals and we have a hit! This sounds very much like The Fall...

The hook doesn't die down though on 'The Chorus Is The Title' - it's almost like punk. Friggin awesome! Reminding me of The Wire in their Pink Flag times... and the lyrics are just as humorous 'You know it's easy, just lower your standards and get as much sex as you like!' - maybe we should all take that advice ;-)

From here we pretty much have the standard set throughout the album. Jagged guitar hooks, cranky bass-lines, Lloyd's immensely cool vocal touch with his whiplash lyrics and some excellent drum patterns to compliment it all. Sometimes it verges on eclectic jazz rock with 'Hard Up (Buffering 80% Completed)', sometimes on punk, dancey surf-rock in 'Let's Think About Living' and country in 'Black Country'. Some of the guitars in this would probably give Jonny Greenwood a challenge (although these're more likely an influence...). Bloody amazing stuff!