There's five of them and they come from London and Bernard Butler from Suede is involved but there's nothing winsome here nor is there any of his deliciously nonsense-'63 constructions from the Duffy record, which was nice for a minute then turned out to be kind of sick, as if, well, as if we'd been cheated. I listened to it a lot and then Adele and particularly "Chasing Pavements" and read that SFJ thing in the New Yorker here about Amy Winehouse and her retro junkie cool, and saw The Dap-Kings live with Sharon Jones in this time, a few months back, and lived within all that for a while, and came to realise that the Dap Kings were as vaudevile as anyone and Jones has a seriously embedded schtick, but the thing is: Then I was in an op-shop and got a $5 shirt but then also a Burt Bacharach record and focussed for too long on "Raindrops Keep Falling On Your Head" and thought: Duffy, Fluffy, Nuffy, enough.
Cajun Dance Party helped in these troubles too. It's heartening that a band so of the moment can have a deft grip on the excessively jaunty but also on the teardrop aesthetic of "No Joanna", which is such a simple prospect, a boy in love with a girl who doesn't love him back. He's not the Lone Ranger there, huh? And for me it was like, well, thank God, I can recognise you, you're not 1963 and there she goes: she sits on the wall, smiling, laughing and asking for more: we've seen that, it hurts. Whereby "Colourful Life" kind of emerges from the beginning of the album as if the album existed way before any listener got to grips with it, and it jigs along amongst handclaps and useful rythmns, not as African as Vampire Weekend, not as tight as The Las, not too far from The Chills and distantly yet obviously related to both The Feelies and The Beatles.
They have been like a clock to me in these few days. Bringing me back.
Both songs are from their album "This Colourful Life.'
It's got wilted sunflowers on the cover.
cajun dance party - no joanna (expired mp3)
cajun dance party - colourful life (expired mp3)
4 comments:
Oh Bernard!! I have read with interest some of the savage criticism directed Butler's way as a result of his production on Duffy's album. Granted, the Duffy album is pretty "meh" (although you must admit, "Mercy" is a killer single), but come on...this is Bernard Butler we are talking about. Surely he deserves a bit of slack cut his way. By definition, isn't anything he puts his name to worth listening to/owning?
It's heresy I know but I never really liked Suede, except for "Aninmal Nitrate" and "Metal Mickey." But the problem -- the blockage -- was more to do with the singer than the guitarist.
Heresy I know!
Oh Chris, I don't know what to say...you don't like Brett Anderson? I am quite stunned. Have you heard his solo album? Fantastic stuff. He is in my all time top 10 frontman list. Others in said list include: Scott Weiland, Axl Rose, Chris Cornell, Layne Stanley and...well, maybe Simon Day. Anyway, I urge you to listen to Brett's solo album!
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