OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'QUEEN ANNES, THE'
'Released'   

-  Label: 'Green Monkey Records'
-  Genre: 'Nineties' -  Release Date: '17th June 2016'-  Catalogue No: 'GM1036'

Our Rating:
Yes, The Queen Annes' long overdue album (originally titled Revenge! When it was recorded back in 1997 as a follow up to The Mire) is finally released. If, like me, you never heard of The Queen Annes first time round, this probably doesn't mean much, but it obviously means loads to the folks at Green Monkey Records who have put it out with some very cool artwork indeed.

So the album opens with the horns blasting on Circus Train a decent slightly frazzled psychedelic tune that has some obvious 90's production that needed to be dialled back a lot.

By track 2 the first Bee Gees cover on the album, the wonderfully titled The Earnest Of Being George, they have dialled back said production to make it sound a lot more 60's than 90's: almost like they are trying to recreate the Syd Barret madcap laughing type sound and not doing a bad job of it either. All while covering the Bee Gees!!

She Swims Sideways is almost like The Rain Parade at their slowest and most considered with phased guitars and the need for some proper trippy lighting. What's it All About feels more like something from the very start of the 70's - sort of like the Byrds' more acid fried moments as they long to find out what Love is all about.

Caught Underneath The Light has the sort of brass section you'd expect on a funk or soul single not a psyche rock song but it works really well; like they are trying to ape the Uptown Horns while backing the Downliners Sect while sound tracking a chase scene in a cop show that they view from the corner they describe in the lyrics. It's Not My Life, meanwhile, is a cute little garage-pop song with some really nice vocals set against some very cool trumpet parts.

Kiss Me I'm Dead sounds like they have switched vocalists and gone for a more mid 70's Kitchen sink rock opera sound that I'm not sure works so well until you get to the instrumental freak out which brings the song o its conclusion. Please Come Back is a slow heartfelt plea to get the girl who has dumped him back. It sounds like some of Epic Soundtracks' solo songs: nicely restrained and tugging at the heartstrings.

Drift Apart probably should have been the song before Please Come Back and has the feel of an attempt at a monumental ballad of a failing relationship only rather than being the lighters in the air moment it could have been is much more considered. You're soon down on your hands and knees pleading to stop the relationship falling apart and that guitar solo is meant to help her stay and not drive her away.

I Owe You Nothing could be the reply to the last two songs but has lovely harmonies and wraps all the anger up in them. The words might be spitting bile and that guitar could be quite cutting but is instead rather endearing and leads you in nicely to thinking this a cool upbeat song, but listen to the words and it's a whole other world of pain. A cool trick to pull off. Lady Of The Waves, however, is a strummed almost folk song that sounds like it's an acoustic demo waiting for the rest of the band to contribute their parts to really bring out the ocean imagery in the lyrics.

This Whole World is very cool Beach Boys cover which tries to make them sound a bit like Hermans' Hermits while playing a perfect breezy pop song. They almost pull it off and it has some interesting instrumental passages and noises off that work pretty well.

We then get to the song that made the album for me. From the moment their cover of Harry Braff came on I was sold. It's a great cover of this early Bee Gees gem that most Bee Gees fans would never think was one of theirs. Played like a perfect 60's pop rock gem that it is all about a racing driver. The Bee Gees original film for the song is also worth finding on Youtube.

The album closes with We Picked A Good Day which tries very hard to be Beach Boys-esque and has a very cool if slightly odd piano/organ sound and sepulchral backing vocals which work pretty well.

This album will be a must for collectors of Bee Gees and Beach Boys covers, but its worth getting for some pretty cool songs anyway. And we all need a few great lost albums from the 90's don't we?


Find out more at Green Monkey Records online
  author: simonovitch

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------



QUEEN ANNES, THE - Released