Following hot on the heels of the ‘In Memphis 2’ E.P. is The Weisstronauts' latest long player, ’19 Something 9’. So titled as each particular track has a certain flavour applicable to a specific musical decade (or in some cases a crossover between styles and genres).
The cover of the CD is quite retro, the front showing a photograph of some kind of valve electronic equipment, and the back cover a handwritten scrawl with the odd doodle in the style of The Rolling Stones ‘Beggars Banquet’, or The Fall’s ‘Hex Enduction Hour’. The music however is very much removed from both of these, being a selection of the Weisstronauts surf tinged instrumentals.
Opening with ‘Hoopin’’ which is listed as being 1989 style, this is a guitar based instrumental which mixes a hard, driving beat with surf and new wave overtones. From then on, we move into Country & Western territory with ‘Pete’s Straw Hat’ which is listed as 1959 style, although there are tinges of both earlier and later instrumental groups such as The Shadows and The Chantays.
‘Timmy The Smelter’, described as being circa 1969, is a classic. A slow, brooding and ominous instrumental, drenched in fuzz guitar, but with lighter moments, not a million miles away from The Fall’s ‘Riddler’ from their 1986 ‘Bend Sinister’ album. This is one that grows and grows.
‘Frank’s Fedora’ is a nice easy rock ‘n’ roll guitar tune set to a swing beat, which immediately lightens the mood. ‘Sunburn’ which follows, had more 1980s stylings than the 1970s that the publicity blurb states, this also has a few “Mm, mm, mm, Oh, oh, oh” vocals which add to the ambiance, but for one horrifying moment I thought that it was starting along the lines of Boney M’s ‘Rivers of Babylon’. Luckily this was not the case.
|
‘Germ Theory’ was another great instrumental which worked well with some great guitar interplay, but at only 48 seconds long, ended before it should. ‘Pure Gold’ is some modern melodic rock with some surf nuances, whereas ‘Bentley’ was another classic instrumental, mixing both 1960s and 1980s styles really effectively to produce a track that is certainly single material.
The rather oddly titled ‘A Dandy’s Moth Collection’ was another good track which mixes fuzz bass with some distinct Status Quo rock stylings. A remix of ‘Bentley’ followed this, which added nothing to the original.
Finally, the ’19 Something 9 End Theme’ closed the album. This was a super slice of blues mixed with some Stax style soul, but again at under a minute in length finished way before it should.
Overall, I thought that this was a good, solid CD that would be a perfect accompaniment for a long journey.
The Weisstronauts at Bandcamp
|
