The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home
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The Long Blondes
Release Date: 06/11/06
Label: Rough Trade
Rating: 9/10
The Long Blondes are doused in the past, but what a pleasant marinade they've chosen. This, their debut long player, opens with 'Lust in the Movies' - a rip-roaring rompalong, reminiscent of recent efforts by The Raveonettes and The Pipettes. But where others could be seen as modern interpretations of sounds long-gone, The Long Blondes mix things up, with busy guitars springing around tightly-knit bass and drums, resulting in a big load of lovely.
A re-recording of ‘Giddy Stratospheres’ may perturb connoisseurs, but fortunately a re-jig here and there has worked wonders for it - what was implosive is now highly explosive. There's also a whiff of Debbie Harry's hairspray in this, which when mixed with some fairly angular guitar work, could fool the listener into thinking someone gave The Organ some Prozac. Meanwhile, 'Separated By Motorways' clunks southbound down the M1, beating all other opposition not with speed, but with grace and good looks. If this album had wheels, they'd be chrome and you'd want them.
Blondie references come back to haunt in 'You Could Have Both' - solidly pleasing on the ear, but highlights the fact that the keyboards throughout this album are largely superfluous. Also, it's hacksawed down the middle with a gnawing spoken-word breakdown, which is largely inexplicable and not overly emotive. But yeah, perhaps, like, that's the point.
'Someone To Drive You Home' has issues. It sounds very jealous. Jealous of you, your friends and the fact that you don't know nothing. It wags fingers at you, telling you that you're too young and everyone else is a bit silly sometimes. There's also a lot of imperatives throughout this album. So, as proceedings roll to a standstill, mouthings of "don't go to London" strike as both an order and brooding characterisation. Everything comes together beautifully, and one can only hope that under the guiding hand of Rough Trade, 'Someone To Drive You Home' will get the recognition it deserves.
Richard Bendall-Jones
The Long Blondes Official Site
The Long Blondes Myspace
Buy The Long Blondes CDs | Buy The Long Blondes mp3s | Buy The Long Blondes Tickets | Buy The Long Blondes Merch
Release Date: 06/11/06
Label: Rough Trade
Rating: 9/10
The Long Blondes are doused in the past, but what a pleasant marinade they've chosen. This, their debut long player, opens with 'Lust in the Movies' - a rip-roaring rompalong, reminiscent of recent efforts by The Raveonettes and The Pipettes. But where others could be seen as modern interpretations of sounds long-gone, The Long Blondes mix things up, with busy guitars springing around tightly-knit bass and drums, resulting in a big load of lovely.
A re-recording of ‘Giddy Stratospheres’ may perturb connoisseurs, but fortunately a re-jig here and there has worked wonders for it - what was implosive is now highly explosive. There's also a whiff of Debbie Harry's hairspray in this, which when mixed with some fairly angular guitar work, could fool the listener into thinking someone gave The Organ some Prozac. Meanwhile, 'Separated By Motorways' clunks southbound down the M1, beating all other opposition not with speed, but with grace and good looks. If this album had wheels, they'd be chrome and you'd want them.
Blondie references come back to haunt in 'You Could Have Both' - solidly pleasing on the ear, but highlights the fact that the keyboards throughout this album are largely superfluous. Also, it's hacksawed down the middle with a gnawing spoken-word breakdown, which is largely inexplicable and not overly emotive. But yeah, perhaps, like, that's the point.
'Someone To Drive You Home' has issues. It sounds very jealous. Jealous of you, your friends and the fact that you don't know nothing. It wags fingers at you, telling you that you're too young and everyone else is a bit silly sometimes. There's also a lot of imperatives throughout this album. So, as proceedings roll to a standstill, mouthings of "don't go to London" strike as both an order and brooding characterisation. Everything comes together beautifully, and one can only hope that under the guiding hand of Rough Trade, 'Someone To Drive You Home' will get the recognition it deserves.
Richard Bendall-Jones
The Long Blondes Official Site
The Long Blondes Myspace
Buy The Long Blondes CDs | Buy The Long Blondes mp3s | Buy The Long Blondes Tickets | Buy The Long Blondes Merch
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