{"id":4429,"date":"2015-06-05T19:17:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T18:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/?p=4429"},"modified":"2013-05-30T16:23:26","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T15:23:26","slug":"album-reviews-may-2013-by-scenester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/album-reviews-may-2013-by-scenester\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherry Red Album Reviews &#8211; May 2013 by Scenester"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>The Armoury Show<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_armoury_show.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"the_armoury_show\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_armoury_show.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"249\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/armouryshow.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Waiting for the Floods<\/em> &#8211; <strong>The Armoury Show<\/strong> (Cherry Red 564)<\/p>\n<p>A welcome CD re-release of The Armoury Show\u2019s 1985 LP \u2018Waiting for the Floods\u2019 dropped through my door one morning, as if I\u2019d called out for it personally. Formed from the smouldering ashes of The Skids and Magazine, the Armoury Show seemed destined for greatness on the strength of their history and collective will. That their hard work and talent would not prove enough to propel them to stardom is one of the sadder tales of thwarted ambition from that varied, often confused and arguably rudderless musical decade.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/armouryshow.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"margin: 5px 10px;\" alt=\"armouryshow\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/armouryshow.jpg\" width=\"346\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Even if the 80\u2019s are either a distant memory or curious pre-history to you, there\u2019s much to enjoy about this 2-CD collection. The signature sound of the mid-decade is brought to full, exuberant life by the seamless blending of John Doyle\u2019s steady pounding drums, Richard Jobson\u2019s joyous, rangy vocals and John McGeoch\u2019s relentless, charging guitars, making every song like a triumphal march. \u2018Castles in Spain\u2019, their 1984 debut single, is a standout, even by the high standard they set, and their follow-up, \u2018We Can Be Brave Again\u2019, another vociferous battle hymn, is a hint that the band may have been better off spending their talent more sparingly.<\/p>\n<p>Remixes were practically mandatory for any young band of the period, and the second CD is packed to the edge with these expanded variations. The thumping, rattling \u2018New York City\u2019 seems the product of a master class in how to produce US-style urban dance music in the 80\u2019s style. It was one which bands as diverse as New Order and Yes benefitted from. That it didn\u2019t do The Armoury Show a bit of good is a crying shame. If only more bands of the era could have put as much effort and imagination into their work, our later musical landscape would have looked and sounded very different.\u00a0Buy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/shopexd.asp?id=4096\" target=\"_blank\">HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>The House of Love<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4433 alignnone\" alt=\"the_house_of_love\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_house_of_love.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_house_of_love.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_house_of_love-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/the_house_of_love-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>She Paints Words In Red<\/em> &#8211; <strong>The House of Love<\/strong> (Cherry Red)<\/p>\n<p>The House of Love seemed to have everything going for them in the late 80\u2019s \/ early 90\u2019s; their gentle, melodic 60\u2019s inspired rock was the signature sound of the era. Fashions in music change as quickly and completely as the sartorial, however, and they, like many others of the same stamp, were left marooned on Indie Island whilst seemingly the rest of the world turned on to some sort of addictive Mediterranean dance rhythm, the poor fools.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/houseoflove.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4449 alignnone\" alt=\"houseoflove\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/houseoflove.jpg\" width=\"346\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Their reformation in 2003 may have passed some of us by, but their new album is unlikely to suffer that fate. Old fans will be delighted at the return of those lullaby-tone vocals, languorous, country tinged melodies and driving rhythms. Guy Chadwick\u2019s compositions revisit the ever-fertile territory of life\u2019s challenges, love and relationships with his characteristic confessionals and deft turns of phrase all intact. Other original members Terry Bickers and Pete Evans, together with bassist Matt Jury, provide classic backing to Guy\u2019s meditations on the twists and turns life presents to us.<\/p>\n<p>Predicting what a generation raised on televised mediocrity festivals like Britain\u2019s Got Loads of MOR Singers will think of the finer side of indie rock is surely impossible, but if they have inherited the innate curiosity and restlessness that informed their parents\u2019 musical journey, they\u2019ll give She Paints Words in Red a listen. If they do, they\u2019ll find soaring guitars, melancholic moods, sensitive phrasing, and a depth of feeling that may just awaken in them the same emotions that enlivened even the rich music scene of the late 80\u2019s. Buy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/shopexd.asp?id=4010\" target=\"_blank\">HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Kim Fowley<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kim_fowley.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4452\" alt=\"kim_fowley\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kim_fowley.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kim_fowley.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kim_fowley-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kim_fowley-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Wildfire -The Complete Imperial Recordings 1968-69<\/em> <strong>Kim Fowley<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u00a0(Tune In 009D)<\/p>\n<p>Those resourceful folk at Tune In records have come up with a remarkable double CD reissue of the recorded works of one of the East Coast rock scene\u2019s true originals, Kim Fowley. Squeezing these three untamed, lysergic emanations from the analogue age onto two mirror-rainbow\u2019d digital age discs means that the instrumental \u2018Born to be Wild\u2019 is split over the discs. It makes as much sense as anything else on here.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kimfowley.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[4429]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-4453\" alt=\"kimfowley\" src=\"http:\/\/eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/kimfowley.jpg\" width=\"346\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That \u2018Outrageous\u2019 actually sold in respectable numbers, and is revered by some as the real deal of psychedelia, will come as a surprise if your only knowledge of Fowley is as producer to legendary all-female band, The Runaways. With a capable backing band doing their damnedest to hold all together, Fowley rants and raves, whispers and howls, and drawls and drools his way through some of the most libidinous, incoherent, hallucinary, rambling wig outs ever committed to tape. Never straying too far from the sleaze of Sunset Strip, this LP contains more Haight Ashbury than Haight Ashbury would have been comfortable with.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Born to be Wild\u2019s unremarkable covers of popular fare are seemingly aimed at a more relaxed sort of rock fan , more supper club than full-on freak out, and in some dank, festering parallel world, could even be termed easy listening. The LP is well worth persisting with for \u2018Pictures of Matchstick Men\u2019 alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Good Clean Fun\u2019 lives up to its obviously ironic name, but has its moments of nervous tension, abject terror even, but still manages to sound like something that could be played without trying the patience of its audience, unlike the more lurid moments of \u2018Outrageous\u2019.\u00a0File under \u2018Strange, surprising journey\u2019 rather than \u2018For students of the macabre only\u2019. Buy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/shopexd.asp?id=4073\" target=\"_blank\">HERE!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Armoury Show Waiting for the Floods &#8211; The Armoury Show (Cherry Red 564) A welcome CD re-release of The Armoury Show\u2019s 1985 LP \u2018Waiting for the Floods\u2019 dropped through my door one morning, as if I\u2019d called out for it personally. Formed from the smouldering ashes of The Skids and Magazine, the Armoury Show &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,128,88,71,87,92,74,86],"tags":[740,739,305,737,738],"series":[],"class_list":["post-4429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garage","category-hot-plugs","category-indie","category-music","category-pop","category-post-punk","category-reviews","category-rock","tag-80s","tag-kim-fowley","tag-scenester","tag-the-armoury-show","tag-the-house-of-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4429"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4438,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429\/revisions\/4438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4429"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=4429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}