Caught out there – The Darkness
First in a new series…bands that I liked at the time but looking back, what the hell was i thinking. And I know I’m not alone…
Yes, the Darkness, faux shag rockers from East Anglia. Rockers don’t come from East Anglia. Cambridge hosts the most world’s most famous folk festival, please leave us and our webbed feet alone thank you.
But, as if caught up in some guilt-led excitement, i was the music equivalent of a girl just out of convent school, breaking all the catholic rules…i confess, i spent a whole day at the Darkness video shoot.
It’s easy to look back and sneer, but their gig at The Garage was genuinely exciting, Justin led around the crowd on the shoulders of his Roadie, proper power chords and harmonies on the lead guitar. Wonderful…see there I go again!!
Ok, lets be honest, it was fun while it lasted. But lets not play them in public again. Except at Christmas, because in one song, they found their purpose. Don’t let the Bells End just yet.
Guilt-trippers
Andy Brown and Carolyn – it’s all your fault
Kris – Blame your dad and his stadium rock heritage
James R and Bev – I’m sure you were on the ride with me
Matt Christie – I bet you were in a tribute band
Claire - Anything this cheesy has your prints all over
Innocent guv
Russ S – Wouldn’t even bat an eyelid
Paul – Nothing better than the real thing, so doubt you went near them
Mash secret rocker – Please say you didn’t!
Mika
Why?
A falsetto voice and exuberant nature does not make you Freddie Mercury.
How do you get big gig slots? Really? My hairdresser likes you. I used to respect hairdressers.
You were listed in all the newspapers’ ones to watch for 2006 or something like that, which goes to show how staged the whole thing is. You just happened to have a big push on for the start of that year, so the newspapers can all say – look our prediction is spot on. Yes I’m still bitter.
You’re ruining my enjoyment of Heroes on DVD everytime the genius boy Mika is on. Instead of following the plot I get your annoying grinning mug in my mind and a high pitched squeal kicks in.
And no, you don’t get a link to a myspace. Or recommended to any of my friends, even if they shamelessly secretly like you. You should be banned. Even on Magic FM.
Thanks
Fleeting fancy?
Harmonies. Brian Wilson.
Hands up who likes the Beach Boys? Me too (with the exception of Cocamo “Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna. take ya, Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama” – I mean, dear God, stop please stop!)
Somewhere, someone may have written a Beach Boys review without mentioning the word harmonies, although i doubt it. But that’s fine, they’ve nailed some of the most sublime ones out there.
But there are bands that haven’t. Yet lazy reviewers just can’t help themselves. Oooo a harmony, must pay homage to the great God Wilson and his band of merry and eventually beardy men.
So can I introduce Fleet Foxes, recommended to me by my friend Beth.
“While many young musicians who are admirers of The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel et al succumb to pastiche, Pecknold is able to distil such influences into something related but fresh.” - The Independent
“Of their contemporaries only the enigmatic Midlake and My Morning Jacket at their most fragile come close, but neither could have cooked up the Beach Boys spiritual of White Winter Hymnal” - Amazon
“Fleet Foxes, a five-piece from near Washington, are like The Beach Boys if they were a folk band” - The Guardian
“Fleet Foxes owe a lot to Brian Wilson” - Wireless Bollinger
In fact, sod it, just type in ‘fleet foxes beach boys’ in to Google and let the results flood in!
That most of these reviews are tied to the second track on the album ‘White Winter Hymnal’, just makes it more annoying – listen to the whole bloody thing before writing a half-arsed comparison.
To be fair, some people put a bit more effort in and avoided the obvious and names like Fleetwood Mac and Crosby Stills and Nash cropped up, but don’t let that put you off.
Because to answer the question bursting out of you right now, are they any good? Too damn right they are. If you can break through your own cynicism and give yourself up to feelings of untainted happiness.
If you do one thing today it’s this. Click on the link below:
http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes
then choose the track ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’, close your eyes and picture yourself walking through an English wood, in the simple garments, sun through trees and all that, no one else to trouble your journey, because you’re in the wilderness and only a deer may disturb you. Ahhhh, happiness. Whisper it to yourself…the f word…
Folk.
It’s part of us all, just let go and embrace it. And once you do you’ll love the whole album.
Recommended for:
Vicki HF – You’ve got the style for it
Andrew T – Not quite accordion material, but one to play on the tour bus
Steer clear:
Paul – Not for fighter pilots, I dread to think what would happen to you if your fellow officers heard you playing this.
James F – ditto property developers
