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Bye Bye Sunday Afternoon. Smitt E. Smitty and the Fezztones
A surprisingly fresh sounding single jumps out of my speakers. To be honest, belying the average age of Smitt E. Smitty and the Fezztones's members by a few decades. In Bye Bye Sunday Afternoon the band brings together a lot of what was fun music in the 1970s and 80s and let's add a little Britpop in there as well. Katrina and the Waves, the violin of Dexys' 'Too-Rye-Ay' era. Throw in a little glamrock and female pop. Bye Bye Sunday Afternoon overall contains a great pop vibe, allowing the listener to sing along as well. That is a lot of U.K. names for a Boston band, but wasn't that where the English were kicked out first? And then there's this great violin solo. It has the sound and texture of another great violin solo ending a great rock song. I can hear it but the name of the song and the band do not pop up. It adds tremendously to the fun Smitt E. Smitty and band share with the world.
P.S. Lying in bed the solo entered my head and immediately two songs popped up, 'Coz' I Luv You' by Slade, but that did not satisfy me. It had to be another song from the 70s. The second name popping up in my brain was Roxy Music and it's 'Viva!' live album. But which song? Of course the opening one, 'Out Of The Blue'. Eddie Jobson in great form. The solo in Bye Bye Sunday Afternoon is nearly that good.
It
has taken some time, but here is a punk single with "God save the king"
in its lyrics. "God Save The Queen" is from so long ago that it's about time
too. Lambrini Girls, once from Brighton, goes for it on its new single.
Both songs are a mix of anger, disgust and activism. The energy these
emotions and feelings bring are caught in both God's Country and Body Of
Mine. The outcome is anything but beauty, as it shouldn't Singer (and
guitarist) Phoebe Lunny spits out her lyrics, spittle and all. An
umbrella on the front row at live shows is no luxury. Together with
bassist Lilly Macieira she is Lambrini Girls. Assisted by a drummer with
a mysterious name, 'Banksy', they cook up a storm that underscores the
anger contained in the songs. If anything, Lambrini Girls is the real
thing. All serious, no smiles, punk rules.
"I
swear last night I've met the girl of my dreams", starts one of the
verses of Sunlight. Unfortunately, the dream only lasted for the dream
time of the singer. What lasts for much longer is the rock and roll of
The Lost Weekend Band. In my mind I see the gang of mostly U.K.
musicians in L.A. around 1974-75 with John Lennon as its nucleus.
Rocking and rolling and making some great music on the side of
festivities. The Lost Weekend Band could have been in the background
stomping away in that great U.S. style honky tonk bar stool rock and
roll. A great chugging rhythm, a harmonica player on fire and some great
guitar solos of course. All supporting a singer with a rough voice,
sounding like he has been up and down every rock and roll bar in the
country a few times. There's not that much music around that is instant fun
without having to be innovative in any way. This kind of music has been played in this way for
decades. One of my favourites? The Red Devils. Listening to Sunlight
that band of old has met its match.
One
and a half year ago Frenchy and The Punk made its debut on this blog
with the album 'Zen Ghost'. Siouxie and The Banshees was the reference
of choice of the band, with some other acts from the late 70s to 80s
added by me for good measure. Things have not changed since November
2022. The post punk feel is still a large part of the music. Hypnotized
adds a male voice for the word "hypnotized" here and there. Laying a
link with Austrian band Cari Cari and Dutch band Donna Blue. Not that
the music is similar as such, yet that surf influence combined with a
female singer is the common denominator, together with the love for
music from fairly long ago. It's the post punk of 1980 that sets Frenchy
and The Punk apart. The song has this dark groove that is quite
attractive. Album 'Midnight Garden' is slated for 28 June.
Susanna's
new single is far removed from what I have heard from the Norwegian
singer in the past few years. It starts with a mysterious intro played
by instruments not associated with pop music on a daily basis. The
percussion that joins and the rhythm they create are not daily
sustenance for pop as well. The vocal melody is and in the strongest of
ways. Susanna bears her inner feelings for all to hear, when she sings
about betrayal in love and the pain coming with it. The result is a song
somewhere between a dream and a potential nightmare, with the serious
elements lurking around the corner like a presence that brings
apprehension and tension, without being obviously there. Everyone Knows
is disturbing in that sense. At the same time it is pure beauty. It is
so nice when an artist is able to surprise in such an unexpected yet
very welcome way.
We remain in Scandinavia, one country to the east from my point of view. Sweden's Greenleaf's music could not be more different than Norway's Susanna's though. Had I seen the picture of the band first, I guess I would have clicked the email announcing Avalanche away without further attention paid. In that case I would have missed a great rock song with some (heavy) metal elements. Greenleaf just as easily builds in some psychedelic, symphonic elements into this single. Avalanche has a great interlude lasting, longer and longer, borrowing a little from Pink Floyd as well. And then the metal returns. It is the combination that really works here. Avalanche announces the album 'The Head & The Habit', to be released on 21 June and a Eurpean tour in the fall of 2024. If Avalanche is anything to go on, fans of heavy metal rock should be able to find their way.
With
Heaven Forgive Me this post moves into the psychedelic realm. The song
sounds decent enough, with its firm rhythm, clear sound and crisp
singing singer. The psychedelia sort of hovers in the background, the
wobbly sound of one of the guitars, the keyboard that has a smattering
more of an effect sound than a regular song would have. Just listen to
the intro and you know. The bio writes that Federale with Heaven Forgive
Me wanted to lay a bridge between Lee Hazelwood and Depeche Mode. So
how come they end up with bands like Fiction Factory or China Crisis
from the 80s? That is the outcome for me and I'm not complaining. I
truly liked the best singles of the two bands and I like Heaven Forgive
Me just as much. The single has that perfect mix between body and ether.
They hold on tight not letting the other escape. The result is an
intriguing single that makes me very curious for the album. We will have
to patient, reader, 'Reverb & Seduction' is out only on 12 July.
And
so it happens for the first time in all the years that I am writing
single reviews on this blog, that I notice my eyes getting that prickly
feeling. With The Piper's Call David Gilmour does everything that I did
not expect him to do. No, he's is not my favourite composer of Pink
Floyd, not even number 2. Yet, he does what none of the others have done
in the past 40 years: write a song that would have been outstanding on a
new Pink Floyd album. This is not rehashing familiar sounds like Roger
Waters' first solo album in 25 years of 2019. No, this is familiar while
adding utter brilliance. (And then that great and tough guitar solo at
the end still has to come.) There are so many subtle sounds in The
Piper's call that I may still be discovering some 20 years from now. It
is the mix of familiar little sounds, his good voice and the guitar
solo's sound that makes The Piper's Call sound far tougher than Pink Floyd ever was. Not
the Strat but a Les Paul? David Gilmour has been able to surprise me and
that shows that a musician is never too old to do so. The Piper's Call
is a fantastic single.
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Nilüfer
Yanya until this moment was Erwin Zijleman's territory on this blog. No
longer. With Like I Say (I Runaway), and there's a lot of running in
the video I can tell you, Yanya made her way to my ears. I wonder why
she never caught my ears before, but she hasn't. Yanya makes this kind
of haunted sounding alternative rock on her latest single. It has a
driving acoustic guitar that propels the song forward the whole time.
The electric, distorted, even fuzzed guitars do the rest. Don't forget
the details though. The rhythm is not your every day one either, in
sound as well. Together it makes for interesting listening, with Nilüfer
Yanya singing as if she's a member of a Belgian band from the 1990s.
All together she manages to mix alternative rock with pop in an
intriguing way. I think I have to do some catching up and something to
look forward to in the future.
It's impossible to listen to Primrose Hill without a ton load of associations of music that is far older and much, much better, but also different from what I'm hearing here. As I understand it Primrose Hill is a James McCartney song recorded with assistance of Sean Lennon. (Yes, both sons of very famous fathers.) Trying to let expectations go a little, just like I did two reviews up, I can only come to the conclusion that Primrose Hill is a good song in its own right. The ballad is beautifully recorded and knows the kind of details that make a song that is already nice so good to listen to. At the right moments something new is added to the song that keeps me listening. This McCartney may not be the best singer of the two, his voice suits Primrose Hill exactly. He's not doing anything he can't do and serves the song in the best way. On the side there are a few small The Beatles references. Listen and you'll find them. If anyone is entitled to add a Beatlesque element to their music, it's James and Sean. James McCartney is not so much stepping out of the shadow if his dad. He's avoiding the competition and created his own song and it is certainly worthwhile listening to.
Wout de Natris
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