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SINGLE OF THE MONTH!
THE DONNAS - "Take It Off"
The best US punk band of the last twenty years return to show the pretenders how it should be done. Unlike, say, Courtney Love, they clearly believe that life is waaaayyyy too short to worry about things and "Take It Off" is a superb riff-charged slice of Runaways-style pop-punk with the sort of "don't give a fuck" attitude that some of the dull alpha male "punk" bands of the last year (the Strokes, the Libertines) can only wish that they had. If this doesn't set the charts alight, we here at the Vault will be very disappointed indeed. We like. (5/5)
THE REST
Yet again, this appears to be a month where your average reviewer can divide a neat line down between the "indie" and "rock" sectors of the singles. Same shit, different day and all that.
Anyway, we'll start with the rock sector and Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong" (2/5) which starts off quite neat with some sparse electronica and acoustic guitars before rapidly degenerating into bog-standard self-pitying rap metal toss thus causing everyone over the age of 16 to rapidly lose interest. D'oh. At least Cradle Of Filth are honest about what they do - elephantine goth-metal blood 'n' guts ludicrousness. It doesn't necessarily make "Babylon AD" (2/5) any better but at least they're being straight with us about it. A better bet would be for you to check out Placebo's comeback single "The Bitter End" (3/5) which has a nervy edginess to it that a lot of their more material has badly lacked. Worth a look.
The Used's main claim to fame is that their lead singer Bert McCracken used to step out with Kelly Osbourne and, on the evidence of "Taste Of Ink" (2/5) which sounds like a poor man's Incubus, that seems unlikely to change in the near future. Ho hum. On a more sedate tip, Stone Sour's "Bother" (3/5) is a grunge ballad-by-numbers but in a strange way, is lifted above Staind/Puddle of Mudd blandness by the fact that Corey Taylor has a much more listenable voice than Aaron Lewis and Wes Scantlin. Slipknot fans will hate it but it's...y'know, alright.
In terms of viciously cold calculation to sell records, rawk vixen Harry walks away with this month's award by a country mile with her fired-up cover of Belouis Some's "Imagination" (3/5) and is accompanied by a video that...well, let's just say that "cor blimey missus" is the phrase that springs to mind. World domination almost surely awaits and crap Weezer wannabe punk-wock-lite types OK Go are currently crying into their Bud that the best they could manage this month is the ultra-tame Blink 182 soundalike "Get Over It" (2/5).
However, if it's par-tay metal you want then you could do a lot worse than check out the excellent new single from the D4. "Ladies Man" (4/5) is so gloriously sleazy that you wonder if it's actually legal in this country. Suffice to say that it pisses on the Datsuns from a great height and, if there's any justice, will give these New Zealanders their first Top 40 hit over here. Hives wannabe punkers Radio 4 try a similar scuzz-punk trick on "Eyes Wide Open" (3/5) but, while okay-ish, it's very much a poor relation to the be-suited Scandinavians. Similarly, Kinesis' "And They Obey" (3/5) badly wants to be early Manics but can't quite carry it off. Promising though.
On into indie-land we go then and as usual, there's an annoying amount of stuff that can best be described as "dull" clogging up the old desk. Coldplay's new single "Clocks" (2/5) actually starts off okay with a nice little piano motif that for some reason reminds me of "Rio" by Duran Duran before Chris Martin's wailing vocals come in and force your brain to switch right off. Ah well. Similarly, the Cardigans' new effort "For What It's Worth" (2/5) while not exactly pure evil, is just way too dull to be noteworthy. But then seeing as it's a good seven years since they last did what could be termed a "memorable single" ("Rise And Shine" probably) perhaps that's no surprise.
News just in - the Scouse psychedelists appear to be massing on our borders. The Coral return with a new song this month called "Don't Think You're The First" (3/5) which is a pleasant little downbeat number while Ooberman, four years on from their brief brush with fame, are still vainly trying and failing to find a way back with over-egged whimsy like "First Day Of The Holidays" (2/5). Credit to them for still plugging away but they've missed the boat yet again here. Also back and plugging away are baggy one-hit wonders the Mock Turtles who've re-released the aforementioned hit "Can You Dig It?" (3/5) on the back of it being used in a mobile ad. It was a pleasantly inoffensive tune back then and it still is now. But there was really no need to re-release Brassy's dreadful "Play Some D" (1/5) again - it was dire back in 2000 and it still is now. Whoever decided this corpse needed exhuming wants their head examining.
Much-touted Irish West Coast wannabes the Thrills make a competent enough debut with the Mercury Rev-aping "One Horse Town" (3/5) which sounds great to begin with but could've done with a bit more oomph in the chorus. Better luck next time guys. At least it's not as bad as the Burn's shambolic Heavy Stereo rip-off "Drunken Fool" (2/5). This lot have a Noel Gallagher endorsement and, considering the last band he gave one of those to was Proud Mary (remember them? Exactly), that probably says everything. Cut from similarly Dadrock-infested cloth are Athlete whose "El Salvador" (2/5) single sounds like Cast - plenty of effort but just not very memorable. But at least they aren't as bad as Mew whose "Comforting Sounds" (1/5) single digs up the fetid corpse of Chapterhouse and fellates it for all it's worth. Hanging's too good for 'em.
Should you want a new band to get excited about this month, allow me to point you in the direction of new Piers Fanta types Agent Blue whose "Snowhill" (4/5) single sounds like an ultra-angry Cooper Temple Clause with guitars like a swarm of wasps and vocals which veer between angry and downright rabid. Hopefully, the start of the road for a band destined for bigger things.
So that's that then, indie and rock bits all done and...oh wait, there's something left in here...oh Christ, how did that get through? You've guessed it, it's Avril Lavigne's new single "I'm With You" (1/5) and it's the sound of the wheels well and truly falling off the skater bandwagon as the garage punk wannabe churns out a dire sub-Pat Benatar ballad capable of making anyone with any sense retch at fifty paces. Proof that skaters' taste in music really isn't much cop all told.
All singles reviewed by Andy James
