Label: Round Records
Review By: Alan Holloway
You can’t keep a good man down, and as far as catchy pop rock is concerned Ginger (he of The Wildhearts) surpassed ‘good’ many years ago. Hey! Hello! Made some great songs but circumstances stopped them getting started properly, and it’s great that this has emerged as the first full length offering from the group.
Straight off it’s clear that this is the sort of album that fans of the Wildhearts’ more energetic output will adore. It’s a seething mass of guitars and attitude, all wrapped up in sugar sweet melodies and singalong choruses. Delve deeper than the surface melodies and you get sublimely seditious lyrics, with the seeming innocuous ‘Kids’ telling you that ‘Kids are gonna screw you up’, whilst the perfect cover of Sailor’s ’Glass Of Champagne’ replaces the titular tipple with a line of cocaine. Of course, if you want something that’s subtle as a half brick to the face just try ‘Loud & Fucking Clear’ which sounds exactly as you’d expect. Later in the album comes ‘Body Parts’ which is in Japanses (with 6 words in English as the chorus) yet still manages to be a a singalong song. Ginger’s vocals are great as ever, and he is joined by Ai (who also provides drums) who is a perfect female counterpoint (and lead), giving the album an extra dimension and fresh life.
“Hey! Helllo! Too!” is never less that thoroughly entertaining, stuffed to the gills with catchy tracks that manage to be heavy as fuck yet accessible to more delicate ears. It’s one of those albums that demands to be played more than once, and aural high that will leave you exhausted but happy. This is certainly one of the best albums Ginger has had his mucky paws in, and if you’re a fan you will know this is high praise indeed. A must listen for all that are wild at heart.
Official Site
No comments:
Post a Comment