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April 2007

Rating: 6/10

Brighton already has one famous resident – Fat Boy Slim.

The Electric Soft Parade are also residents, apparently, but have yet to acquire a similar status. So will this third album propel them into the big time?

Previous albums haven’t done well, so they’ve parted company with their major label, with brothers Alex and Tom White going to Truck Records. Bits of it will be very appealing to the mainstream, but some bits will be the reserve of musos. When it works, it works really well, and is unlike anything on the current scene.

In parts, their music has definite '60s trippy hippy leanings – Shore Song (a la Devendra Banhart/Sufjan Stevens) blended with current chart pop outings like heavy chord riffed Misunderstanding (a great single lads.. come on get it out !) and crunching rocker If That’s The Case (this too a potential single).

Secrets is the type of alt-country outing by Micah. P. Hinson – sparse and hollow acoustic guitar and vocals which juxtapose perfectly with its predecessor, though it does rise to a heavily brassed-up and percussive crescendo.

Amazingly, Cold War could have been right out of a McCartney '60s songbook, with its upbeat and catchy hooks – maybe a tribute to Macca? Elsewhere, we get glorious music from the likes of Come Back Inside despite its cacophonous ending.

Title track, parts 1 and 2 show their versatility and the strength in depth in terms of songwriting, though Life In A Backseat is their only major weak spot.

Their potential is immense.

Weblinks: electricsoftparade.com / myspace.com/electricsoftparade / truckrecords.com

The full list of tracks included are :

1. No Need To Be Down Hearted (Part 1) 2. Life In The Backseat 3. Woken By A Kiss 4. If That’s The Case, Then I Don’t Know 5. Shore Song 6. Misunderstanding 7. Secrets 8. Cold World 9. Have You Ever Felt Like It’s Too Late ? 10. Come Back Inside 11. Appropriate Ending 12. No Need To Be Downhearted (Part 2)

Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008. For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online, email Elly or call 07765 862017.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: