After sinking from 10 to 22 on the UK chart at the end of January, after only
two weeks, British Sea Power don’t seem to have the energy to
sustain the their tidal wave on the album chart. They’re still floating higher
on the Indie chart, having dropped two places to four at the time.
Do You Like Rock Music? is BSP’s third in five years and
continues their penchant for juxtaposing epic and sweeping pomp pop with edgey
cacophonic wanderings and indulgent leanings, a touch of musical yin and yang,
that sets the Brighton quartet apart from their contemporaries.
They truly rubber
stamp the Indie label ethos of doing things their way, and in their own fashion
are Brit-troubadours, though serious longevity may be beyond them.
This is a band made for festivals that might just follow in the footsteps of the
likes of The Coral – that’s where comparisons end though.
What BSP need right now is a killer single – there’s little here that qualifies,
except the lightweight and tuneful Open The Door. Waving Flags was released
on January 7th, but soon dropped out of the Top 40. Nevertheless, the album,
admittedly after some rotation does have a certain appeal, even the quirky and
pompous All In It has enough impact to keep you hanging in there.
Blast-off happens on the rousing Lights Out - bags of ragged guitar by
Yan (or Noble) stir the underlying thrust. Keeping the pace and power No Lucifer
follows, bouncing with stadium guitar solos, while Waving Flags turns
out to be their, sort of, most accessible song.
Anthemic, epic pop at its best. Further in, The Great Skua is made for
stadiums, cruising along to some deft stickwork by Mat Wood, with Atom living
up to its explosive title. In sharp contrast, No Need To Cry is as near
they get to a balladeering, bringing out their most polished work.
1. All In It
2. Lights Out For Darker Skies
3. No Lucifer
4. Waving Flags
5. Canvey Island
6. Down On The Ground
7. A Trip Out
8. The Great Skua
9. Atom
10. No Need To Cry
11. Open The Door
12. We Close Our Eyes
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:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
