album reviews

i’ll point you in the direction of his first album, as i think its a much better album

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007E1YC/qid=1106663993/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-8614230-4019647

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00025OIOW/qid=1106664145/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_8_3/026-8614230-4019647

The Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad
ocean colour scene

A month early, i was delighted to have the promo of ocs’s new album arrive in front of me, without wasting my time, i listened to it right away, and was’nt dissapointed

EVERYTHING COMES AT THE RIGHT TIME

the first track on the album, like in ocs tradition, a real stompa of a track, Simon almost shouts out the lyrics at times, before it beautifully ends 9 OUT OF 10

FREE MY NAME

the first single, the only negative is that its so short, Oscar adds a superb drum solo through the middle, where you wish he would keep on going and take over the song a bit longer. 8 OUT OF 10

WAH! WAH!

A George Harrison song, the first cover on an ocs album since stave wonders ‘get yourself together’ the former Beatle if alive would have no complaints of this classic track, a real stompa of a track again, like the first two 8 OUT OF 10

DRIVE AWAY

time to slow things down again, a great melody, and a chorus you are bound to sing along too, a typical ocs song

9 OUT OF 10

THIS DAY SHOULD LAST FOREVER

Simon again delves into his folk influence, with legendary folk master John McCusker lending his tallents, its nice to see such a song on an ocs album, very rare.. and adds something different to the album, again.. you are bound to sing along 8 OUT OF 10

I LOVE YOU

the first of the 2 weak songs on the album, I am no sure Simon suits the song, when screaming out…

“and I’ll take the time to say…. I love you”

it doesn’t work for me, and I feel over produced, maybe if it was Simon on his guitar alone, it would sound better 6 OUT OF 10

MOVE THINGS OVER

the second weak track, can’t seem to get into this, the sort of background music I guess for those romantic nights, it doesn’t really go anywhere or take off 7 OUT OF 10

WAVING NOT DROWING

back to form again, a classic track, possibly a single, jools Holland and Paul Weller contribute it to add that edge to it, again great lyrics.. a catch chorus 9 OUT OF 10

GODS WORLD

something different again to the ocs sound, but a great track, its fast, its Beatty. and it works 9 OUT OF 10

ANOTHER TIME TO STAY

a beautiful track, with some lovely lyrics, defiantly will be a single without a doubt… “all of us bring a smile” 9 OUT OF 10

HAVE YOU GOT THE RIGHT

its Simons song, very short.. but just him and his guitar mainly, with sounds added around him, very short.. a good album breaker 8 OUT OF 10

START OF THE DAY

possible the best of the lot, a vintage chorus line, high vocals, its a song you don’t wish to end, the song was originally a ‘real peoples’ song, who are best mates with the band, ocs took it over and added there own sound to it

10 OUT OF 10

MY TIME

Oscar sings the vocals, no one in the world would guess its an ocs song, its a nice tune.. and we begin to wonder why its taken 16 years for Oscar to have lead vocals in a song 8 OUT OF 10

CONCLUSION

8 out of 10

the two weak songs, and the fact a cover is on the album, stops it from getting top marks, but failing that, another superb album, maybe i am biased, but it will be good to see it do well, and a lot more people benifit from the ocean colour scene sound, you can knock them down, but you will never kill them

The wait is over. Three years on from ‘Illumination’ and a year since his highly acclaimed covers album ‘Studio 150’, you have in your hands fourteen new songs from Paul Weller, entitled simply ‘As Is Now’. The good news doesn’t end there. Fired up by both his break from writing and the resurgence in British guitar bands -many of whom were inspired to pick up a guitar in the first place by Paul- ‘As Is Now’ is quite simply a milestone record; a dazzling return to the form which made ‘Wildwood’ and ‘Stanley Road’ central texts to Britpop a decade ago.
“I felt that I needed a break from writing songs, but I didn’t want to do a covers record until I felt the time was right “ he explains.
“But doing ‘150’ gave me the space to not worry about it for a while. And then suddenly a whole load of songs came along at once…”

Work on ‘As Is Now’ started, as customary, with Paul working on demos at his own personal studio Black Barn. However, following his rapturously received Spring tour-which culminated in an emotional string of gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo- Paul decided to bring the band into the studio immediately to capture both their intensity and explosive energy on tape.
“It was the best thing to do because we were still buzzing off the tour and we knew the basic outlines of the songs already because we’d been messing around with them at sound-checks. I really wanted to get that feeling of energy and excitement of cutting it live onto the record…”

Re-united with the production team responsible for the stripped back sound of ‘Studio 150’- Jan ‘Stan’ Kybert and engineer Joeri Saal Wisseloord ….–the results are startling. Working straight eight hour days over a labour intensive fortnight at Oasis’ Wheeler End Studio, the band (as ever: Steve Cradock; guitar, Steve White; drums; Damon Minchella; bass) conjured up a rare alchemy, alternating between a kinetic fury unseen since Paul’s days with The Jam (epic first single ‘From The Floorboards Up’) bucolic astro-folk (‘On A Misty Morning’) and heartbreaking late-night piano excursions (‘The Pebble And The Boy’) which nod to the Style Council’s deeply under-rated ‘Confessions Of A Pop Group’.

But that’s not all. You can dive into the pure punk power-pop of ‘Come On / Let’s Go’; slow-dance to the majestic ballad ‘I Wanna Make It Alright’ or wallow in the guitar crescendo’s of Hendrix-esque opener ‘Blink And You’ll Miss It’, which itself splinters into the powerhouse stomp of ‘Paper Smile’, arguably the most ‘scouse-rock’ tune ever created outside Merseyside. ‘Bring Back the Funk (pts 1 & 2)’ , meanwhile, sees the band all turn in career-best performances, led by a songwriter who happily admits to being inspired by everything from Debussy to Coltrane to Parliament to, yes, the Small Faces.
“People think I listen to the Small Faces all day every day” he smiles.
“But they’re wrong. That’s only between ten and midday…”

The result, for the first time, is a record which reflects all the facets of Paul’s career whilst still sounding completely instinctive, and, crucially, bang up to date.
“I didn’t really think about what the songs were sounding like, it’s just the way they came out. There’s a lot of love in this record. ‘Floorboards’ stemmed from something me and Steve (White) talk about; that when you play live on a good night the music doesn’t come from the band, but from the energy of the crowd. It’s that power you’re always looking to tap into to…”

Pushing the limits has always been the musical credo for Paul Weller. From his time with The Jam- still, for many the most inspirational group of the last thirty years -through the pop genius of The Style Council, to his ever-evolving solo career he has always remained true to the modernist ideal of keeping one step ahead of the throng.
Now, with an entire new generation of bands inspired by his music, mindset and-let’s face it-wardrobe, trust Paul to come up with what the man himself considers to be his best work to date.
And that title?
”I was in Rome with my girlfriend and I went to see an exhibition of sixties British artists. A print by Eduardo Paolozzi caught my eye called ‘As Is When’ (1965). I just liked the simplicity of it. I just tweaked the title a bit. For me it’s an acknowledgement of living in the moment, and enjoying what’s there in front of you…”

Which brings us back to where we came in. Fourteen brand new songs from the greatest British songwriter of his generation. Crank it up loud. Mr Weller we’ll see you in the speakers