Much as I often complain about the amount of stuff we get through for review, it’s simply as I know we’ll end up missing out on some quality music that we wish we could be giving a bit of a push. Four hundred albums a month is a lot to have dropping through your mailbox, but we do the best we can. Fortunately The Golden Grass’s Coming Back Again, their second release, is one that I didn’t miss out on though it has been out for a week now.
The six tracks run to just under forty minutes with a couple of them being lengthy beasts, in particular “Down The Line” which has an extended, trippy, “lie back and enjoy the colours” section to it. Thing is, this fits with the tone of the band who come across as a trio of hippies who missed out on the seventies so are intent on reinventing it. Socially not the best idea, but from a musical perspective completely understandable. Except disco, obviously.
There’s a little something extra to their sound as well – an edge of southern rock – but The Golden Grass are predominantly a harkback to the days of Jefferson Airplane and the Rolling Stones before Keith was replaced by a seemingly indestructible drug-guzzling robot. [update – I have been assured that that is still really Keith Richards. Bloody hell – Mosh]
While the longer songs do drag a little for me – I can imagine them being toilet time opportunities in a live show – the more focussed sections and the other songs are great little rockers. “Get It Together” starts the album off nicely with some warm and fuzzy tones wrapped round the funk. The simple chorus just screams “men with beards and knitted sweaters over their shoulders”.
“Reflections” is more spaced out and a tad proggy / experimental sounding, and is followed by the 8-minute “Shadow Traveler” which features a nice line in distorted mouth organ. Or maybe it’s a disgruntled muted trumpet. What do I know? I write about music, I don’t play it. Dual vocals drive the lyrical story on and it actually doesn’t feel it’s length. It’s an extended boogie.
“Hazy Daybreak” is a twinkly acoustic instrumental which fills a small gap nicely before the aforementioned “Down The Line”.
The album ends with a slower number, “See It Through”, which just feels like it would work better if it was a shade faster… though that’s probably just me. It’s still good, I just got the feeling it was being reigned in a little and some of those riffs could have been given a bit more of a gallop.
If you lived through the seventies unscathed, then this is a new album that will send you on a nostalgia trip. Failing that, if you’re one of those annoying 20 or 30-somethings that likes to pretend you did then this is a good album to shove on while you try and figure out how to change the wax in your lava lamp.
Oh the band have recently announced a European tour with a stop-off in London – May 25th, at the Black Heart in Camden.
