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Album Review
by SashaS
3-2-2005
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| Lemon Jelly: travel through time's tunes |
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Lemon Jelly: '64-95'
(XL Recordings)
Lemon Jelly - sampledelica, almost
Lemon Jelly live on the outskirts of the mainstream music industry‘s thinking; Lemon Jelly are not real musicians who feel restricted by the obvious and traditional song writing; Lemon Jelly are not afraid to be different in the cloning world… Lemon Jelly will be recognised as pioneers one day…
'64-95' is the third instalment in Lemon Jelly's history of long-players that again bypasses safe option of recreating the proven formula to offer us their most diverse disc yet. Resuming an idea where their limited (and now highly collectable) 'Soft Rock' and 'Rolled Oats' 7"s left off, Lemon Jelly have made an album entirely based upon unlikely samples culled from their, supposing here, vast record collections.
Each track is built around one single snippet and then cooked/seasoned/served out with the full Lemon flavour. They switch between musical styles at will and make an intriguing sounds capes that jam metal, 70s pop, Euro house, R&B, punk, dance, stoner-like hypnosis and more into just one album. Mechanism and machinations…
The title, '64–95', doesn’t refer to the period the twosome [may] consider pop’s golden age but simply signifies the span in years of the various samples they've used that, surprisingly, are not in chronological order. The list of musical mavericks willingly plundered includes 70s pub-rocker Gallagher and Lyle, Scottish post-punkers The Scars, UK R&B star Terri Walker (singing a Monica cover) and none-more-heavy metallers, Masters of Reality.
It all adds to an arsenal of stylistic surprises without losing any flow from one to the next; and it is not only weird but gets near-bizarre with a Maori crooner (‘‘68 - aka Only Time’) or William Shatner [Cap’n James T. Kirk of the original Enterprise] reciting ‘‘64 - aka Go’. Whatsoever, the eagerly awaited album from Lemon Jelly is not only available on CD and LP, but the band have also created an “all-new hour long animated visual experience” DVD format. All in the shops right now.
2005’s hardly opened for business but the Lemon Jelly’s album is here, '64-95'; based upon unlikely samples - there are two metal tracks here! - it's very much a Lemon Jelly record but not as you’d anticipate. It is also their first CD to come with a DVD that has been lovingly created by their design pals, Airside. From the creepy-crawly neon floral jungle of 'Make Things Right' to an abstracted live action dance piece reminiscent of a James Bond title sequence for 'Come Down On Me', the DVD goes through a rather opulent range of animation styles and weird worlds.
As the band states on the sticker: “This is our new album; it’s not like our old album.”
8/10
The band hits the road for their biggest UK tour yet at the following venues:
27 February - Mandela Hall, Belfast
28 February - The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead
02 March - Academy, Manchester
03 March - Octagon, Sheffield
04 March - Corn Exchange, Cambridge
05 March - Usher Hall, Edinburgh
07 March - The Dome, Brighton
08 March - Academy, Birmingham
09 March - Academy, Bristol
11 March - Brixton Academy, London
12 March - Forum, London
SashaS
15-7-2003
Lemon Jelly’s album ‘64-95’ is out 31 January on XL Recordings
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