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Album Review
by SashaS
23-9-2003
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| The Bandits: And they walked the cosmos |
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The Bandits: 'And They Walked Away'
(B-Unique)
The Bandits open the stargate
It’s been a good year for rock, bar its heavy division, what with the improved output by The Cooper Temple Clause and Alfie, the goodies from Muse and Starsailor… And then, here is The Bandits who, after what appears an age of Mancunian bands’ dominance, are going to reclaim the crown for Liverpool with their superb ‘And They Walked Away’ debut album.
This is a band that called its own club night The Bandwagon, pointing to digging how the trends start and work. And they certainly take a good swing of psychedelia, indie, ska, dub, blues and punk in the process to create an escape into an altered state. ‘And They Walked Away’, produced by legendary Chris Kimsey, splashes all over quite a few other bands that are peddling the same pool.
‘2Step Rock’ starts in an old-skool stylee, mixing Thin Lizzy and Dr Feelgood, to put The Darkness to shame once and for all; ‘The Warning’ is a nod toward The Stranglers, ‘Standing Under’ has The Specials’ echo slowed down to 33prm and then infused with variety of substances. ‘Take It And Run’ is a country-choon on different medication, ‘Use Your Voice’ witnesses them in an psyche-out mode.
‘How Can You Believe’ is a sketch for an emo-trip that presents itself as if Jim Morrison were fronting 13th Floor Elevator shared with Grand Funk Railroad, punking it out on the concluding ‘On My Way’. There is dust of Love, Cap. Beefheart and CSN&Y over the tunes. Even when The Bandits, as on ‘Once Upon A Time’, near The Coral’s territory, they rise above it to deliver a schizo, differing and sharp songs. Albums of this ilk don’t appear often enough in this world and it’s an unfortunate fact for the lovers of music.
An entirely stoner disc that has its serious and meaningful moments, such as on ‘Chaos In A Courtroom’. Cool-factor and nous, rough enough to keep it credible but idiosyncratic to be attention-grabbing for the entire duration. The Bandits rock, even on their backs!
8/10
SashaS
23-9-2003
The Bandits’ album ‘And They Walked Away’ is released 22 September 2003 on B-Unique/Centro Del Blanco
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