The Fall, The Blondes and the Biscuits
I’ve got a lot on at the moment and am about to go on holiday, and so I don’t know what reviews are going to get done or not. Regardless of what gets done though, I must remark on three excellent new albums, CSI: Ambleside by Half Man Half Biscuit, Imperial Wax Solvent by The Fall, and “couples” by the Long Blondes.
Regular and attentive Spike and Splinters readers won’t exactly be dropping their jaws in amazement at my choices, given my frequent praise for their forbears. But, you know, tough. It NEEDS saying.
CSI: Ambleside is a masterpiece, even better than Acthung Bono before it. Nigel Blackwell’s parodic but poignant lament for a pasoral idyll is as wonderful as ever, cloaked in the garb of the hilariously sardonic. ”Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show” is a good title, but the song itself takes the concept to the realms of the truly sublime.
Imperial Wax Solvent has been talked of in various quarters as “the best since Hex Enduction Hour.” I don’t think that, nor -gasp - do I think Hex is their best as so often stated. In fact I still prefer 2005’s fantastic Fall Heads Roll. It is however a great improvement on Reformation, and the styles, even more disprarate than usual, do combine together into a thrilling and wonderful whole. Both “Wolf Kiddult Man” and “50 Year Old Man” especially are excellent.
“couples” (note the “inverted commas”) is a great departure from the Long Blondes’ superb debut. They certainly haven’t played it safe, as the clinically honed indie-punk formulae branches out into much more experimental territory, from ballads to electronic weirdness. The lyrics too have moved from the early brilliant bohemian ennui to a rather darker emotional depth. It took a few listens, but, once again, its an absolute, unnabashed triumph. Brilliant. In fact, in the style of the Fast Show character they’re all brilliant! Brilliant!
These arn’t reviews of course, so you’ll just have to buy them. Buy them all. Now!
Other Splinters posts of interest:
- The Long Blondes vs George Saunders
- Big Hanz For Franz
- Arctic Monkeys Good Shocker
- 2007 - My Year In Books
- Top Shelf’s Giant Fall Sale
