Sidi Bou Said - Garage
After such glowing praise from Sam the other week, reviewing Sidi Bou Said’s latest album "Obsessive", I’m almost reluctant to say it - mostly ‘cos I’ll receive a clobbering, and he’s dead hard - but, they really can’t cut it live.
Slightly fresher pleasures first though, in the guise of Chest who’ve been recently touted in the inkies as a potential ‘next big thing’. On their current form, they might just do it, too. A blistering set rushes past all too quickly, with several stand-out tracks whose titles passed me by almost as fast. Suffice to say, keep an ear out for their honey-coated Muses pop which seems to have gone several rounds with an irate Kenickie.
Onto the lacklustre Sidi Bou Said then. It’s not that they haven’t got the songs, as proved by their current single "Like You", tragically tossed away at the start of the set. Like, ever heard of warming people up before the big sell? On vinyl it sounds like the best song off Throwing Muses’ (yes, again) "Red Heaven", a stripped down tirade from a woman driven sane by a wayward lover. Tonight it’s gone before we realise it’s arrived. Similarly songs like "Funnybody" and "Magnet", that rely so heavily on slight harmonies and subtle guitar doodles, are reduced to a basic blueprint, the soft/hard dynamic and skewed chord changes of late 80’s college rock. Anyone who grew up on Pixies/Husker Du/Muses would sound the same on a bad day (see Veruca Salt), and it’s just not good enough. The jerky time changes of "Rat King" are refreshing, but the band still look like they’re in the rehearsal room, feet welded to the floor, heads never more than a foot from the mikes. As a three piece they’re already at a disadvantage, but could do so much more to simply fill the stage.
Three albums into an uncertain career, and the occasional flash of brilliance won’t do at all. There is just too little to excite here, and that’s a shame as the album did indeed promise so much. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all, Sam.
Nor
