DAVIE ALLAN & THE ARROWS
Restless In L.A (Sundazed; CD)
     This is Davie Allan right, so r.e.s.p.e.c.t. Davie indeed commentates on each track in the liners and professes his great satisfaction both with the CD and his current Arrows, drummer David Winogrond and bassist Bruce Wagner. I don't have any real problem with this disc. What you get is what you might expect. Mr Allan still sounds as proficient as ever that's for sure. It's polished, it's robust and it has a big and well produced sound and feel. All things that gratify. 
     I did find though, that I started wondering what the sound was. It's retro with a small 'r', but it has a more contemporary production and that perhaps in some nagging way nullifies the edge that I always liked in these sort of records. That's not to say there aren't some spiffing riffs and sounds. 'The Toxic Terror' is the kick-off track and does the business pretty well. 'Quiver' and 'Energise' are all good tracks in themselves but I found the polished production a little too linear to really find abandon in them. Likewise a treatment of 'I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night' (a song rather than an instro here) which plays it straight without the requisite light and shade that this quintessential Prunes number is predicated on rather misses the mark for me. Maybe it's just that I never was a teenage werewolf and don't 'get' the mondo movie music point in quite the way I'm supposed to. Anyway, don't let my reservations put you off if you're a Davie Allan fan, and if you get all hepped up on big fuzz-toned guitar riffs and quality lead fills, you're not gonna be let down here.
www.sundazed.com
Paul Martin

ALONEME
Target Practice (Nettle; CD EP)
     Essex band AloneMe confess to being happy people who write melancholic, bittersweet songs about heartbreak and lack of fulfilment. The music is far from depressing, however, because of Sarah Springetts' voice. She has a marvellous range, slipping easily from powerful and passionate to tender and vulnerable like a young Christine Collister. 'Freer Me' is an excellent song, and a fine showcase for Sarah's vocal talents. Multi-instrumentalist David Booth provides subtle and melodic guitars, bass, keyboards and harmonies. The superb live acoustic version of 'Give Me A Moment' on their last CD suggests that AloneMe are at their best when they are at their simplest; as a sparse acoustic backing showcases the songs and harmonies to best effect. Young bands on a budget are sometimes forced to use programming, but the songs sound better without it. The rhythms of the songs sound better with new drummer Simon Edgoose than with programs. Whilst many bands sound exposed when deprived of studio technology, AloneMe are in their element. All they need is simple percussion, an acoustic guitar and those wonderful voices.
www.aloneme.com
Phil Suggitt

BITMAP
Alpha Beta Gamma (CD)
Black Arts In The Town Hall (CD EP) (Both Gentle Electric)
     Listen up psych and harmony pop fascists. The musical world as you know it is not yet dead. Forget endlessly searching the online catalogues for the Peaceful Purple Moon Beams vol. 4 CD-R (as it doesn't yet exist) and open up to the possibility of new music. The current breed of '60s enthusiast certainly doesn't wear the right trousers, and they aren't afraid to use modern technology either, but they DO adhere to the melodies and invention that made the music from the era so special. Take sole performer Bitmap whom, although plying his trade via cheap equipment that sounds like it may have been recorded in his bedroom, comes directly from the Brian Wilson School of eccentric pop.
     Playing all of the instruments himself and singing four part harmonies Bitmap (aka Luke) paints his quirky universe without hindrance from a producer with stupid ideas. 'Runamesrun' featuring vintage scratchy guitar, cheap '80s drum machine and sweet harmonies is the most catchy Beach Boys homage since The Wondermints, whilst album standout 'Everything's Gone Wrong' is a mere 1:03 mins of floating '60s harmony infused psychdelia that, yes you guessed it, could easily be mistaken for a Surf's Up lost track. But this isn't an attempt at sun kissed retrospection. The average Bitmap follower is perhaps more interested in Beck and The Beta Band than anything from the '60s, and these two acts do indeed also serve as valid reference points. Single 'Black Arts In The Town Hall' is the most perfect chirpy-but-sinister pop disc of the year and beats the more successful nu-psycedelicists at their own game. 
     What stands out here is the quality of the material, album title track 'Alpha Beta Gamma' is wonderfully constructed and memorable, and will no doubt impress all SD readers with its seamless '60s sensibility, as will the sweet brazillian rhythms of the gorgeous 'The Wind Farmer'. Songs are what matter, and Bitmap has plenty. If Gentle Electric get the budget, to hear Bitmap backed by a full orchestra would be something very special.
     Modern and highly recommended!
www.gentle-electric.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

BRONCO BULLFROG
Emporium Days (Together; CD)
     Roll over Honeybus, tell Badfinger and Harmony Grass the news! Bronco Bullfrog's fourth CD establishes them as the UK's modern masters of gorgeous harmonies. 
     This CD is subtitled The Harringay Demos 2003 as it's a collection of songs recorded on basic equipment in the North London flats of the three Broncos - Louis, Mike and Andy. Forget all the negative connotations of 'demo' however - these songs are the finished articles. In fact, the sessions are an excellent example of the 'less is more' principle. The fact that the drums were recorded first in a studio and the guitars were kept down so as not to upset the neighbours all work in favour of the songs, which are mostly arranged around acoustic instruments and those wonderful voices. The melodies and harmonies are paramount - everything else is there to support the tune. On so many other contemporary records it seems to be the other way around. In the Broncos' case everybody sings 'whatever part needed singing and played whatever instrument was at hand.' The guitar playing is perfectly economic - nothing is drawn out or overdone. As a result the songs don't drown in a sea of overdubs and unnecessary solos.
     Although the lyrics are sometimes introspective and bittersweet, these thirteen songs will bring a big happy grin to your face. The strengths of different songs emerge every time I play the album. Today I'm singing along with the very catchy 'Summer's Gone And Nothing Seems To Matter', 'I Don't Need The Sunshine' and 'Old Songs, New Songs'.
Earlier Bronco releases were hampered by rather naff cover photos such as a shot of the lads' knees. In this instance we get an appealingly eye-catching photo showing the Harringay skyline silhouetted against a rainbow sunset.
     The boys have bypassed the whole label/distribution circus for this release, which is a shame as it will probably mean that their best release will be heard by very few people. 
Come on all you American, Spanish and Australian pop labels, do everyone a favour and license this record! 
www.broncobullfrog.net
Phil Suggitt

THE CUTS
2 Over Ten (Birdman; CD)
     Yet another bunch of groovy looking Californians who hone the '60s/'70s vibe: although the Birdman press (readable on their site) is a comical entity that classifies the band as Nuggets fans that sound like ? & The Mysterians and The Sonics. The Cuts in fact are, if not wholly successful, a great deal more interesting than '60s punk wannabes. Sounding somewhat like Kevin Rowland-doing-an-impression-of-Tom-Verlaine fronting everyone from the '69 Stones to even early Cure and The Cockney Rebel, it's a confused affair. The songs aren't premium, and at this conjuncture they only seem to have one in their cannon: 'Paradise' sounds like the odd-one-out here, but nevertheless is the only track I have come back to. With it's UK psych feel, a far better vocal, cool Small Faces-like electric piano and Beatley bits, this is the most realised effort. It would be good if they knock out more tunes of this calibre, which I hope they will.
www.birdmanrecords.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE DIRTY
Cinnamon/Black Sugar/B-Movie Dance (Dirty Water Records; 7")
     Most suitable: the newly launched Dirty Water records (run by those good chaps from the London club of the same name) debut with a 45 by a new London quartet with a moniker not a million miles away from their own. And yes, it's a suitable description. The Dirty in typically 2003 style shake up a pile of sounds from yesterday to forge their own disgruntled, primitive rock. Like the Xmas pressie you've been waiting on, the best of the three songs comes last: 'B-Movie Dance' rides the riff of The Omen's 1966 garage punk classic 'Searching' (which I doubt the trendy young muso-journos will pick up on) with a distinctly Asheton guitar break, whilst singer Kyril gives the perfect proto-punk pissed off Americanised vocal. If this music continues to be the BIG thing The Dirty may well be high achievers.
www.dirtywaterclub.com
www.thedirty.co.uk
Mike Maroon

FORT LAUDERDALE 
Pretty Monster
THE SQUIRE OF SOMERTON
Transverbations (Both Memphis Industries; LP & CD)
     A somewhat interesting approach to making music is now commonplace, and I can thankfully say I'm grateful. So okay, perhaps the reality is: trendy kid who more than likely bitten by the dance bug in his teenage years tires of the limitation of mixing records and returns to the real music that he excelled in as a public school boy. Having stumbled upon '60s psych and prog (perhaps spurned on by Beck and DJ Shadow's open love of obscure psych) he sets about composing the clever sort of madcap tunes one wouldn't expect to hear in 2003! 
     So what that Fort Lauderdale / The Squire Of Somerton aren't '60s purists? So what that they got into this type of music later than all of as so called holier than thou collectors! So what they do don't to it by the golden rulebook! Their approach to music is so less calculated than the revisionism that we at SD have admittedly favoured, and the gifted oddball Toby Jenkins is not only an exceptional guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, but he has a very psychedelic musical palette that blends equal parts '60s, '70s and early '80s weirdness into one individual sonic stew. 'Best Days' (from Jenkins' Fort Lauderdale Pretty Monster project) is a pastoral folk blanched tune that in all honesty is one of the most authentic stabs at late '60s psychedelia I have heard in years!!! The stoned electric guitar recalls Kak, the folky vocals and harmonies the most accessible elements of The Incredible Stringband, whilst the power chords of the final bridge go all Led Zep and Ten Years After. As a guitarist Jenkins has as much sustain and virtuosity as any of the prog era's posers... yet the song soon drifts into the type of post-prog artyness commonplace in the early '80s.
     In fact, the art rock tendencies are the major factors that let this down, but at least it's imaginative in the old sense of the word... throughout hints of Gong and Traffic can be heard, yet the honest manner of the arrangements sound more like musical eccentricism than intended revivalism. 'Sexy Creature' is a funky instrumental that exposes the talents of the players... and perhaps, at that it is a little too show-off... but hey when has that stopped anyone? Yet when a good song, like 'Hello It's Me' is tackled the Fort Lauderdale way the album proves itself more than worthy. With its Gryphon medieval folk music interludes, a cool lyric and a wonderful production it's certainly a breath of fresh air for nu-psychedelia.
     The Squire Of Somerton project furthers Jenkins' eccentricity (who this time goes it alone without assistance from musical partner in lysergic crime, Steve Webster). If  Brazillian '60s surrealist revolutionaries Os Mutantes had the technology this is how they would have sounded. It's all over the place. Even more mad cap. Funkier. More electronic. More insane... but it somehow gels. This is the product of one seriously intense individual. The combination punch of funky noir blues ( 'Would You Like Another Drink?') into a Donovanesque acoustic 'Out In The Morning Sun' is indeed an unusual experience. The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock even figure on 'The Loved Ones'-the most crazed slice of Californian psych heard in ions! Jenkins can't be accused of being samey, that's for sure.
     If Super Fury Animals and Soundtrack Of Our Lives stick to the A roads of musical reinvention Toby Jenkins is definitely travelling along the windy B side roads. I certainly didn't expect two albums like this in 2003.
www.memphis-industries.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE MALLRATS
Fall in Love All Over Again With The Mallrats (Screaming Apple; CD)
     California's Mallrats chirpy power pop works in short singles-length bursts, but wears thin over a whole album. The problem is that too many of the songs sound very similar because they use the same choppy guitar, fast pace and staccato vocal phrasing, although the band are young and have the potential to refine their song writing skills. Sleeve notes suggest the band serve up 'loveable unforgettable pop tunes.' I concede 'lovable' as they are happy, up-tempo songs that make you feel positive and glad, but they are not yet capable of writing unforgettable tunes. To do this style of guitar pop you have to have 'honed your hooks' to perfection. European bands like The Yum Yum's and Psychotic Youth have spent several years developing this style of fast punky pop down to a 't', but The Mallrats have a way to go before they write songs as concise and catchy as their European peers.
www.screaming-apple-records.de
Phil Suggitt

THE MEDIA WHORES
Master of Pop Hits (Screaming Apple; CD)
     According to the press release, The Media Whores, from Columbus, Ohio, 'comprise the pop elements of The Who, Elvis Costello and The Clash with the rock elements of The Beat and The Plimsouls.' Whilst these may be the Whores' fave bands, I don't feel they sound a lot like them. The cover shows a huge LP collection and a girl sitting with a Deep Purple LP (shudder!) on her knee. The LP should be by The Dictators or The Heartbreakers, as The Media Whores sound is much closer to their brand of 'tough pop.'
    The Whores are not imitators, but they have a lot in common with The Dictators, namely big, loud, melodic riffs and hooks ('Lisa Sez') a sense of humour ('All I Want For Christmas'), a love of trash culture ('Cult of the Pyschic Fetus'), catchy choruses ('Today Is Mine') and a sense that pop-rock should be fun! (Just about every song.)
     The Whores' don't take themselves too seriously, hence their name, and don't break any new ground, but that isn't the point. This is definitely power pop with the emphasis on power, and is perfect for the dance floor or the car stereo!
www.screaming-apple-records.de
Phil Suggitt

ALAN MERRILL
Double Shot Rocks (Geltoob; CD)
     Alan Merrill has had a chequered career in music. His '70s pop band The Arrows now enjoy cult status in some circles, yet much of his subsequent career has been as jobbing guitarist to formulaic AOR artists. This CD may just be one of his finest moments.
     In the mid-'90s he was employed to be the "reference vocalist" for all-star tribute albums of Otis Blackwell and Arthur Alexander songs. This involved singing live in the studio vocals with a high-powered band. ( Spooner Oldham or Jimmy Destri on keyboards, the likes of Chris Spedding on guitar, Graham Parker and Gary US Bonds on backing vocals - you get the idea. ) I don't know what the final albums were like after the celebs added their vocals, as All-star tribute albums aren't my thing. 
     However, Alan has done a great job of his own vocals, which capture the essence of some of the best pop, soul and R&B tunes ever written, without being carbon copies of the original recordings. There are some overdubs on the basic tracks, but the vocals are mostly first takes. Mr. Merrill clearly spent hours trying to get to the heart of the songs before going into the studio. There are ten Alexander songs and eleven from Blackwell, ranging from famous classics such as 'Fever', 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'You Better Move On', to the less familiar 'Genie in The Jug' and 'On That Powerline'. Merrill does a particularly good job on the ten Alexander songs, and includes 'Let's Think About It', a duet with the man himself, recorded shortly before his death.
Phil Suggitt

THE RIPPERS
The Rippers (Screaming Apple; LP)
     I would like to say I enjoy this LP more than I do, because The Rippers have their hearts in the right places. Unlike most contemporary garage punk bands, they shun grungy blues noise for wild, harp-wailing 60's style R&B rave-ups. 
     The Rippers are four young Italians known only as 'Ripper 1, Ripper II,' etc. It's strange how so many things are cyclical. The garage revival bands of the '80s modelled themselves on the countless Back-From-the-Grave bands of the '60s; The Rippers take their cues from the '80s garage revival. Their model is the Gravedigger V! But the problem with this is the vocals. The sleeve proudly reports that the LP was 'recorded live in our garage on April 5th, 2003.' There is nothing wrong with recording quickly in primitive conditions, and the music powers along at a rocking pace, with exciting harp playing and short, sharp guitar breaks. However, no '60s garage band would have been satisfied with such snarling, nasal vocals, which are often lost in the mix. 60s' vocalists were doing their best to sound like Jagger, Davies, Morrison and co. They may have fallen somewhat short, but essentially they were trying to sing in a pop/R&B style, and this is where The Rippers fail. If only they had spent two days recording the LP, taking a day on the vocals! Ripper IV is probably a decent singer, given the chance.
     It IS possible to record a really primitive garage R&B album with great vocals. I would like to send The Ripper boys a copy of The Wylde Mammoths first album, showcasing the fantastic vocals of Peter Maniette on glorious two-track. The Mammoths also knew how to vary the pace with the odd ballads or slower number- every song doesn't have to go at the same breakneck 'Bye- Bye Baby' pace.
http://www.screaming-apple-records.de/
Phil Suggitt

STINGRAY GREEN
Demo (Private CD)
     During the recent International Pop Overthrow in Liverpool a friend tapped me on the shoulder while I was watching some band at one end of the Cavern and said "There's a band on the other stage that sound like The Vandalias - come quick!" Sure enough, it turned out to be ex-Vandalias Dan Sarka and Kent Militzer's new band - the jaw-dropping versions of The Vandalias' 'Hey Kari G' and 'End Of The World' that closed the set confirmed it. They left the crowd howling for more. 
     For those who don't know, The Vandalias cut two stupendous pop albums, Mach V and the essential Buzzbomb!, in the mid-90's. I bought the latter after seeing the stunning Manga-style cartoon depiction of the group on the cover and being sold by the shop assistant insisting that "you'll love it - they sound like a collision between The Jackson Five and Thin Lizzy!" A fairly spot on diagnosis as it happens.
     Well now The Vandalias are no more and Stingray Green are all set to reclaim their title as crown princes of Minneapolis's thriving punk-pop scene. I managed to snaffle a copy of this first demo, recorded live in their basement, which comes on a dinky three-inch CD and features three tracks. 
     Sarka's 'Something Else' is as immediate and irresistible as any of his Vandalias creations - a two and a half minute blast of pure guitar heaven full of the bittersweet lyrical pay-offs and bubblegummy chord changes that have characterised his best songs. Militzer's 'Bad Batch' rocks a little harder and eases up on the sugar levels, pitching an early Kinks riff against some fantastic no-brainer twin lead attacks. Finally bassist Dan Boardman's 'Go Home' kinda cooks together the sounds of the previous tunes to great effect.
     For me, Stingray Green's best tune so far is Sarka's 'Cold Hard Stone' which can be downloaded from their website for free. What are you waiting for?
     Hopefully we're gonna be hearing a lot more from these guys. There's an album in the pipeline with some European dates on the cards for next year. In the meantime, if you live in the Minneapolis area, get yourself along to one of their live shows.
     Mighty songs of joy indeed.
www.stingraygreen.com
Andy Morten

THE THURSTON HOWLERS
Lodge Party (Screaming Apple; LP)
     Sometimes song titles can be a real give-away. 'Lodge Party'. 'Miniskirt Action'. 'Beer Run'. 'Rumpshaker '65'. 'Go Go Beach'. Yep, The Thurston Howlers love 6'0s frat - rock! These Australians are also big fans of the Pacific NW sound, although this LP doesn't particularly sound like The Wailers, Sonics and co.
     The Howlers are a fun, five piece party band made up of members of various Australian garage R&B bands such as The Hekawis, Crusaders and Finkers. The band tackle a mix of frat, garage punk and instro's, all done with a healthy appreciation for trash culture and, in songs like the rocking 'Hey L'il Buddy', a tongue in cheek sense of humour.
     This is a fun party record that works in places. There is a lot of variety, notably on the songs when the MaryAnnes provide girlie vocal backups. Some of the tunes don't work up the required levels of lust and sweat, but side two picks up the pace considerably, with numbers such as 'El Sicodelico' and 'Rumpshaker '65' short on subtlety but high on fun. You have to be in the right mood; this is definitely not an early morning chill-out record! Collectively the band don't quite manage the songwriting quality and vocal chops of Fortune and Maltese, those other recent Lodge pledgers, but this is still a fine record for 'stompin' booze-soaked topless-a-go-go frat house debauchery.'
www.screamingapple-records.de
Phil Suggitt 

THE THREE 4 TENS
Taking Northern Liberties (Rainbow Quartz; CD)
     Well it's certainly a full sound, and on the whole a considered and intelligent one, plus it's on a contemporary cult label which can only be to its advantage. The Three 4 Tens are a (here at times well augmented) three-piece unit. The songs vary from fast and fulsome R&R bashers (especially towards the end) and long(er) extemporised (and in a live setting at least, probably atmospheric) pieces with loping rhythms and (more often) extended note rings while the drums keep you informed that the song's not ended it's just navigating its ethereal path between its two sections. This sort of stuff doesn't really pop my wig in the way that say Echo & The Bunnymen used to do twenty years ago (think maybe Zimbo / All My Colours). Full marks though for necessitating a second and indeed partial third listen, as there's certainly enough going on in here for it to grab someone's imagination
www.rainbowquartz.com
Paul Martin

THE UNDERTONES
Get What You Need (Sanctuary; CD)
     Now do I feel old! It has been twenty-five years since Derry's own answer to The Ramones erupted upon the punk landscape. The Undertones were, if anything at all, always about fun. Each new album was a new musical journey that displayed a keen sense of musical history, but The Undertones were always able to make their own noise. 
     Sadly, The Undertones self destructed far too prematurely in 1983. In the midst of growing tensions and growing up, Fergal Sharkey announced he was leaving the band and no one else in the band bothered to ask him to reconsider his choice. What a glorious five years it had been. Everyone had to lament the passing of what was the great white hope. The band had packed it in with little fanfare and an impeccable recording history. 
Twenty years on and The Undertones are back singing more songs about chocolate and girls…well, maybe more of the latter. Once again no one bothered to ask Fergal to reconsider and the band is now happily fronted by Paddy McLoone (insert your own joke here). McLoone doesn't try to ape the Roger Chapman/Ray Hummel Jr.-esque vocals of Fergal, although most of 'Get What You Need' sounds right out of The Undertones' 1978-'79 hymnals. What is more important than McLoone's ability to stand on his own two feet and front what was once the world's greatest rock band, is the songwriting and playing of Mickey Bradley, Billy Doherty, Damian and John O'Neill.
     With one listen to the new release, a smile will no doubt cross your face and you will remember that music used to be a laugh. This should be played LOUD to wake up the complacent neighbours to the fact that The Undertones are back! Opening with the 'Jimmy Jimmy'/'Here Comes Summer' sounding 'Thrill Me'. The signature guitar playing of the brothers O'Neill is every bit as mesmerizing as it was on 'More Songs About Chocolate and Girls' and 'Positive Touch'. The band has chosen wisely not to fall into the trap of trying to tread across paths already travelled and recycle proven tunes. Of course, The Undertones are always going to SOUND like The Undertones, but this is a tight knit pop confection that none have duplicated in recent years. 'Get What You Need' is quite possibly the best new release this year.
     The new millennium needed a kick up the arse and The Undertones are just what the doctor ordered. Welcome back indeed.
www.sanctuaryrecords.co.uk
Mark A Johnston