It grows in crescendo till it manages to surround you (from LOVE to STEREOLAB or their contemporaries SALOON?), winning points when the guitar comes in to die in an instrumental climax. The flip opens with one of the tracks that was expecting to be delivered. Yes, it‚s easy to think of "Suzanne", one of the Canadian myth main hymns. Again, the shadow of that glorious tandem formed by Nancy Sinatra-Lee Hazlewood is conjured.Īt the end of A-Side (vinyl version) we find the surprise of "Your picture" proving that some members of the band (namely Kenny) is fond of songwriter Leonard Cohen. The country touch, when John sings and he‚s replied by Tracyanne, is present in "Before you cry", another future hit we first listened in their Spanish tour. Superb production.Īfter another fragile, sensitive number ("Keep it clean") we enjoy the best vocal tradition à la RIGHTHEOUS BROTHERS or EVERLY BROTHERS in "A sisters social agony". Main virtues: John‚s second vocals, the female backing vocals -is it Tracyanne overdubbed or maybe Carey? And that full-blast ending, so typical of them. When the record start you may think it‚s Elvis‚ "Suspicious minds", but no, it‚s "Suspended from class", one of the best tracks in the album, no doubt it doesn‚t open the album by chance. It makes you think of a film like "The Wanderers", with music by Dion DiMucci or some other classics with beach-surf-tinged guitars a la "Shadows". "Teenager" is from now on a new hit by CAMERA OBSCURA. The album advance is that true gem entitled "Teenager" I‚d really want to know why the two songs in the flip, "I don´t want to see you" (sung by Tracyanne) and "Footloose and fancy free" (sung by John), two intimate moments only supported by piano and organ respectively, have not been included in the album. The rest of the line-up( Gavin, Carey, Nigel and Lee) contribute to the instrumental brilliance, though there are also some additional musicians (flute, steel, strings.) which are part of the experimentation assumed by the main members in order to add more and more arrangements to improve the compositions. She is also the main composer, signing the songs by herself or with John and Kenny.
She is superb singing alone or when accompanied by John: both voices are so wonderfully pasted that it‚s difficult to think of a matching duet of today. No Harriets, Tracys, Nancys, Dustys or any French icon. We shouldn‚t stop finding resemblances and parallel lines to those charming female vocals. That collection of flavors (British pop, acoustic intimacy, backing vocals, string arrangements, sixties sounds, country moods.) is present again in "Underachievers please try harder" (recorded between last year‚s April and December) again produced by Geoff Allan, that achieves to mantain a select and refined pulse in the album sound. On those shows we started to relish those new songs to be included in this new album, which insists again in the keys previously displayed, now improved to perfection. Another fact for the records: CAMERA OBSCURA played more shows in this Spanish week-and-a-half tour than in the rest of their live career so far. Their appearance at Primavera Sound Barcelona Festival served as a mere advance for what later confirmed in a tour with overcrowed venues (El Sol Club in Madrid showed a long queue of fans, the success with the highbrow audiences in Tanned Tin Festival are just two examples). Some people prefered "Happy new year", others "Eighties fan", some chose "Anti-western" and its male/female alternate vocals. Those first singles started to be played in the radio and made way for Elefant‚s release of "Biggest blues hi-fi". The credentials then used to introduce the band (something that now seems not to be enough to get the whole picture) were their geographical proximity and friendship with BELLE & SEBASTIAN through Stuart Murdoch. The labor of diffusion and expansion in the Spanish market was made little by little. He directs and hosts Disco Grande radio show in Radio 3 (RNE).