There are very few occasions since I started working on this site that something has genuinely surprised me. However, having a new release by The Wildhearts drop on my desk last month made my jaw hit the floor. Here was a release that I wasn’t even aware of. The name of said release is ‘Coupled With’ and is a twenty-track compilation of all the b-sides The Wildhearts have released since the reformation of the band.
Now another reason for my surprise is that a b-sides album is something I never thought I would see from this band. Ginger has always been an outspoken critic of this type of release, and I have a feeling it owes more to the label than the band. With that in mind, and ‘coupled with’ the fact that this band’s fan base tends to buy every format of every single released, you would think this would be a pointless release.
So yes, I am sceptical about ‘Coupled With’. However, what I can’t deny is the sheer quality of the tracks on this album. The Wildhearts have always been a band that have given their fans superb b-sides and this record underlines this fact well. In fact all these tracks put together, although inevitably lacking cohesion, are probably of a higher standard than the band’s recently acclaimed comeback album.
Kicking off with the only a-side not to make it onto ‘The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed’, the cracking ‘Stormy in the North, Karma in the South’, this album grabs you by the balls and refuses to let go. ‘Coupled With’ displays the full span of this band’s range from monster riffs and rock & roll to perfect pop. Highlights abound throughout this compilation. The supremely good cover of the Cheers theme tune shows its face early in proceedings, and is followed immediately by the infectious ‘The People That Life Forgot’. The band also prove they’ve lost none of their metal leanings with the likes of ‘Looking For The One’ and ‘Putting It On’. Other notable mentions must go to ‘Eager To Leave Er’, ‘You’ve Got To Get Through’ and ‘Lake of Piss’. The whole thing is rounded of in sublime style with the renamed ‘Dannys Dancin’, probably the catchiest song you will hear this year.
‘Coupled With’ proves to be something of an enigma then. It seems on the surface to be a pretty pointless release, as most fans will have all the songs on here. However, if you don’t own anything on here, and you think the Darkness are the epitome of rock, then this is an essential purchase, especially when you are getting twenty songs for around a tenner. You simply can’t argue with this bands ability to keep on churning out great song after great song.
www.thewildhearts.com
Mark